Andinet wrote:
He could have won this easy!
Ayana could have won easy!
Dibaba sisters could have.won easy...
See a pattern?
Let's try not change the subject here, Andinet! Im Ethiopian myself and I know exactly what you're trying to say. However, I don't think you know these particular athletes (both the Ethiopians an Kenyans that you're talking about).
I think most people here will agree that:
What Almaz did was beyond Tirunesh's ability. For Tirunesh, despite that 10k race being her only 3rd track race of the season after a maturity, she ran an amazing time improving her time by 12 seconds. She gave it all and that was all she could do, at least at this point. So there was no way she was going to win the Rio 10k.
Genzebe Dibaba may have won if she had used a different tactic (kick on the last lap like she did on the semi finals maybe), but you must understand how strong Faith Kipyegon is too.
And Lilesa? You must not know much about Eluid Kipchoge! He is just unbearable at this point! He's probably the most smartest marathoner the world has ever seen! So Lilesa, coming in 2nd behind him, getting that close to him itself is an amazing performance. The runner he beat, Galen Rupp too, is an amazing marathoner to-be, winning a medal in his only 2nd marathon, and that's in an Olympic race! Galen's marathon performance is very much comparable to Almaz Ayana's 10k race in my opinion. Expect greater things from the two in the new future!
And you have to realize too, that Feyisa Lilesa was not even the top pick for Ethiopia's marathon team. He came in the discussion much later, and was selected as the least factor to contend for a medal. I myself didn't think he was going to get a medal, let alone his braveness to expose such a political issue in a such risky way!
What really kept him going is his determination! He had this thing (what he did) planned out and he wasn't going to let it down! From what I understood from his interviews, he actually wanted win the race and show the protest, though that we not to be because it's against a guy like Kipchoge, but he REALLY fought for the win till the very end! So I think his plan of the protest really pushed/encouraged him to win the silver, but he would've performed poorly with his trainings alone, just like his other teammates. He was after a big mission so he fought really hard mentally. What a brave runner!!