Is the fix in? Andrew Butchart suddenly withdraws from Birmingham GP -Mo Farah's path to victory just got way easier

Wouldn't surprise me at all if British Athletics hadn't leaned on Butchart. Why on earth would he withdraw when in such form and when previously entered, when uninjured and in great form.

Athletics is so about political correctness and inclusiveness now, especially in Europe and GB. We refer to Mo Farah as "Golden Boy" in our house, so sickeningly syncophantic is the commentary whenever the saint runs on tv. So glowing are the compliments, even before he has even won the race, it really makes you feel a little queasy.

I'm sure Mo had something to do with Andy Vernon's (one of GB's fastest ever 5000m and 10000m runners) so that he was not selected for the World Championships in 2014, after nearly beating Mo and medalling at the Europeans the previous year. Inexplicably, the qualifying standard for all other athletes was meant to be achieved twice, which is very difficult for distance runners. It also followed a "twitter war" between Vernon and Farah.

Not a fan of Farah. Quite often, you bump into many Team GB athletes when on warm weather training camps or at lower key early season or mass participation cross country races yourself, and they generally have a friendly word for you. Not Mo. Never seen him supporting athletes, never seen him have any connection with GB since presumably his junior days.

If he is connected to the above two incidents, the man is actually harming British athletics. If only he would consider the support given to him in his younger years, and consider giving back in some way (other than in some headline-grabbing, high profile way that benefits him).

Why does Wejo even let you post?

You might hate Farah for reasons you don't feel like truly sharing. Andy Vernon is a toxic àsshole and he deserves what he gets

co wrote:

Brits have always had this reputation, rojo.

Seb Coe ducked everyone.

Seb Coe ducked Ovett.

Steve Cram ducked Coe.

Steve Cram ducked Ovett.

Coe and Ovett avoided each other. Coe avoided Cram when Cram was in top shape.

Cram really never ducked anyone. In early season races if he wasn't in shape, he'd say so and skip a meet. But once things got rolling he'd show up and race whoever lined up, Coe, Cruz, Ovett, Aouita, Bile...

More likely Butchart got his dosing wrong. Nothing unusual at all about a man on fire being a bit too hot to compete…

Cfhdh wrote:

More likely Butchart got his dosing wrong. Nothing unusual at all about a man on fire being a bit too hot to compete…

There ya go. He was going to flunk the drug test.

Fkagehso wrote:

You might hate Farah for reasons you don't feel like truly sharing. Andy Vernon is a toxic àsshole and he deserves what he gets

Yup.

heythereyou wrote:

Why does Wejo even let you post?

I think it's a fair question to ask. The British meets are known for making it easy on Mo. Mo has put on some good performances where he pushed for time when he didn't need to as well so it's a mixed bag in Britain.

Robert posted this in two different posts so maybe you missed this part, but a source told Rojo he was in a meeting where a British meet promoter said "Over here, we can control the fields so it's best for our boys."

Related to that general idea, I remember being in Britain and talking about Ryan Hall. Essentially they couldn't believe he hadn't won a major marathon in the US. I said it wasn't easy to win one and they replied something along the lines of "We'd make sure he won one over here."

So I think it's definitely in the realm of questions that are OK for track and field fans talk about. If track was a major sport this would be what people were talking about all day today.

People are paying money ($$$) to watch Mo run, not Buthurt.

So then, the more interesting question is do they pay Butchart any sort of fee for giving up the chance to take on Mo and run a PB? Or does he just get nothing

cgfgih wrote:

So then, the more interesting question is do they pay Butchart any sort of fee for giving up the chance to take on Mo and run a PB? Or does he just get nothing

They would have to pay him a lot in order to pull out and keep quiet.

No way he or somebody else he knows (from Scotland) keeps quiet about it without an incentive.

What will people say if Farah runs a European record indoors tomorrow solo?

rojo wrote:

PhakeNews wrote:

His mom is in the hospital, quit posting fake news.

It's not fake news. Do you understand punctuation.

The original post was posted as a question. Thus we were simply asking for a question that people were already asking all over twitter. I was definitely aware of the fact that there could be a family emergency. We will let you know if we hear anything official.

I believe this is elite level trolling.

For the topic at hand, sports are entertainment. The UK public doesn't want to see a guy that hasn't won shit. They want to see the 4 time gold medalist and who knows how many world championship medalist. Even if they do set the race up with that in mind, it's because Mo sells tickets. At this point, Butchart does not.

Mo doesn't need to prove sh1t to anyone. 3:28 to ~59:20 within a year of each other. End of story.

Fine-Tuned- Machining wrote:

Nope this is good journalism. It's right on.

Thank you. Some people on here are either lacking the logic gene or just watch to bash me.

This is pretty straightforward. We wrote a lengthy preview of the meet where one of the marquee races is Mo Farah vs. Butchart and others in the 5k. The day before the meet, Butchart announced he's not racing with no explanation as to why he's not racing but he did add the caveat that he's not injured.

We simply wondered why Butchart wasn't racing and asked about it. When we did so, we even mentioned the possibility that there could be a family emergency.

Can you imagine if this was a big time sport like the NFL or Premiere League. Can you imagine if the Dallas Cowboys announced a day before a game against the New England Patriots that they weren't going to play but gave no reason why? The world would be up in arms and sports tv/talk radio would be asking the very same question we did all day long.

I often think of the messageboard as our sport's version of talk radio. We simply initiated the conversation that fans across the globe were already having.

Good I love Mo Farrah he's the Middle Distance GOAT

oh please wrote:

rojo wrote:

It's not fake news. Do you understand punctuation.

The original post was posted as a question. Thus we were simply asking for a question that people were already asking all over twitter. I was definitely aware of the fact that there could be a family emergency. We will let you know if we hear anything official.

I believe this is elite level trolling.

For the topic at hand, sports are entertainment. The UK public doesn't want to see a guy that hasn't won shit. They want to see the 4 time gold medalist and who knows how many world championship medalist. Even if they do set the race up with that in mind, it's because Mo sells tickets. At this point, Butchart does not.

Mo doesn't need to prove sh1t to anyone. 3:28 to ~59:20 within a year of each other. End of story.

Believe me, I'd far rather watch an up and coming athlete like Mr. Butchart than Mr. Mo.

Obviously the promoters care if Fatah wins or not. They make money from setting up races for him to win and have been doing so for years.

Once the crown slips the gravy train grinds to a halt.

Fed Up Brit wrote:

oh please wrote:

I believe this is elite level trolling.

For the topic at hand, sports are entertainment. The UK public doesn't want to see a guy that hasn't won shit. They want to see the 4 time gold medalist and who knows how many world championship medalist. Even if they do set the race up with that in mind, it's because Mo sells tickets. At this point, Butchart does not.

Mo doesn't need to prove sh1t to anyone. 3:28 to ~59:20 within a year of each other. End of story.

Believe me, I'd far rather watch an up and coming athlete like Mr. Butchart than Mr. Mo.

Sir Mo

rojo wrote:

Can you imagine if this was a big time sport like the NFL or Premiere League. Can you imagine if the Dallas Cowboys announced a day before a game against the New England Patriots that they weren't going to play but gave no reason why? The world would be up in arms and sports tv/talk radio would be asking the very same question we did all day long.

This is a nonsensical question and is not even close to the same situation. Are you serious?

You want to talk big time sports? Many NBA stars sit out scheduled games and are uninjured, often announcing it the day of the competition. That goes by with a bit of grumbling from the media and fans (especially when it is Lebron James) but is widely accepted and sometimes even praised (when it is Greg Popovich doing it).