No TBO in Zurich-Duck?

[pickle47]

While Christine O can legitimately claim to be a) racing for the home fans, and b) meeting Nicola S by racing at Gateshead, she is also missing out on a match race with Sanya R. Is she ducking the bronze medalist?

Expected Brit response: "She doesn't NEED to meet anyone. She has the gold medal to prove it." Fair enough. But dollars to doughnuts, I think Sanya will finish out the year without another loss, no matter who she meets. And I hope they do meet again before the year is out.

Even Lasse Viren won an occasional race against the best outside of the Olympics.

[marknhj]

Re: No TBO in Zurich-Duck?

While Christine O can legitimately claim to be a) racing for the home fans, and b) meeting Nicola S by racing at Gateshead, she is also missing out on a match race with Sanya R. Is she ducking the bronze medalist?

Expected Brit response: "She doesn't NEED to meet anyone. She has the gold medal to prove it." Fair enough. But dollars to doughnuts, I think Sanya will finish out the year without another loss, no matter who she meets. And I hope they do meet again before the year is out.

Even Lasse Viren won an occasional race against the best outside of the Olympics.

She doesn't need to meet anyone. She has the gold medal to prove it. I suspect Richards will win every remaining race too, no matter who she faces. But, she lost the one meet that matters, the Olympic Games. You'd better start coming to terms with that because it will never change.

[26mi235]

Re: No TBO in Zurich-Duck?

While Christine O can legitimately claim to be a) racing for the home fans, and b) meeting Nicola S by racing at Gateshead, she is also missing out on a match race with Sanya R. Is she ducking the bronze medalist?

Expected Brit response: "She doesn't NEED to meet anyone. She has the gold medal to prove it." Fair enough. But dollars to doughnuts, I think Sanya will finish out the year without another loss, no matter who she meets. And I hope they do meet again before the year is out.

Even Lasse Viren won an occasional race against the best outside of the Olympics.

She doesn't need to meet anyone. She has the gold medal to prove it. I suspect Richards will win every remaining race too, no matter who she faces. But, she lost the one meet that matters, the Olympic Games. You'd better start coming to terms with that because it will never change.

If she had one of the top twenty legs in the 4x400, maybe, but he legacy as a 400 runner is called into question by her abject failure, almost costing GB a place in the finals and sealing a low finish in the final. I know that they are 'different events', but not really. If she ducks SR the whole way, including in WAF, and SR wins those races, then she will join the legion of winners in Beijing that are not #1 (and for her it will be the second time in a row).

[marknhj]

So what? She won the one race that matters and that is all that counts. What is so hard to understand about that? It was the Olympic 400m Final...nothing else matters this year.

[26mi235]

So what? She won the one race that matters and that is all that counts. What is so hard to understand about that? It was the Olympic 400m Final...nothing else matters this year.

A lot of other things matter; it is the most important thing but it is NOT the only thing. See gh's comment about a (record) number of winners that will not be #1. If nothing else mattered, they would be #1; conclusion, other things matter.

Also, answer me, how can the Champ be fifth in the first leg, which only had two top runners (she was well behind the other #1) on the leg. She was in the bottom half of the runners in the 4x400. Being fourth of fifth best is one thing, being 20th (or whatever) best is a disgrace.

[guru]

Also, answer me, how can the Champ be fifth in the first leg, which only had two top runners (she was well behind the other #1) on the leg. She was in the bottom half of the runners in the 4x400. Being fourth of fifth best is one thing, being 20th (or whatever) best is a disgrace.

She had lane 9 - on a 3 turn stagger it was a time trial all the way. And I agree with marknhj - as I said on the other thread - I'm sure Ohuruogu, as with Harper, could not care less about her "ranking" when compared to wearing that medal.

[marknhj]

So what? She won the one race that matters and that is all that counts. What is so hard to understand about that? It was the Olympic 400m Final...nothing else matters this year.

A lot of other things matter; it is the most important thing but it is NOT the only thing. See gh's comment about a (record) number of winners that will not be #1. If nothing else mattered, they would be #1; conclusion, other things matter.

Also, answer me, how can the Champ be fifth in the first leg, which only had two top runners (she was well behind the other #1) on the leg. She was in the bottom half of the runners in the 4x400. Being fourth of fifth best is one thing, being 20th (or whatever) best is a disgrace.

