3 things that bothered me re Rio T&F . . . . and props to Rupp!

Hold on a second. The Colorado girls are definitely clean.

Moo Goo wrote:

I can't stand Salazar and the NOP but Rupp ran well. At this point, I have no doubt in my mind that T&F turned into cycling. Everyone is on something. It really is cheaters vs cheaters including Eulid.

One other thing that was weird - no Olympic flame in the stadium. I guess when Putin put it outside in the plaza for Sochi that made a new precedent?

run with the wom wrote:

Meb has done push-ups before after finishing a race. It is one of his "things". So when he slipped it was a natural reaction from a small embarrassment.

Yep. I though I had seem him do that before. I cannot remember which race it was but I thought I remembered him doing that.

notrump wrote:

Without a stupendous acting job by Felix both would have DQ'd.

First poster I've seen acknowledge that that gold medal was a joke.

Seriously, that's one of his "things?" I guess if it were anyone but Meb doing it, we'd be all over him. But to me it just looks stupid and show-offy. I just don't get it. If you've got that much juice @ the end of a marathon to pound out a few pushups, then run that last mile 30 seconds faster. Seriously.

d2xccoach wrote:

cbenson4 wrote:

I thought the push-ups after the fall were genius

I don't know about "genius", but I thought it was a cool spur of the moment move by Meb. The alternative was to get up and cross the finish line kind of sheepishly. But no, he knocks out a few pushups, gets up and crosses with a big smile on his face. That's an A+ way to finish your last Olympic race given that you just wiped out.

I certainly think it was more convincing than just saying the standard"I'm okay".

At least he didn't pull a Bob Cheruiyot

d2xccoach wrote:

cbenson4 wrote:

I thought the push-ups after the fall were genius

I don't know about "genius", but I thought it was a cool spur of the moment move by Meb. The alternative was to get up and cross the finish line kind of sheepishly. But no, he knocks out a few pushups, gets up and crosses with a big smile on his face. That's an A+ way to finish your last Olympic race given that you just wiped out.

Meb's pushups, along with his overall demeanor after a subpar race were awesome. His fall looked nasty, but he sent a message that he was ok.

Craig Masback was horrendous. I know it is easy to criticize a track commentator, but he was HORRENDOUS. MASBACK SUCKS AS A COMMENTATOR. NO. MASBACK WOULD HAVE TO IMPROVE TO SUCK AS A COMMENTATOR.

The attendance at track finals was very low. IT IS THE OBLIGATION OF THE IOC AND ORGANIZING COMMITTEE TO FILL THE STADIUM. IF THEY CAN'T DO IT, LOWER THE TICKET PRICE. IF THAT DOESN'T HELP, DONATE FREE TICKETS TO CHILDREN WHO WOULD NEVER HAVE THAT OPPORTUNITY BUT MIGHT BE INSPIRED.

Sorry for the the caps. But Masack sucking and the empty stadium really plssed me off.

Pander festival wrote:

I'm not sure why you are giving props to someone who's coach is under investigation for drug use

His coach is not under investigation for drug use.

hearjejajj wrote:

notrump wrote:

Without a stupendous acting job by Felix both would have DQ'd.

First poster I've seen acknowledge that that gold medal was a joke.

Come off it already, USA women took gold in the 4x100 FINALS. You think China would have beat them in the FINALS?! No way.

USA gets no favoritism, quite the opposite. Felix was impeded by disqualified Brazil. They made it to the FINALS on time. And they showed they belonged by winning the FINALS.

Also, not that it matters, but Felix is graceful and beautiful.

hoppers wrote:

hearjejajj wrote:

First poster I've seen acknowledge that that gold medal was a joke.

Come off it already, USA women took gold in the 4x100 FINALS. You think China would have beat them in the FINALS?! No way.

USA gets no favoritism, quite the opposite. Felix was impeded by disqualified Brazil. They made it to the FINALS on time. And they showed they belonged by winning the FINALS.

Also, not that it matters, but Felix is graceful and beautiful.

Performance in the final doesn't show you "belong" there after a DQ in the heats. A DQ is a DQ and the US dropped the stick.

The officiating screw-ups and back-tracks were horrible this games. Literally every race was like "well, those are the results but let's wait in the disqualifications, protests and appeals." All of those should be rare, not the expectation.

Hounddogharrier wrote:

3. Ethiopian women runners - unbeatable world record holders suddenly become beatable after their coach busted for PEDs; world 10k record by obvious druggie destroyed by runner who then can barely run the same pace for 5k.

So let me try to understand your logic for a minute. In your mind, Ayana is obviously on drugs for the 10k but she's off of them by the time the 5k rolls around? Or are they just no longer working? You do realize one of the main reasons to be on drugs is it supposedly helps you recover faster?

And yet after the 10k, half the people on here were saying Ayana had to be on drugs as 'she didn't look tired.' I didn't understand that argument. If that's true, wouldn't she have rocked the 5k? Does it mean that she also could run much faster in the 10k like 28:50? Or do the drugs just make one not look tired but they can't run any faster?

And if AYana is an obvious druggie, what about the other women in the race? Clearly based on your logic, shouldn't Huddle be considered a doper as well.

Comparing 10k pbs versus 5k pbs.

Ayana: (5kPB +26) x 2 = 10k pb

Cheruiyot: (5k pb + 26) x 2 = 10k pb

Huddle: (5k PB + 24) x 2 = 10k pb

I'm so proud of the logic in my post (tons of it) as compared to your that I may start a new thread on this topic.

Two quick clean-ups:

1)There have been previous Olympics that did not finish the marathon in the stadium possibly as recently as Rome. This was not the first.

2)The U.S. 4 X 100 relay team did not drop the baton. The incoming runner threw it, an easy DQ. It was only after enough people from the stands yelled at her that she retrieved it and finished. It was then that NBC deemed her brilliant and classy for finishing and refusing to give up.

"...possibly as recently as Rome." How about London? In 2012.

Nope Rojo you missed my point. I'm saying she sandbagged the 5k. Probably not intending to lose but no world record run. After the 10k all the talk she was juiced , after the 5k all that talk went away .

Dang we are at odds a lot, like almost every post you make is a head shaker. I think others see this too.The OP's logic might not have been great either, but yours is no better.

The point is, Ayana has run close to WR pace in the 5K in the past year, and in the 10K she blasted the WR in the 10, making it look easier than a tempo run. And yes she could probably run a 28:50 in a race with pacers, that's been my guess and it's probably not far off. A lot of shadow ensued following that event, and for the 5K it looked like she just tanked. Maybe it was from the 10K and then some crazy laps in the qualifier, followed by more crazy laps fairly early on in the 5K. So maybe she did tie up. But maybe she didn't want to have the world come down on her by continuing to hammer and run a 14:05 in the final so she just cruised in. Based on what we've seen I'd say the ability to run 28:50 and 13:55 (or even under those times) are not out of the question.

Dion205 wrote:

"...possibly as recently as Rome." How about London? In 2012.

Even better. I meant to say "since" Rome, but had forgotten about London. Thanks for the help!

Free test wrote:

Her celebration after the fact, stomping around and beating her chest was like some nfl dude.

I agree.. She should have twirled and blew a kiss to the camera. That's how women are supposed to act.

cbenson4 wrote:

I thought the push-ups after the fall were genius

Those were some bootleg push-ups though

New York, 2009. And he did the push-ups after he crossed the line as the winner. Bolt did it in London after the 200, by the way, and Farah responded to that with sit-ups after the 5000.

Let's not dwell on Christian Hesch's taunting pre-finish version before an even bigger disgrace.