No O'Keeffe in marathon?

They know they aren't Olympians if they don't start the race. Selfish? yeah, but everybody on this Board would have done the same thing.

Besides O’Keeffe’s shameful DNF why do the American women always take an early lead in the marathon. When are they going to learn do enough to stay with the leaders and save their bursts of energy late in the race. So many times they run out front then go back to the lead pack and start fading after that.

she's clearly lying. she wanted to be an Olympian and the only way to do that is actually compete. She knew she couldn't race but is going to say stuff like that to try and deflect criticism.

Some comments have been directed at USATF as part of the issue and they should have made a decision. Spend a few minutes and take a look at who the folks are at USATF that ultimately would make this decision. And then you will understand how nothing gets done at USATF. Just freaking clowns, with little to no experience understanding the sport. I will say it until the day I die, USATF administration, and committees are filled with ass kissing incompetent people who masquerade as qualified people. I find it appalling.

You didn't see the Australian dancer yet.

Oh no! McClain got a free flight to Paris?!?!? The horror!!

Maybe she should have tried placing higher than 4th at the trials?

Alternates do not receive compensation. How do you know she had a free flight to Paris? Do you work for USATF?

I agree with this post!

I think everyone in this thread should write to USATF and tell them that this situation is unacceptable and embarrassing for the Association and we, as fans, many of us probably as members, demand USATF develop a process to ensure no athlete hits the start line without, in good faith, thinking they can complete the competition. Diagnosis the problem: athlete selfishness and hiding fitness concerns, sponsor pressure, financial hardship concerns, etc. and put systems in place to protect against this happening again. Surely there can be an independent evaluation from the team doctors leading up to the event. Surely alternates can be trained up and prepared to be called in. And yes, if no viable alternative remains (like the Ritz example) you can let the athlete give it a go. And good grief, hire some good PR people because Fiona giving up her spot could have worked out positively for her, an alternate, and USATF.

I’ve gone to many start lines beat up but never as bad as how Fiona looked 1k in.
Not a good look for her or USATF.

Maybe the Puma runner should have done the right thing and put her country first. Alternates exist for this exact reason!

This. Also, the way people treated Nuguse for not racing I don't blame her for making sure she got the letsrun stamp of approval for Olympian criteria.

Actually 6 and 7 were both injured so it would have been Alissa McKaig who finished in 8th place in 2012. McKaig was reportedly aware of Des's injury and willing to go, but would have been somewhat underprepared. In the end, Des decided to run so McKaig stayed home.

Ouch. Behind the Bhutan when man at 1km is brutal.

While I think she should have given up her place, this is also an indictment of how the sport is funded. When athletes earn salaries rather than sponsorship then they can make better long-term decisions because the salary is paid even if they're injured. Messi doesn't play through serious injury because his salary isn't dependent on him simply appearing on a pitch. The athletics sponsorship model is really harmful. East African athletes make different decisions because they can make more from prize money than they get from their poor sponsorship deals. So Lemma can drop out for Tola because he can then go and win a lot of money in a fall marathon.

Maybe shoe companies need to rethink how they structure bonuses because simply being able to step foot on an olympic starting line and not go much further isn't providing value to the brand

Good on her for starting. She earned that start. And it's not like the alternate was going for a medal.

Says hip injury. Did she look worse than at the trials?

Coaches don't get a say the USOC should have the final say if she was noticeably injured.

What’s the point of naming an alternate and telling them to stay fit enough for months to run at an elite level on the biggest stage if an athlete’s allowed to hobble for 100m and call it a day?

I think the motivation was 💯 financial , time will tell

I'd like to know when was the official deadline for the decision to start.

While this is true, it's also a just a terrible reminder for the athlete. Yeah, you were on the start line. Yeah, you ran with everyone. But you didn't compete. You ran 1/42nd of the event.

At least she handled it better than Yared in 2021. He should have given up his spot since he didn't even start. Fiona can at least say she tried.