I know I'm comparing different distances, but when I think of drama, Castro in 1988 immediately comes to mind:
https://youtu.be/ca9N-iqzXzA?t=13m30sSeeing the emotion that comes from him after being the only man brave enough to chase after Ngugi is heartbreaking and completely different to anything seen in this race.
As for the positioning in the race, Centro and Makhloufi have good spots, but it looks like Willis is boxed in around 6th place at the bell and even falls back into 7th. In the last 50 meters or so, he is fortunate enough that a gap opens between Kiprop and Makhloufi that he is able to squeeze through. If Makhloufi had stayed the same pace as Kiprop, then Willis would have been blocked from passing Kiprop and might not have even medalled. But that doesn't even account for the fact that Kiprop, Iguider, and Souleiman all had good positions at the final 100 and lost because they were outkicked. So it looks like positioning wasn't everything but more of who trained their kick the best.
Again, I know this race is not the same distance, but it showcases beautiful tactics, a truly exhilarated stadium, and one of the best races of all time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xldWJcBMLDkMottram positions himself perfectly covering ever move made by the Kenyans, outlasting their assaults to break him to come in 2nd. This is a race that is tactical and exciting, a race that gives me chills watching it, not what we saw in the 1500m yesterday.
I wasn't telling anyone how to be tactical. I was only stating my opinion that a tactical race should be comprised of more than positioning at the final lap. It seems a little simple to me compared to say the Kenyans who would dominate fields together as they introduced surges, took turns leading, and tried to break their opponents physically and mentally.
I never said nor did I imply that the goal of these runners was to entertain me; I did say that, as a viewer, this race was not exciting because of how they ran in it. Those two statements are different from each other. I know their goal was to medal, but I don't understand why every single athlete in the field would want to leave it up to only 400m to decide if they can medal. Surely some of them must know that their kick isn't as strong and would try to run the kick out of the others, so even though their only goal is to medal, at least one of them should have tried to take it out faster knowing that they would not be able to outkick the others.
It's funny you say that because I'm actually a physicist, about as applied in mathematics as you can get. Even so, combinatorics has many real world applications, so I don't know why you think that it is purely theoretical. I don't think trying to insult me is really productive in this discussion, especially if you are going to make assumptions about me when you know nothing about who I am. I am open to different points of view, but it makes it difficult to take them seriously when they are filled with personal attacks instead of counterarguments.