Help save the US Olympic Marathon Trials - A call to action

The one event in the Olympics that should be most inclusive is the marathon. I don't see the point in being very exclusive in participation in the marathon.

Why not allow all nations competing have three athletes in the marathon and make it a symbol that all nations can compete in the marathon with the only restriction being something like 4 hours in case they need to clear the streets for traffic at some point.

I don't get it. How much additional cost would it add to the Olympics? It would be great symbolic of goodwill to the games.

One fallacy is that the OT Marathon is entertaining. It is most definitely not. Any one surprised that going back to the last three that it was Hall, Meb, and Rupp? Not me. Those guys knew they had it in the bag and could goof around for the first half and then pick a time to hammer it home.

Now ROJO keeps bring up Ward in 6th, but who gives a crap, really? Quick, who was 6th in the 400h? Ward in 6th is as we all know a result of Kenya and Ethiopia having only 3 in the race. The only good Olympic marathon in recent history is 2008 thanks to Wanjiru and Merga.

It is better to force Americans to go run fast some where. Look what happened in Boston. All of a sudden we have two more sub 210. Good for both of them. Yea, Ward is one, and that just proves that he was better than that 2:13 anyway.

The Olympic trials should be an open event with no entry fee, No time standards. Then a real unknown can come out of nowhere to win.

There are like 8 of these gold label marathons between now and the end of september. I am guessing most of them are won in not very fast times. There is no reason people can't show up at those and place in the top 5.

Yet as a rule Americans can only race at Chicago, New York, Boston, CIM, and Grandma's. Rare is the sub-2:15/sub-2:35 American willing to race Twin Cities anymore, let alone go overseas (London excepted.)

So what’s the solution you want?

-easy A and B standards

-top 3 make Olympic team irregardless of times

USA will send 3 men and 3 women to the Olympics.

The only question is how you want them selected.

If some guy beats Ward and Fauble at the Trials I want him to go to the Olympics because he proved that he is a better championship racer.

Proud Mary wrote:

So what’s the solution you want?

-easy A and B standards

-top 3 make Olympic team irregardless of times

Not necessary. A solution would be:

* USATF should send the top 3 trials finishers who are in position to qualify for the Olympics by world rank (right now there are 9 men), rather than give preference to auto qualifiers.

* IAAF should give more competition points/weight to the Olympic Trials race so that ideally, anyone who finishes top 3 at the trials would have a sufficient rank to be in the Olympics.

This would help the trials and it wouldn't negatively impact anyone from any other country.

Most of the detractors in this thread are either bitter or simply ignorant, which is understandable because the new system is too complex for most people to understand, which is part of the problem.

Real talk... I'm just gonna kinda sit this one out and continue to enjoy the Mary Cain news for a bit longer. Peace out!

What a bunch of crap! Exceptions for US and Japan.

Blow it out your bunghole LR Owner.

If you want to make a change, then the change should be with the USATF and they should require a course or venue change.

This thread is not going the way Rojo had imagined...........

Guys and Gals-

@Ayy Cee Cee is the only one clearly making sense here. Why aren’t people understanding this is not a big deal? It’s just a faster standard.

In track, if some longshot happens to place top 3 in, say the 1500m but doesn’t have the standard they either don’t go or keep chasing it so they can go. Happens all the time.

The marathon is saying this is still a thing and you can have that Cinderella story high place finish in other races around the world all year long which helps you qualify. It incentivizes fast racing all the time.

Why does everyone think that it has to be a Cinderella story AT the trials? Why do trials for one country to decide their runners suddenly deserve points for that race!

Think objectively. Think logically. You’ll realize you aren’t making sense and just have some silly opinion.

Step up or step out. In the era of 2:01, USA is crying for 2:11 time standard. Tokyo 2020 Olympics won't be slow/tactical. Big guns like Kipchoge, Mo Farah, Osako, Mosinet, Rupp will be entering. And no way Kipchoge will make the first half slower than 1:05, If you want to medal in Olympics, be ready to challenge the GOAT and runners who will go after him. If you can't, then forget about the Olympics and run in New York (like the USA always do) and Chicago. You better earn it like everyone in the world is doing. Japan isn't crying like the USA. They will have their trials in Sept and the top 3 will run Fukuoka/Tokyo to get sub 2:11

The issue is a lot more complex than a faster standard. If the IAAF just decided you needed to run 2:11:30 to get in the Olympics, that would be unfortunate, but I could live with that. But that's not what happened.

I thought the purpose of Olympic Trials was to choose which three from the many athletes meeting the IOC standard should represent your country at the olympics, given the limit of three competitors per country.

If you do not have enough athletes with standard, there is no need for the trials. You can still have an entertaining race where result matters- make it a US championships or something.

Quietly shrink the Atlanta course to 25.8M. As long as the iaaf doesn't measure/certify it, problem is solved.

As a lower elite level marathon runner from another country - this whole "call to action" for an exception for the USA is just arrogant and I find it insulting.

Why should the USA have an exception. I have to jump through the hoops that the IAAF has put in front of me. Why shouldn't US athletes?

All the US has to do is recognise the drop down list for top 80 on a 3 per country basis. This will solve the problem as the top 3 finisher at the trials will surely be within the top 80. If not, they should not go.

I can't run 2:11:30 so I need to run 2 marathons during the qualification period to obtain my ranking. I am also under obligation from my federation to run Doha.

I'm sure many American's do not share the view portrayed by Letsrun on this point. There is a simple solution, recognise the ranking points in addition to qualifying by running 2:11:30 or top 5/10 at a gold label / WMM.

Save the Whales!

This really sounds unfair. Lets be honest, Boston is already the weakest WMM by a long way, and Americans are more likely to race there so get a top 10 finish. The whole argument seems to be that 2:11:30 is too tough a time, and so America should get an exemption.

Wouldn't a better solution be to dial the marathon standards back to 2:17 (so still quicker than 4 years ago), and then this solves the problem for everyone?