She's the Olympic Champion (and in case you need reminding, the World Champion). Get used to it because it's set in stone. The ONE thing that mattered this year to each athlete was the Olympic Final. I'm very sorry that you're unable to appreciate that, but frankly my astonishment at some long term fans ignorance about what really matters at this level never ceases to grow. Enjoy the sport for what it is and put away your spreadsheets, second guesses, insulting remarks and pathetic attempts to reposition an athletes Olympic victory. Christine O. is the Olympic Champion. Period.

[pickle47]

Re: No TBO in Zurich-Duck?

While Christine O can legitimately claim to be a) racing for the home fans, and b) meeting Nicola S by racing at Gateshead, she is also missing out on a match race with Sanya R. Is she ducking the bronze medalist?

Expected Brit response: "She doesn't NEED to meet anyone. She has the gold medal to prove it." Fair enough. But dollars to doughnuts, I think Sanya will finish out the year without another loss, no matter who she meets. And I hope they do meet again before the year is out.

Even Lasse Viren won an occasional race against the best outside of the Olympics.

She doesn't need to meet anyone. She has the gold medal to prove it. I suspect Richards will win every remaining race too, no matter who she faces. But, she lost the one meet that matters, the Olympic Games. You'd better start coming to terms with that because it will never change.

Okay, that was too easy!

Hey, no sour grapes here. TBO has the medal, and good on her for it. The question is, do you go to your corner and polish it up, or do you put yourself up against the competition again? TBO is by no means a dominant runner. She has won two championships on the world stage, and had her hat handed to her in a lot of other world class races. She has a long way to go to be a "complete" champion, if you value that sort of thing.

Cycling seems like a good analogy here. Stage racing is a whole different animal than one-day racing. Usually excelling in one means being at a little disadvantage in the other. Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault couldn't hold a candle to Sean Kelly in one-day races, but Kelly didn't have the tools to win the Tour de France. However, the Tour has the cache, the spotlight, so that's how we (well, the general public anyway) judges cyclists.

Sanya is a long way from being done, and the same can be said for TBO. I guess I'm looking for a little courage along with that gold medal.

[AthleticsInBritain]

Re: No TBO in Zurich-Duck?

Sanya is a long way from being done, and the same can be said for TBO. I guess I'm looking for a little courage along with that gold medal.

Marknhj, I'm guessing Pickle is rather obviously trolling here, so it's probably best not to feed it. Courage is what won TBO the gold medal. I suspect that even if Richards raced TBO 10 times over the next 3 weeks and beat her by a second each time, she'd swop every single victory for that gold medal. Richards is the one with something to prove. Ohu won when it matters: she doesn't have to do a damn thing she doesn't want to do.

Besides, Britain just had its best OGs for 100 years. The welcome home has been huge! The party's here!

[rumbleyoungmanrumble]

Re: No TBO in Zurich-Duck?

I guess I'm looking for a little courage along with that gold medal.

Of course you are.

[eldrick]

as the champ, she can pick'n'choose her races

no point racing in zurich after such an emotional high as she'll almost certainly lose to sanya, who appeared in the relay to have recovered from her hamstring tightness

there are other races after zurich for them to race

at some stage though, ohugo will need to find fast races as currently she is slowest og champ since '76 & over next few seasons she needs to put down some fast times to get some picky fans' respect - currently, she doesn't even hold the national record & kathy cook must be kicking herself that she was born 24y too early

[mump boy]

of coure she's going to miss Zurich and run at home !!! but i'd be very suprised if she missed the rest of the GP this season. She has absolutely nothing to prove, will probably lose to Sanya but who cares she is Olympic Champ :-)

i am the first person to critisize her dreadful relay performance but it has absolutely nothing to do with her ranking :? :?

[nevetsllim]

There would be no point for Christine to be racing in Zurich - she did so last year and underperformed. Besides which, she's racing in Gateshead and it wouldn't make much sense to run both races (although Okoro is attempting both, but she perhaps has something to prove to herself). I have no doubt that Ohuruogu will race in Brussels and at the WAF.

[Matt]

Richards can go on a nice tour around Europe and win every race.....hell she can even run 48.70 again, but you know what it means? Diddly squat.

[Mikewats]

Is Felix not running anymore 400's this year?