Still doubting Rudisha's 33-second 300's? He closed in 24 to win the 800!

24.3 just ramping up each penultimate 100m

Still, has to be said - WHAT THE F$*K WERE THE FIELD THINKING!!!!

Why do you give that guy clear track at that speed?! At 49 through 400 I get it, but anyone in that field could have taken the chance to dictate that race - it was handed to them on a platter.

What is the thing Rudisha hates doing, the thing that he did in 2009 that made him miss the semi-finals, the thing that drove him to be a relentless front-runner? Running in the pack with traffic around him. So what do those idiots do? - they give him the track expecting a 1.40.9 guy and OC,WC to falter off that speed? What a chance to take him down.

In saying that - they didn't. The great man came through. Full credit - have to admit I didnt think he would leave Beijing as the champ but I was wrong!

Agree with everything el Cerebro said. But after the way he dispatched of Amos in that semi, writing was on the wall. Changing up tactics to win when he's not at his best cements him as the GOAT for me.

The race to decide the best 800 runner in the world had no Lewandowski, Symmonds, Aman, Amos, Makhloufi, Souleiman, Kiprop. All plausible medallists on their day. What a shame, and what a strange year for the 800m.

Quite a strange final lineup it was. Glad Rudisha won anyway. Hopefully next year's Olympic final will be better though.

el Cerebro wrote:

24.3 just ramping up each penultimate 100m

Do you have any idea what the word, 'penultimate', means?

If not, why in the world would you try to use it in a sentence?

24.x whatever it was the fastest split of the race, but I agree with the other poster who said he won it on his tactics (with a big assist on the first lap and around the first bend after the bell from Kipketer)

It's not like the rest of the field just gave him the lead - there was a pretty serious roadblock when the two Kenyans got to the front really early on, and really slowed it down after 200m. Especially down the homestretch to the bell, it would have taken an almost suicidal move to sprint around the two of them to grab the lead - no one was willing to do that even as the pace lagged. If I remember right it was on the backstretch that Kipketer finally started to drop back from wingman position,

But even as Rudisha was upping the pace, I think the move that won it for him was when he shut the door on Kszczot when he made his move to sneak inside with about 250m to go. Rudisha accelerated and held the inside line, Kszczot had to slow down and lost a couple of strides he never could get back. I think Kszczot went a bit to early, it would have opened up around the final bend, and Kipketer fell back even before the final 200. Who knows if Kszczot had followed Rudisha around the bend and waited until coming off the final bend to make the final push, maybe he would have had been able to beat him. Rotich was coming up hard on the backstretch, but I don't think he ever drew level, and he started falling back in the homestraight. But there would always have been room for Kszczot if he had waited...

Sorry I had the Kenyans mixed up...Roti have was always the one on Rudisha's shoulder, and he did stay pretty close until about 600m, Rudisha's gapped him slightly and he couldn't make it up and fell back a bit on the home stretch. Watching the race again, if he hadn't tried to push hard on the final bend to get back to Rudisha, he might have had an extra great to hold off Tuba...

But as for Kszczot, I know he said he wanted to go with 250 left, and if he were on the outside he might have made it around... Who knows... But it opened up for him as they came around the bend and Ritch started to drop back... If he hadn't lost momentum earlier, maybe he could have been closer to Rudisha and challenged in the home stretch

Rudisha's was a hollow victory. He didn't beat quality competition.

Amos>Rudy wrote:

Rudisha's was a hollow victory. He didn't beat quality competition.

Yeah, what a poser, it's not like he broke the world record three times, has two world titles, and won the Olympic gold in the most emphatic fashion in memory, no? Oh wait...

Amos>Rudy wrote:

Rudisha's was a hollow victory. He didn't beat quality competition.

Wasn't Amos in Rudisha's semi sprinting all out trying to qualify?