Les wrote:
You do realize that just one year and one major championship has passed since Kerr medaled? In Murphy's case 4 major championships have passed since he medaled in 2016 without him getting close to the podium.
Yes, but Murphy, to his credit, did make the final in two Olympic Games (2016 for third place and 2020 (really 2021) for last place of 9) and in one World Championships (2019 for last place of 8). Yes, two of those three placings were very disappointing, but he did get to the finals.
In the Tokyo Olympic final, I feel he made an error like Coe's 1980 Moscow Olympic 800 m run: getting stuck (Murphy) or staying (Coe) in the back during a slow first 400 m.