Did Daniel Komen participate in the Atlanta Olympics games?

[Powell]

its uncertain how he would have run, but certainly, he would have had stiff competition from nyongabo on the last 400m unless he had managed to drop him beforehand!

I suspect the race would have looked very different had Komen been in it. Remember how he destroyed the field in the middle phase of the race in the 1997 WCh?

[kuha]

Of course, this highlights a dreadful flaw in the overall Olympic selection system. They really should have a wild card system to allow athletes, who are performing outstandingly in the run up to the games, but who haven't been picked for whatever reason, to compete. By not having such a system in place, the fans are being denied the opportunity of seeing the best -v- the best.

I totally agree with this...the Olympics should have at least the top 6 in each event via a wild card system. Is it really the Olympics if the top people aren't there?

I would gently suggest that you're not focusing on what the Olympics ACTUALLY is. It is NOT conceived as a championship for, say, the top 16 (or whatever) performers in each event. If the top 16 hammer throwers are all Russian, only 3 are going to be at the Games.

Why the limit of 3 per country? It's to make room for that one (usually lousy) athlete from a little, dinky country you hardly ever think about. As a global feel-good festival, it's key that athletes from every member country get to be called Olympians, march in the opening ceremonies, and compete--however briefly--on the track, in the pool, etc.

THAT is what the Olympics is about--and it may be a perfectly good thing, but it actually has little to do with any "simple" competitive meeting of all the world's best.

[lovetorun]

Of course, this highlights a dreadful flaw in the overall Olympic selection system. They really should have a wild card system to allow athletes, who are performing outstandingly in the run up to the games, but who haven't been picked for whatever reason, to compete. By not having such a system in place, the fans are being denied the opportunity of seeing the best -v- the best.

I totally agree with this...the Olympics should have at least the top 6 in each event via a wild card system. Is it really the Olympics if the top people aren't there?

[liuxuan]

its uncertain how he would have run, but certainly, he would have had stiff competition from nyongabo on the last 400m unless he had managed to drop him beforehand!

[FrankS]

Of course, this highlights a dreadful flaw in the overall Olympic selection system. They really should have a wild card system to allow athletes, who are performing outstandingly in the run up to the games, but who haven't been picked for whatever reason, to compete. By not having such a system in place, the fans are being denied the opportunity of seeing the best -v- the best.

[tandfman]

Kenya has Olympic Trials similiar to ours and he did not make the top three in their trials. Amazing, but the yearly leader in the 5,000 didn't run in Atlanta.

Hate to nit pick (no, that's not true at all :-)), but at the time of the Olympics, he was not the yearly leader. He was 'only' number 2.

[mump boy]

i was going to start a thread about DK for my money he i the biggest waste of talent i've ever seen in T&F considering Geb is still running and setting records imagine what DK could have done :cry:

[kuha]

It's easy to imagine that Komen's "fire" in the post-Olympics period was stoked, in part at least, by his unhappiness at not making the Olympic team. That's one reason to be happy that things turned out as they did. That said, for me the '96 OG 5000 was a truly lackluster race--missing most of the year's most important performers. I suspect that Komen's presence would have dramatically shaken things up.

[gh]

Not all that amazing; we once had a small stat box in the magazine noting how for many selection meets in a row the Kenyans had ended up leaving home probably the best guy going. Altitude just doesn't affect everybody the same (not even Kenyans), and some of the successful guys train/race elsewhere, and when it comes time to go back to Nairobi for the Trials, some "unknown" stay-at-home can easily sneak in.

[Double R Bar]

Kenya has Olympic Trials similiar to ours and he did not make the top three in their trials. Amazing, but the yearly leader in the 5,000 didn't run in Atlanta.

[Vielleicht]

If not, why didn't he? He had fantastic form just weeks post the Olympics and should have been a serious contender for the 1500m or 5k.