If you could change one outcome of the Olympics

[Mellow Johnny]

...of the above, what would it be?

[AS]

only two of those seem vaguely fair... the ones where someone runs in the final and the current winner could still be the winner...

[Mellow Johnny]

only two of those seem vaguely fair... the ones where someone runs in the final and the current winner could still be the winner...

I hear ya. It wasn't about being fair, though, just what the biggest disappointment for people was. Truly, none of them are fair. What happened happened and that's the way it was/is. I also tried to add the relays on there but it wouldn't take.

I voted for Lagat myself. Would have really liked to have seen him get the Olympic Gold. Reminded me of watching Kipketer come up short which was tough to watch.

[paulthefan]

seems like a no brainer to me... Beijing olympics with Liu out was like the 1968 Superbowl with Joe Namath out.. like the los angels olympics with King Carl out... like the 80s celtics v lakers with Bird and Johnson out. ... you get the idea.


secondly all of the choices that suggest a change in who won are downright strange,... or even unamerican .

[Daisy]

seems like a no brainer to me... Beijing olympics with Liu out was like ..

yep

[Powell]

secondly all of the choices that suggest a change in who won are downright strange,... or even unamerican .

They can't be un-American - they all involve Americans winning :lol:

[EPelle]

I:d liked to have Sanna Kallur race Lolo Jones, with neither meeting their respective fates the way they were eliminated from medal contention (semi for Kallur; final for Jones).

[croflash]

seems like a no brainer to me... Beijing olympics with Liu out was like ..

yep

Agreed, could have been the highlight of the Olympics.

[malmo]

seems like a no brainer to me... Beijing olympics with Liu out was like the 1968 Superbowl with Joe Namath out..

You said it... a "no brainer"

Like a fish without toilet paper, a cup without a pencil, bacon without apple pie ...you get the idea... oh stop me!

[tandfman]

seems like a no brainer to me... Beijing olympics with Liu out was like the 1968 Superbowl with Joe Namath out

I think you mean the 1969 Superbowl.

[imaginative]

I do not feel at home in the US-centric list above---and I would have a very
hard time to decide just between the many swedish disappointments of the
games, without looking at other countries. How about the pre-olympic change
``swedish injury problems reduced to those of an average year''?

[Marlow]

Liu is the obvious answer, but Lolo 'shoulda' won, so can we have a do-over there, please?

[SQUACKEE]

The only possible correct answer is to have the current World record holder in the Marathon throw down against the next world record holder!

[Davidokun]

seems like a no brainer to me... Beijing olympics with Liu out was like the 1968 Superbowl with Joe Namath out

I think you mean the 1969 Superbowl.

For what it's worth, Super Bowl III was played on January 12, 1969, at the end of the 1968 NFL season.

[malmo]

Liu is the obvious answer, but Lolo 'shoulda' won, so can we have a do-over there, please?

Get over it. Lolo got her 15 minutes of fame, ten times over. She got more publicity than all of the other hurdlers combined.

Of the hundreds of hurdle races that she's competed in her lifetime, she has run fast enough to win the Olympics only twice, and fast enough to win a medal 14 times. How does that compare to the others who competed?

Golds, Medals, Name
4, 21 Bridgitte Foster-Hylton (6th)
3, 15 Delloreen Ennis-London (5th)
3, 11 Damu Cherry (4th)
2, 14 Lolo Jones (7th)
1, 5 Sally McClellan (2nd)
1, 2 Dawn Harper (1st)
0, 5 Pricilla Lopes-Schliep (3rd)
0, 0 Sarah Claxton (8th)

Even Susanna Kallur, who didn't make it to the final, has run fast enough to win Beijing three times! What about her "do-over"?

But if you want "do-overs" perhaps the most deserving is Michelle Perry? Care to take a guess how many times she's run fast enough to win in Beijing? Where's her 15 minutes of fame?

If compelling stories matters more than performance when it counts, then I'd take Sarah Claxtons story any day of the week. It exemplifies what the Olympic movement is all about.