DIBABA WILL NOT RUN 1500 AT OLYMPICS

Schedule for a 1500/5000 double in Rio is:

Friday evening Aug. 12 - 1500 Round 1

Sunday evening Aug. 14 - 1500 Semifinals

Tuesday morning Aug 16 - 5000 Rounds

Tuesday evening Aug. 16 - 1500 Final (13 hours after 5000 rounds)

Friday evening Aug 19 - 5000 final

Lol, that esteemed body of experts in virology, the EEF?

more prestigious for who? Americans?what do you think Ethiopians consider more prestigious? (legitimate question)Ayana, Tirunesh Dibaba, Vivian Cheruiyot, potentially, Defar. They are GOATs.

rojo wrote:

trackandxcrunner wrote:

she is going for GREATEST OF ALL TIME. gotta beat the best to be the best. i respect that. she has nothing to prove in the 1500.

Are you crazy? She has plenty to prove in the 1500. She's a 1-time gold medallist at 1500. She had one AMAZING year at the event. The WR holder needs to back that year up with an Olympic gold.

TrackCoach wrote:

That's smart because I don't think she could win both, although I don't know why she would choose the 5K over the mile, The 5K seems like the more difficult event, where she will likely face Ayana, Defar and Cheruiyot.

Defar said she's focused on the 10k.

I'll believe it when I see it. The 1500 is more prestigious. It's easier for her to win. She clearly should do both.

More prestigious for who? Americans?

What do Ethiopians consider more prestigious?

Beating Tirunesh Dibaba, Almaz Ayana, Vivian Cheruiyot, possibly Mesert Defar for a gold medal at 5000 makes her GOAT (arguably). far more prestigious than romping the field in the 1500 (where she is a giant among women).

Yes. In any case, Dibaba doesn't make that call the Ethiopian athletic federation does. Why pass up two golds in 1500 and 5k for a gold and a silver at 5k?

This was probably just a deal to keep the vampires at bay and so that the US will have a shot at 1500.

rojo wrote:

trackandxcrunner wrote:

she is going for GREATEST OF ALL TIME. gotta beat the best to be the best. i respect that. she has nothing to prove in the 1500.

Are you crazy? She has plenty to prove in the 1500. She's a 1-time gold medallist at 1500. She had one AMAZING year at the event. The WR holder needs to back that year up with an Olympic gold.

TrackCoach wrote:

That's smart because I don't think she could win both, although I don't know why she would choose the 5K over the mile, The 5K seems like the more difficult event, where she will likely face Ayana, Defar and Cheruiyot.

Defar said she's focused on the 10k.

I'll believe it when I see it. The 1500 is more prestigious. It's easier for her to win. She clearly should do both.

Stop it rojo. She's got absolutely nothing to prove in the 1500. She already blew our minds like no other runner has for 20 years. Winning an og in the 15 wouldn't really lift her to a new level.

And what do you think she sees as more prestigious? An easy 1500m gold against runners who are more than six seconds off her - or a 5000 gold in a race against 3 (+ herself!) of the 5 fastest ever runners in the distance?

SKMiler wrote:

rojo wrote:

Are you crazy? She has plenty to prove in the 1500. She's a 1-time gold medallist at 1500. She had one AMAZING year at the event. The WR holder needs to back that year up with an Olympic gold.

Defar said she's focused on the 10k.

I'll believe it when I see it. The 1500 is more prestigious. It's easier for her to win. She clearly should do both.

Are YOU crazy? She clearly proved that she is light years ahead of the competition in the 1500 by destroying the WC. Closing in 1:56? Call me when someone else is capable of doing that after running 3:50 and 3 heats at a global Championship.

Two women finished right behind her and also closed in 1:56. Not so easy.

W800: W AM, Th PM, Sat PM hmmmm, seems doable without compromising her 5000 much.

asdfgh wrote:

Schedule for a 1500/5000 double in Rio is:

Friday evening Aug. 12 - 1500 Round 1

Sunday evening Aug. 14 - 1500 Semifinals

Tuesday morning Aug 16 - 5000 Rounds

Tuesday evening Aug. 16 - 1500 Final (13 hours after 5000 rounds)

Friday evening Aug 19 - 5000 final

For international status, the 1500 is more prestigious.

