Unreal: Germany's Philipp Pflieger debuted in Berlin at 2:12:50 - Olympic federation says he can't go to the Olympics

A standard is a standard, dude. If you're going to make a rule or a checkpoint, then enforce it!

It's frustrating to see this is still happening. My husband is from Germany and a similar thing happened to him back in 2000. Ran the Olympic standard, but not the German standard. Despite people at the national level speaking on his behalf (and even offering to pay to send him to the Olympics out of their own pockets!), they wouldn't send him...nor did they send a full men's team.

Anna Hahner missed the standard by a few minutes too. The german federation announced the standards a few weeks ago. I had a look at them then and thought it would be problematic, since there aren't enough runners hitting those times regularly (women's 800m time is -1:59, just one person ran that thus past season, it was the first sub 2 in nearly two decades). They need to have tough standards for throws and pole vault, since there already are a lot of top athletes in those events. But running is a different story here, and I think many European federations (like Holland in 2012) are killing the sport with unrealistic standards. There just isn't the depth at the elite or sub-elite level to warrant such tough standards. There are already few runners hitting the Olympic standard, so I don't understand why it needs to tougher. GB has tremendous depth, and can actually profit from tough standards, but I don't see that here in Germany. Canada had really tough standards and wasn't sending anyone for a while, have eased up a little bit and now there is a running boom (which is also related to other factors too).

Exactly! Thanks to letsrun for bringing this up.

I think that the german federation is completely out of order for saying that they want only athletes that could place 8th or higher in the Olympics.

Someone please inform them that this is against the olympic spirit.

Not sending to the Olympics the few athletes that qualify is hurting those sports and stops younger athletes from even continuing training in those events.

If someone knows them could we name the people that make those decisions?

If you send people to the Olympics then there is less money for the people running the federations, and whatever moronic projects they are running at the moment.

fred wrote:

If you send people to the Olympics then there is less money for the people running the federations, and whatever moronic projects they are running at the moment.

I'm sure that the concept of funded athletes (if hit the unrealistic standard) vs unfunded athletes (if hit the Olympic standard, but not the unrealistic one) would solve this problem.

Pretty sure that 99.999999% of athletes would decide to pay for themselves.

It's not 1964 or 1984 anymore. These standards are very difficult to hit. Getting top 8 is super tough. Most top 8 athletes at the last games would have been gold medalists in 1984.

So this guy finished almost 9 minutes behind the winner and failed to make the standard on the fastest course available. What's the big deal? I think it's absurd that you guys are obsessed with white 2:12 Berlin guys - let it go.

fred wrote:

If you send people to the Olympics then there is less money for the people running the federations, and whatever moronic projects they are running at the moment.

Because sending fewer people to the Olympics is the surest way to increase any funding you get from the government?

Pussification wrote:

So this guy finished almost 9 minutes behind the winner and failed to make the standard on the fastest course available. What's the big deal? I think it's absurd that you guys are obsessed with white 2:12 Berlin guys - let it go.

Agreed

If the:

UK can produce athletes like Farah

US can produce distance runners like Lagat

Canada can produce distance runners like Mo Ahmed

Why can't Germany produce athletes like that?

It's easy to run 2:12 for the marathon. Pretty much every poster on LR (man or woman) has run faster than that in the last 12 months.

fred wrote:

If you send people to the Olympics then there is less money for the people running the federations, and whatever moronic projects they are running at the moment.

This.

Plus it is politically motivated. It's all about the medal table.

And even worse,before Beijing the federal money was allocated based on "management by objectives" by the Ministry of Silly Interior Affairs. Some sport federations claimed torrential medals as their target -- and got the money.

Young people are a bit daft to play this game as "professionals". They should get a proper education and surpass these hacks in the sport administration both ethically and economically.

The top athletes are, by the way, all employs (and social-insured) by

- customs

- police

- army

(At least at the time of Beijing in that ascending order, with thekatter usually getting the most visibility). So nobody who "made it through the lower ranks" lives on a shoe deal or such.

Another aspect of this "outrage" is THE default "cui bono?" Sport Marketing companies pushing their fringe sport into the Olympics? *cough*

Doesn't pass the smell test for me.

They need the $$ to spend on welcoming their new middle eastern overlords.

Hats off to Phillip s 2:12, 50. The guy has talent. It was his second marathon, but last year he did not finish.

There are two arguments: make standard high and according to what I think is currently considered to result in a top 20 finish. The athletes would be ambitiously trying to hit that mark...so the argument goes.

Or, second, make qualifications easier like in Finland or Sweden (2:15) in order to give developing upcoming athletes a chance. With being Olympic athletes the can market themselves better and sustain a professional career.

Problem is Germany doesn't spend much money on athletes. They want medals and they know even guys like arne gabius have no chance in Río. So why give athletes like Phillip a free trip to Rio to finish somewhere top 25 at best.

I understand him Being pissed at that, but the real problem is the federations tight budget which results in them throwing the little money they have into throws and jumps.

Pussification wrote:

So this guy finished almost 9 minutes behind the winner and failed to make the standard on the fastest course available. What's the big deal? I think it's absurd that you guys are obsessed with white 2:12 Berlin guys - let it go.

This is a harsh way of saying things but I agree. That's not to say that I don't appreciate a dude busting his ass to run a 2:12, it's just that he didn't make the standard and there's no chance of him being in the mix in the Olympics. Professional athletics is for the best of the best. This guy is not the best of te best. He's really good but he's irrelevant when it comes to international competition. Maybe someday he could run 2:08 and maybe Germany should give him a stipend to help him develop but even if he can get to 2:08 he still only has slight chance of winning (of course in the marathon a 2:08 guy can maybe win if the stars align weather, dnf et al). The thing is, he hasn't run the standard so it doesn't matter.

In my mind, Germany shouldn't be allowed to send athletes to the Olympics at all. Have we really forgotten the atrocities already?

I have really high standards, and haven't been on a date in a really long time....

how soon we forget wrote:

In my mind, Germany shouldn't be allowed to send athletes to the Olympics at all. Have we really forgotten the atrocities already?

Right. Let's punish people for bad things other people did before they were born. That'll show 'em.

He did make the Olympic standard and he's less than a second and half per mile from the German standard. It does matter because making the Olympic one qualifies him to go should the Germans want to send him.. Realistically, his chances of finishing in the top eight are not noticeably less with 2:12:50 than with 2:12:15. It's pretty common for marathoners to run slower in the Olympics than they do in a cool weather, rabbitted race on a course designed for speed.

I think it's bad for distance running when countries essentially decide that their runners have no chance of finishing well against a field of Africans and just stop sending them to big international races. That's largely why interest in the World Cross Country Championships has fallen so badly and I think it's part of the reason the standard in non-African countries has fallen. Incentive to bust your tail and qualify for an Olympics can fade when you're told you're not going even though you are qualified. Hopefully, Pflieger will decide that he only needs to improve a little to go and will do it.

But I don't think it's coincidence that the US is probably the most competitive non-African country in the distance events today and is also the one that has always committed to sending any qualified athlete to the Olympics regardless of their projected placings.