“Being disgusted by doping/dopers vs an injured Olympic athlete (maybe selfishly) not giving up her spot are not in the same stratosphere.”
YOU MISSED THE POINT
If she was disgusted with Ritz because of his association with Alberto, why not the same level of disgust with Kara who had the same association with Alberto? Because money trumped her ethics.
Don't be an idiot. Try, really try. (Never mind, I'm sure it's beyond you). I'll make it clear: Kara was a whistle-blower on Alberto. This is well-documented. Let me guess, you think Kara is lying and, oh, you hate women and love Trump. Am I close? (Of course I am).
Fiona made a tough decision, and it’s a decision that many of you — if you’re being honest — would have made yourselves. So before you pass judgment, remember this: it's easy to preach virtue when you're not the one with everything on the line. Until you’ve run in her shoes, don’t pretend you’re better.
I’ll put my hand up and say I’d have tried to run as long as I still had both legs attached to the rest of me. I bet for all the moralizing, among the general population it’s probably about 50 percent that would run and 50 percent that would drop out. And if you’re talking the personalities most likely to reach the Olympics, it’s probably heavily skewed toward those who would try to run.
I think you all just need to chill out. She was the trials champ, she should have the right to step on the line and do it what she wanted. She was the US best shot at a medal and it sucks she wasn’t able to run.
She was the best hope for a medal as of the day of the trials. But after being hurt since June and cross-training, there is no reasonable argument that she remained the best chance of a medal. If she had lasted ten to 15 miles at a decent pace and then pulled up, I'd cut some slack. But it was obvious from the start that she wasn't ready to go.
I think you all just need to chill out. She was the trials champ, she should have the right to step on the line and do it what she wanted. She was the US best shot at a medal and it sucks she wasn’t able to run.
She was the best hope for a medal as of the day of the trials. But after being hurt since June and cross-training, there is no reasonable argument that she remained the best chance of a medal. If she had lasted ten to 15 miles at a decent pace and then pulled up, I'd cut some slack. But it was obvious from the start that she wasn't ready to go.
Yeah. When they zoomed in on her at 2 minutes into the race she was limping behind a universality athlete who ran her first 5k in 24 minutes. This isn’t a case where she gave it her best shot and failed. She toed the line knowing she was not in a position to compete. She shouldn’t be surprised by the blowback.
Have you guys ever limped around the week before your big race (including a Marathon) and pulled it off anyway on that day? I have. I was even limping around one morning with a calf strain the day of and nearly ran my pr. Another time I placed better than I could have expected with a really bad case of the peroneal tendonitis.
She earned her spot. It was hers to burn and nobody else's.
This wasn't a "maybe this will get stretched out after a few miles" deal or even a situation where it comes down to pain tolerance, she was physically unable to hold a normal running stride and was shuffling along at sub-recovery run pace.
I would hope that if you ever go out for a shakeout the day before and realize that you can only limp along at recovery run pace thanks to shooting pain in your hip, you'd shut it down
Yeah. When they zoomed in on her at 2 minutes into the race she was limping behind a universality athlete who ran her first 5k in 24 minutes. This isn’t a case where she gave it her best shot and failed. She toed the line knowing she was not in a position to compete. She shouldn’t be surprised by the blowback.
To be fair, America doesn't currently have athletes who are competitive in the marathon. She felt the need to run, and she earned the right to say that someone who might finish 30th can't have her spot.
You are correct Kara was a whistle blower and testified in court against Alberto.
Do you know who else testified against Alberto in court?
DATHAN RITZENHEIN
Thank you for helping to prove my point.
What are arguing about, sh-t for brains? I'm not anti-Ritz at all. I think he probably got bamboozled by AlSal, though he was not a whistle-blower as he got asked to talk to them. There's a difference.
You seem to have a weird axe to grind about Des Linden. All we (or Des) knew at the time was that Ritz did something illegal, then Ritz seemed to persuasively show that AlSal had misled him into thinking it wasn't illegal.
Regardless, it doesn't support your point at all that Des checked her morals when there was money involved. That's absurd.
In general, settle down. I said I agreed with most of your post but think the Des part is a cheap shot and not backed by anything substantial.
If I was in her position I would not of given up my spot to an alternate either. My dream, my hard work, my spot. Unless USATF changes things, it's the top 3 who get the choice regardless of health. Yall are thinking way to much into this. None of them had a shot at medaling but Fiona based on how she looked at USA's.
I find it interesting that people think they know they would be a bigger person than Fiona. Every single one of us that dreamed of being an Olympian since they were young would make this exact some decision. I know I would. The opportunity to be labeled Olympian doesn’t come along easily and may never come her way again. Fiona you made the right choice and the one that all of us would.
I expect professional runners to act professionally. Fiona did not meet that standard here.
And frankly, I think that this is embarrassing for Puma to have one their runners not bow out and let the alternate run just because of the structure of her contract.
We need to forever dispense with the idea that 1) You win the right to be on the U.S. Olympic team at the trials 2) You travel to the site of the Olympics (yes, wonderful!) 3) You are injured and can't compete BUT 4) you hobble a couple K in your event for the sole reason that now you can call yourself an "Olympian".