The women's 5000 wasn't even an Olympic event until 1996.

And they didn't run anything longer than 1500m until 1984.

The women's 1500 Olympic debut was in 1972 (later than I thought actually).

Now I can imagine that the 5000 might be more prestigious in Ethiopia.

But Ethiopia has never won an Olympic Gold in the 1500 for women or men.

history buff wrote:

crush wrote:

I admire her for this decision. It shows she prefers a challenge over the safer route. Way easier for her to get a gold in the 1,500 than to beat Ayana in the 5,000.

So the elite women have more balls than Mo Farah

Last time I checked, Farah took on and destroyed all comers at BOTH of his main events at the last 3 global championships.... in what way is that lacking balls? You can't fault him for not facing tough opponents at the championships-for him, none exist.

"En Río no voy a competir en los 1.500, lo haré en los 5.000, donde intentaré mejorar mi marca y, por supuesto, luchar por el oro"

Translates to...

"In Rio I am not going to compete in the 1500m, I will do the 5000m, where I will try to improve my time and, of course, fight for the gold."

Very strange... I would have guessed 1500m.

I see these articles all the time and I just wait for a thread about them to appear on this site... When the steeple article came up in Spanish a few months ago it was only a matter of hours before someone put it on here...

Is that right? wrote:

history buff wrote:

So the elite women have more balls than Mo Farah

Last time I checked, Farah took on and destroyed all comers at BOTH of his main events at the last 3 global championships.... in what way is that lacking balls? You can't fault him for not facing tough opponents at the championships-for him, none exist.

You have really bad reading comprehension. Farah and Dibaba are in similar situations. Farah chooses the easy medals and Dibaba apparently wants the hard medals.

Yes I can fault him. Tough competition for him exists in the 1500m which is his best event. He chooses to compete against the weak distance runners instead.

If a fresh Ayana and a fresh Dibaba run the 5000m there will be only one tactic: Ayana will take it out hard and try to break her like she did at WCs. This would instantly extinguish the speed aspect and force Dibaba to rely on her pure stamina.

All of those high quality speed sessions that Dibaba has been doing for her 1500m speed might have come at a cost. The cost would be a weaker speed endurance over longer distances. I have no doubt Ayana can go sub 4:00 if she really tried - nowhere near 3:50 but still respectable.

Everyone else in the race will just be hanging on for dear life. World record possibility.

*fresh = not doubling.

FuggedAboutIt wrote:

If a fresh Ayana and a fresh Dibaba run the 5000m there will be only one tactic: Ayana will take it out hard and try to break her like she did at WCs. This would instantly extinguish the speed aspect and force Dibaba to rely on her pure stamina.

All of those high quality speed sessions that Dibaba has been doing for her 1500m speed might have come at a cost. The cost would be a weaker speed endurance over longer distances. I have no doubt Ayana can go sub 4:00 if she really tried - nowhere near 3:50 but still respectable.

Everyone else in the race will just be hanging on for dear life. World record possibility.

*fresh = not doubling.

so....Genzebe would get to sit on Ayana and use her as the world's best rabbit? Draft off her for 10, 11 laps then blow her doors off and set the WR.

rojo wrote:

I'll believe it when I see it. The 1500 is more prestigious. It's easier for her to win. She clearly should do both.

And I'm proven correct yet again.

Chris Chavez just emailed me a statement he got from Dibaba's coach Jama Aden. He also has posted it on twitter.

Aden, "There is no final decision for Genzebe in Rio. Things can always change in the last minute. She has achieved a lot in 1500m in and outdoor. So far no final decision yet."

yeah, just like what happened at 2015 WCs...

Oh wait

She can't stick with Ayana in a hot pace we know that

34tio34t wrote:

lolololol wrote:

so....Genzebe would get to sit on Ayana and use her as the world's best rabbit? Draft off her for 10, 11 laps then blow her doors off and set the WR.

yeah, just like what happened at 2015 WCs...

Oh wait

She can't stick with Ayana in a hot pace we know that

I think you meant:

"She can't stick with Ayana in a hot pace after running three rounds of the 1500m days earlier."

Dibaba will not run the 1500. She will jog it. Just for the win.

The 5000 is where she will do the real running.

Ayana must be waiting for the summer.