If you aren't healthy enough to make the team a month out, you aren't going to be a factor in Paris anyway.
Now in this case, she fell but my point still applies. Given the amount of training she msised, she's not going to win gold. Maybe she gets a bronze. But Nia might be able to do that herself.
DO NOT OVERHAUL THE SYSTEM.
Now I would overhaul the rules to protect the stars a tiny bit. If someone ranked in the top 5 in the world falls in the first 400 of the 800, stop the race and re-run it. If a top 5 sprinter in the world false starts, do not DQ them, just move them back 2 meters.
The Trials though are the best selection process in the world. See who is fittest one month out.
I can't believe the admit she was badly injured and then ask for the Trials to be overhauled. We wouldn't be letting in a gold medal favorite to the team. We'd be letting in a super injured former gold medallist. No thank you.
She's an actual female who ran 1:58 off 2 weeks training
We should just put all the stars in the Finals and screw the rounds, so that their egos get protected from failure...Give them all gold medals while we're at it so their feelings don't get hurt when they finish lower than 1st.
So Mu and her team believe the US Trials should have a discretionary spot open, and we can infer they believe she'd deserve that spot this year if that was a part of the selection process, when the reality is:
1. She tore her hamstring four weeks before the US Trials and essentially 10 weeks before the Olympics,
2. We can infer that even before the hamstring injury took her out of LA Grand Prix/Prefontaine, there were zero plans to race when she was ostensibly healthy at the start of the year,
3. She raced 0 times in 2024 until the Trials and had not raced since the Diamond League final last year,
4. Her best time at the trials was 1:58.84, slower than all of the three qualifiers for the US team,
5. She got tripped up for the 3rd time in 4 years in an important race (US Trials 2021, WC SF 2023, US Trials 2024), showing that there's a real possibility she could trip and stumble at the Olympics and completely miss the medals, making her a poor choice for a discretionary spot regardless, and,
5. Her agent and coach want her to be included in the 4x400 relay pool when she did not enter the 400, has not raced an open 400 since 2022, and has not run a single sub-50 time since she was in the NCAA.
Everybody needs to move on. She was injured, underprepared, and her lack of tactical ability let her down in the final. She fell, she missed the team. It happens. She was never going to challenge Hodgkinson or Moraa this year in her current shape, just like they ran her down last year in Budapest. Her coach, agent and sponsors who had a lot of money riding on her making the team are disappointed. It's sad but it's not the end of the world.
The entitlement of this pair. If her preparation was ruined by a hamstring injury then she's probably not gonna be on the podium anyway so why would USATF select her? She's just salty because she won't be able to get her face out there so her value to sponsors is gonna take a massive hit.
Seriously, if it had been torn she would barely be able to walk. I strained my hamstring a year ago and cud barely walk properly. It felt very awkward.
Mus mistake was to put all her eggs in the Olympic basket. She should have at least run a few Diamond Leagues to have a shot at the Diamond. Maybe she should consider becoming Swedish citizen...
Yeah, a bit of a drama queen is my take on it. Also thought it was bad sportsmanship not to congratulate the three winners. Just a little hug or tap on their shoulder...
If you aren't healthy enough to make the team a month out, you aren't going to be a factor in Paris anyway.
Now in this case, she fell but my point still applies. Given the amount of training she msised, she's not going to win gold. Maybe she gets a bronze. But Nia might be able to do that herself.
DO NOT OVERHAUL THE SYSTEM.
Now I would overhaul the rules to protect the stars a tiny bit. If someone ranked in the top 5 in the world falls in the first 400 of the 800, stop the race and re-run it. If a top 5 sprinter in the world false starts, do not DQ them, just move them back 2 meters.
The Trials though are the best selection process in the world. See who is fittest one month out.
I can't believe the admit she was badly injured and then ask for the Trials to be overhauled. We wouldn't be letting in a gold medal favorite to the team. We'd be letting in a super injured former gold medallist. No thank you.
Rojo, should Galen on a thyroid TUE be moved back 200 meters in a 10,000 track race?
Why not?
