I'm with the Brits and others who don't bother with the label 'Olympian' and instead just say, "I'm going to the Olympics". Inane and pointless debates like this are what result from the former.
People are low level pathetic on here. This is why this thread should be taken down. We want her to be in a depression or what is the goal here? She hasn't gone through enough lets really put the boots to her! The moderators just took a full break and do nothing about this thread and they are probably contributing it to them because they are small people too.
I consider her to be a turnip. Therefore she must be a turnip.
Seriously, she went to the Olympics and started a race. Unless you are going to make up some definition with subparagraphs and footnotes, she's an "Olympian" in any normal sense of the word.
overwrought drama llama. she won a list of HS and NCAA championships, as well as winning the trials. she nominally participated before pulling up lame in the olympics. she didn't miss the team entirely (mu) or get tossed for drugs tests. this is fanboy snob nonsense. why on earth would a sponsor ditch a multi-NCAA champion who just got through winning our trials and is 26 with more hopefully to come? oh, the horror! i guess she should have limped the course for you and permanently damaged the goods. as though that's a superior sponsor outcome long term.
to be the tiniest bit fair, but also critical of your argument same time, she is young and might be back. hopefully she is, so it shuts you up.
i mean, "stain?" are you kidding me. she didn't pull a shecarri weed thing and shecarri is back in good graces apparently. stand up from your fainting couch, please.
You sound like a desperate agent trying damage control.
Okeeffe made a horrific mistake in letting the deadline pass & not being able to run one mile. Had she gone 4 or 5 miles with the competition all would be forgiven. This reflects very poorly on her character and that is a critical component of marketability. Ask Puma!
Before this incident I had no idea how the olympic marathon worked. I did not know that an injured athlete could insist on starting just to get a title. The whole concept of having an alternate left me assuming that someone that was injured to that degree would for sure step back and let the alternate run. Being an olympic marathon team alternate seems like a raw deal. They have to train and be ready to run that marathon, but also understand that if one of the original 3 qualifiers wants to just start the race and pi$$ away the opportunity because they feel entitled to it the alternate has to just accept that. That seems like a terrible deal.
Learning how this really works has left be a lot less excited about the olympic marathon. I don't even care who qualifies in the future knowing that so many of the athletes feel no obligation to fulfill the commitment to ensure that the US has a viable competitor in that spot. Qualifying in the trials I guess just mean these are the people who will at least start the race and be called olympians. What does that even mean?
I'm with the Brits and others who don't bother with the label 'Olympian' and instead just say, "I'm going to the Olympics". Inane and pointless debates like this are what result from the former.
The general use of the term Olympian is somewhat laughable. You participated in the Olympics. The term Olympian indicates you now have some status or super power than others don't, and honestly as a person you aren't substantially different from who you were before you qualified.
Everyone seriously using the term probably needs to just get over themselves.
HahHah!
What's laughable is that YOU"RE NOT AN OLYMPIAN!!!
Can you write a more confusing post? Once becoming an Olympian, you in fact DO have more status, a super power? No, of course, not. Does it change you as a person? Absolutely it does. You've achieved something that many people in the world have not and will not. Can't help but to think this type of achievement would boost one's confidence and self-esteem thus leading to achieving more of the same.
This can't be an athlete's decision. Athletes are incapable of objective decisions about whether they are good to go. I can't make an objective decision about whether I am healthy enough to start a local half marathon vs lose the entry fee. How many team sport players would just take themselves out of a game if they felt about 80percent ready to go? Luckily they have a coach to make that call.
We should shame the sponsors and USATF. Remember when everyone shamed Nike for reducing Allyson Felix after she got pregnant? We should shame Puma for forcing a woman to risk her health to collect a bonus. We should ask USATF to set clear standards for when an alternate takes over and make them enforce those standards.
Reminds me of a now-deleted post from Micah Williams, alternate at the 2021 Tokyo 4x1 who didn't end up running, in which he wrote that he is an Olympian despite not running in the Olympics. Sure, buddy.