He does not have the footspeed to deal with Ramzi and Kaouch and Silva and Kipchirchir. He's not nearly as good in the 800 as some of those guys. I didn't say it was a tremendous race, but it wasn't terrible. 9th at Worlds is the best he's done. So, if he continues to improve, maybe he'll be able to medal in '07 or '08. We must remember his PR is still far slower than some of the other people in the race. Two years ago the guy wasn't beating Jason Lunn, now he's 9th at Worlds.
All of it is insignificant anyway, the best 1500 meter runner (outside of El G) in the world will be back next year and he will win in '07 and in Beijing. Lagats absence this year broke the gate open for anyone to will, it will not be so in the coming years.