Raptured wrote:
The Waterboy wrote:Why couldn't the Ethiopians do this well at the marathon for the Olympics?
Exactly... All of the athletes from Dubai thought they were much better than they actually were. I predicted DNFs or massive blow-ups from all but Gelana Feleke (not at Dubai) at the Olympics, based on my belief that the course in Dubai was short and the Ethiopians would be overconfident after their outrageous times. Guess what happened? All 4 post-Dubai runners DNF'd. If today's times are to be believed, based on temperature and humidity, we just saw 5 of the top 10 performances, of all time, all in one race, and all by 100% unproven marathoners (except Tadese Tola, who has run 2:06-high once on a course other than Dubai, putting today's time at least within the realm of possibility for him).
You haven't said much about Aberu Kebede.
The Ethiopian men ran terribly at the Olympics because they were picked solely on time. They could run fast on a fast course in ideal conditions but as has been pointed out, Dubai has as many turns as most people have on one hand, while London's Olympic course had about 200. They left Tsegaye Kebede off the team because he wasn't among the top three fastest.