Women's 10k finish

[jonas]

Turns out that the Ethiopians were so sure they would win, they didn't even notice when they were passed by the Chinese runner.

http://www.athens2004.com/en/Statements ... 130c0a____

[EPelle]

Re: Women's 10k finish

Not seeing the "they didn't even notice" part...

"I feel like crying. I'm very disappointed. I was convinced we would finish one-two-three."

[jonas]

Re: Women's 10k finish

This is what the page says:

Ejegayehu DIBABA (ETH) - Silver medallist

On cheering while crossing the finish line:

"I thought I'd won. I'm really surprised that I don't have the gold medal. I missed the Chinese athlete completely. Had I seen her, I would have put in more effort and passed her."

[George P.]

Re: Women's 10k finish

On one of these threads (but not here), it's suggested that the winner was "toying" with the Ethiopians. I haven't watched the race, alas. But winning by 0.6 sec over ten-thousand meters hardly sounds like a "toying" situation.

[mike renfro]

Re: Women's 10k finish

What I saw of it, Xing (sp) never led a step until about 110m to go, then blew their doors off. She probably ran no more than 10001m (her move to the outside at head of final straightway) and just had a better kick than anyone. But, since she never shared the lead, she may have been fresher at the end. Perhaps Ethiopean hubris was involved. They seemed to pay no attention to the stranger (non-African) in their midst.

[jonas]

Re: Women's 10k finish

>What I saw of it, Xing (sp) never led a step until about 110m to go, then blew
>their doors off. She probably ran no more than 10001m (her move to the outside
>at head of final straightway) and just had a better kick than anyone.

That's how championships are won ... the Ethiopians should know better than anyone.

But I wonder what Dibaba really means. Did she not see the Chinese going past her on the home straight? (How could she miss that?) Or did she not notice that the Chinese was still with the leading group, thinking that it was a lapped runner? Either way, it is incredibly sloppy.

[Alan Shank]

Re: Women's 10k finish

>What I saw of it, Xing (sp) never led a step until about 110m to go, then blew
>their doors off. She probably ran no more than 10001m (her move to the outside
>at head of final straightway) and just had a better kick than anyone. But,
>since she never shared the lead, she may have been fresher at the end. Perhaps
>Ethiopean hubris was involved. They seemed to pay no attention to the stranger
>(non-African) in their midst.

My impression was that Xing won easily. She never seemed to have difficulty holding the pace, then just motored by in the stretch. Oddly, she looked just like a promising youngster in the 5K, finishing behind Sun in 15:07+ after a 14:56+ heat.

Radcliffe led at 3K, but then the Ethiopians tooks over. She hung in the pack for a while, then, just after a commercial break, started to drift, along with Barsosio and Tambilil (KEN). At that point, I figured she would drop out soon. The last 5K, BTW, was 14:49.8, almost as fast as the 5K final.

Benita Johnson of Australia, the workd X-C long-course champion, ran 24th in 32:32+.

There was a lot of lapped-runner traffic over the last few laps of the race. A few of them moved out to let the leaders pass, but most didn't. It seems to me there outght to be a rule for them to move out and let the leaders have the inside lane. I remember running in some 5000m track races where you were supposed to drop out if you were lapped; I refused, but I did cede the inner couple of lanes, which I fell is only right.

Cheers,
Alan Shank

[Alan Shank]

Re: Women's 10k finish

BTW, another dnf was Fernanda Ribeiro, who beat Tulu for the Gold in Goteborg, 1995, also getting Silver in the 5K. She also outkicked Junxia Wang in the '96 Oly 10K, preventing her from doubling. Ribeiro also had Bronze 5K and Silver 10K medals in '97 and Bronze 10K in Sydney. She dnf'd in 10K last year, too. Quite a long and mostly-successful career.
Cheers,
Alan Shank

[Daisy]

Re: Women's 10k finish

> Perhaps Ethiopean hubris was involved. They seemed to pay no attention to the stranger (non-African) in their midst.

I have not seen the race but how could the Ethiopians think that an athlete running past them, sprinting to the line no less, had been lapped?? That's kind of dumb.

Were the Ethiopians complaining that she had not shared in the work at the front? If so that seem a little ironic as that has been their main tatic in many championship races.

[bigred]

Re: Women's 10k finish

The first thing I noticed when the Chinese girl did her victory lap, she doesn't shave her armpits! kinda gross..I hope they didn't magnify it on the big screen.

[EPelle]

Re: Women's 10k finish

Jonas, thanks for sharing the info on the Ethiopians missing the Chinese athlete ... Dibaba has further stated: "We must congratulate the Chinese athlete. Of course we are used of winning the gold, but honestly I didn't see her at all when she passed me. If I had, I would try to pass her again."

[exNLAC]

Re: Women's 10k finish

The Greeks have had a word for this for the last few thousand years - they call it "hubris".

[slowcoach]

Re: Women's 10k finish

>>Radcliffe led at 3K...She hung in the pack for a while, then, just after a commercial break, started to drift,

She shouldn't have had that commercial break! I didn't see any others taking a break.

The Ethiopians didn't concentrate enough towards the end.

Imagine the conversation:
"Who's your woman?"
"I think she's the World Junior record-holder, 7th in Paris"
"No way. I think she's lapped."
"Are you sure? She's Chinese, she couldn't be that bad".

Definitely three dope test failures.

[kuha]

Re: Women's 10k finish

I'd like a psychologist to explain to me WHY I'm so bothered and irritated by the straight-arm running style of that Chinese woman (not the winner, although she's not that great either). For a while in the 10, I was fearful that straight-arm might medal and thus reinforce the BAD example to all of America's impressionistic youth. Thankfully, she fell back and out of sight.

A memo to her: If you insist on NOT using your arms when running, please consider a donation. I'm sure there are armless running kids in India who would love to have them. And just think of the NBC Up-Close-and-Personal profile that you'd get in '08 for your generosity!

[Natasha]

Re: Women's 10k finish

I like the way she runs.