I know you are joking around but point of fact you don’t need a TUE for thyroid medication so try again
How about the World Championship model - previous winner gets in - I think using last Worlds to get into Olympics would be best (rather than the usual 4 year cycle). It would increase participation in Worlds. Then, keep it rolling with the Olympics winner in the next Worlds. Would still have the 2 year gap between Worlds right after Olympics and Worlds right before, but it should make the Worlds more popular (want to win the first after Olympics to guarantee getting into Worlds right before Olympics, and thus increasing chance of getting into Olympics).
I feel bad for Mu, I am a fan, and I think our strongest 800m team won’t be in Paris as a result of the fall.
However, I’m not convinced by her team’s logic here. If the argument is that changing the Olympic selection process is necessary because of all the factors that might be the reason for an athlete to perform subpar on the day of the Trials final, who’s to say that those very same factors won’t hinder the athlete at the Olympics? If an athlete is dealing with an injury or some personal issue that was bad timing, what are we to say when the “bad timing” happens in August instead of June?
In any case, I think the main issue with the Trials is that many athletes train to peak for that meet, and then are trending downward when they actually make it to the Olympics. It does make for great TV though. I look forward to the Trials more than I do the Olympics themselves.
So if she had a torn hamstring then she isn’t fit to be in the Olympics. Period. And that’s what the Trials do. Weed out the people who won’t perform 100% when it counts
wonder how you tear a hamstring at age 20, sure it happens, but something is wrong with the training.
with Mu's running of late, it is not going to be a big tear, but of the type that curtails activity, and without attention can lead to a real tear of the hamstring.
anyhows, Mu needs a PR person just to advise her fans, in the right way.
an save herself a lot of grief, that is she gives a crap about her fans..
Yeah, I agree about a PR person. Or at least someone who doesn’t play the whole cat-and-mouse game with the press.
I do feel sorry for her (not Kersee but her). 21 is still very young, despite her accolades. Normally 21-year-olds who make the Trials aren’t thinking of making the team, they are just there to race well and have fun and get experience. The pressure can wait until they’re pros who are more psychologically and emotionally mature for it. The irony is that Mu’s insane talent kind of robbed her of that.
So Mu and her team believe the US Trials should have a discretionary spot open, and we can infer they believe she'd deserve that spot this year if that was a part of the selection process, when the reality is:
1. She tore her hamstring four weeks before the US Trials and essentially 10 weeks before the Olympics,
2. We can infer that even before the hamstring injury took her out of LA Grand Prix/Prefontaine, there were zero plans to race when she was ostensibly healthy at the start of the year,
3. She raced 0 times in 2024 until the Trials and had not raced since the Diamond League final last year,
4. Her best time at the trials was 1:58.84, slower than all of the three qualifiers for the US team,
5. She got tripped up for the 3rd time in 4 years in an important race (US Trials 2021, WC SF 2023, US Trials 2024), showing that there's a real possibility she could trip and stumble at the Olympics and completely miss the medals, making her a poor choice for a discretionary spot regardless, and,
5. Her agent and coach want her to be included in the 4x400 relay pool when she did not enter the 400, has not raced an open 400 since 2022, and has not run a single sub-50 time since she was in the NCAA.
Everybody needs to move on. She was injured, underprepared, and her lack of tactical ability let her down in the final. She fell, she missed the team. It happens. She was never going to challenge Hodgkinson or Moraa this year in her current shape, just like they ran her down last year in Budapest. Her coach, agent and sponsors who had a lot of money riding on her making the team are disappointed. It's sad but it's not the end of the world.
Change the system and who is on our Steeplechase team? Certainly not Marisa Howard.
Earn it at the Trials or stop complaining. The system can be equally cruel (Mu, Tausaga, Lightfoot) and opportunistic (Howard, Whitaker) for all competitors.
Change the system and who is on our Steeplechase team? Certainly not Marisa Howard.
Earn it at the Trials or stop complaining. The system can be equally cruel (Mu, Tausaga, Lightfoot) and opportunistic (Howard, Whitaker) for all competitors.
Nothing is fair. So please don’t lie about it. But we all deal with the unfairness of life. For some of us it puts us at great advantage.
NBC/Nike are pissed they lost their investment on their main marketing source for the Olympics. Cocky coach, USATF, executives, etc assumed she’d make the team.