I think I heard Kara say this when Yared ran in the Paris 1500 heats. "Now Yared can say 'he's an Olympian'" The whole premise is absurd. So O"keeffe hobbled through the start so that she can now be called an "Olympian"? Ridiculous.
She didn't "compete". I'm not trying to blame / shame her for doing that, because apparently, people think that what she did made her, by definition, an "Olympian".
The whole concept is crazy.
But stacked on top of that faulty concept is that another American, trained and ready to go, denies the U.S. a chance to field a complete team to compete in the event.
If people want to hold to this crazy definition of "Olympian", then we'll probably see a repeat of this in the future. Is that really a good thing?
We need to forever dispense with the idea that 1) You win the right to be on the U.S. Olympic team at the trials 2) You travel to the site of the Olympics (yes, wonderful!) 3) You are injured and can't compete BUT 4) you hobble a couple K in your event for the sole reason that now you can call yourself an "Olympian".
I think I heard Kara say this when Yared ran in the Paris 1500 heats. "Now Yared can say 'he's an Olympian'" The whole premise is absurd. So O"keeffe hobbled through the start so that she can now be called an "Olympian"? Ridiculous.
She didn't "compete". I'm not trying to blame / shame her for doing that, because apparently, people think that what she did made her, by definition, an "Olympian".
The whole concept is crazy.
But stacked on top of that faulty concept is that another American, trained and ready to go, denies the U.S. a chance to field a complete team to compete in the event.
If people want to hold to this crazy definition of "Olympian", then we'll probably see a repeat of this in the future. Is that really a good thing?
We need to forever dispense with the idea that 1) You win the right to be on the U.S. Olympic team at the trials 2) You travel to the site of the Olympics (yes, wonderful!) 3) You are injured and can't compete BUT 4) you hobble a couple K in your event for the sole reason that now you can call yourself an "Olympian".
I think I heard Kara say this when Yared ran in the Paris 1500 heats. "Now Yared can say 'he's an Olympian'" The whole premise is absurd. So O"keeffe hobbled through the start so that she can now be called an "Olympian"? Ridiculous.
She didn't "compete". I'm not trying to blame / shame her for doing that, because apparently, people think that what she did made her, by definition, an "Olympian".
The whole concept is crazy.
But stacked on top of that faulty concept is that another American, trained and ready to go, denies the U.S. a chance to field a complete team to compete in the event.
If people want to hold to this crazy definition of "Olympian", then we'll probably see a repeat of this in the future. Is that really a good thing?
Dude, shut up and get a life.
Why do I get the feeling that maybe 3 people are pushing this whole discussion? I notice that some are unregistered. You can look over the downvotes through this thread and see where most people stand on the topic.
One a happier note, there was a watch party in Minneapolis at a movie theater from 1 AM to 4 AM on Sunday morning to watch in real time as Dakotah Lindwurm ran the women's marathon. Lots of people there. It was great. Good job Dakotah!!
Some posts on this thread stated that no Americans were competitive in the marathon anyway. I beg to differ. She did us proud.
This post was edited 5 minutes after it was posted.
Have you guys ever limped around the week before your big race (including a Marathon) and pulled it off anyway on that day? I have. I was even limping around one morning with a calf strain the day of and nearly ran my pr. Another time I placed better than I could have expected with a really bad case of the peroneal tendonitis.
She earned her spot. It was hers to burn and nobody else's.
First, I can't believe you're actually trying to compare running 4:30 with a calf niggle at your local marathon sponsored by Papa Johns Pizza to representing the USA at the OLYMPIC GAMES when you look like this 1k off the starting line:
Even if we give her the benefit of the doubt that it was a shock injury that sprung up in a few days and buy her timing with respect to informing an alternate, that still doesn't excuse her starting the race in this condition. At an absolute minimum she knew how hurt she was during her warmup.
You don't start a race with USA on your chest so hurt that you immediately get dropped by the woman from Bhutan who is just hoping to finish it.
I think USATF is kind of expecting that most athletes will be smart enough to make a call like that on their own, but judging by some of the posters here maybe a little oversight is necessary.
If the US beginning in 2025 were to implement a prove-race-fitness requirement in order to be placed on the start list of an Olympics or WC marathon, would people still be arguing that the top three finishers at a trials race (with the standard or world ranking) possess a “right” to start the race, and that the new US rule was illegitimate because it violates that right? I would assume not. The US could change their trials rules to allow a discretionary third spot like Great Britain, and that would change what “rights” third place finishers have, too.
As of 2024, the US doesn’t have any such requirement. O’Keeffe’s right to do as she did was respected in that officials did not remove her from the start list against her will. Criticism of how she chose to exercise her right does not violate her right. A right doesn’t guarantee freedom from exposure to other people’s negative opinions of how you exercise it.
saw her in mammoth lakes training fully before the race. workouts at the track, tempos in round valley, etc. impressive workouts too. you clearly do not know anyone.