Tokyo track and field - the birth of the "qR" nonsense era?

I agree with your general premise, but I don't think McGee actually caused Chebet's fall at all. For Amos, yes no way did that merit advancement.

World Athletics needs to mainly act by stopping their obsession with running as few heats as feasible. If the numbers are 12 (1500) or 15 (5000) in the finals that should be the max size of a heat.

20-person 5,000 heats and 14-person 1500 heats are idiotic. It compounds the error when they advance from the heats and get even bigger semi-finals as a result. I hope they take a hard look at this and live with the occasional 13-person 5,000m heat or 10-person 1500m heat. It's not that big a deal!

There have been examples of incompetent officialing in the field events, too. Tom Walsh had 2 red flag throws in the shot put overturned.

But I have been been bemused at the rulings and reinstatements after falls in the track. Without apparent logic. But the quickest way to qualify. I'm waiting for them to award a medal for an athlete who takes a tumble in a final.

This place will melt down when Jake is awarded the 1500 gold even though he hit the deck with 300 to go.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

I agree with your general premise, but I don't think McGee actually caused Chebet's fall at all. For Amos, yes no way did that merit advancement.

World Athletics needs to mainly act by stopping their obsession with running as few heats as feasible. If the numbers are 12 (1500) or 15 (5000) in the finals that should be the max size of a heat.

20-person 5,000 heats and 14-person 1500 heats are idiotic. It compounds the error when they advance from the heats and get even bigger semi-finals as a result. I hope they take a hard look at this and live with the occasional 13-person 5,000m heat or 10-person 1500m heat. It's not that big a deal!

Did she not clip her (serious question) - I thought she did. I mean the point is, that even if she had, it's purely accidental and just one of those things. We know this, because actually the rules confirm it, because nobody is getting disqualified. So how beyond this point someone can advance based on being "impeded" is complete bullsh$t because anyone behind the incident technically has that argument.

You are right with the heat sizes being far too large. Presumably they did this to (obviously) reduce the number of heats athletes have to run which used to encourage doubling of events. I say used to because they then messed with the schedule to the point where it's almost impossible anyway.

Falls happen even in smaller races, but right now we are on the cusp of precedent which could dictate how these incidents are dealt with in the future. I mean if I was out there again and saw someone go down in front of me I am running straight into the carnage and taking a tumble - because it's becoming the easiest way to make it through rounds.

I'm sorry - McGee was not making that final in any way if she stayed on her feet. She gets the benefit of the doubt but Riseley/Nabil get none in that 800 semi? And also good points about falls in finals - how do you then deal with this? So in a heat or semi it's a huge benefit to be involved in one but comes finals time if you are involved in the same thing it's a "tough luck" situation? Ludicrous.

It’s more surprising how bad these athletes are at running in a group, the problem is the way they approach the race with sit and kick, they just get in each other’s way when they want to prepare for kick phase.

Just image if road racing was only allowed to have 15 people, that fact there is more and falls/trips occur very infrequency shows it’s how they race or the lack of experience of the athlete racing. The tripper really should should be DF each time.

This isn't the birth; it all started going very wrong already in Doha when they even gave out a medal to a fifth-finisher.

McGee caused nothing. She was obviously but not only impeded. If a steeple barrier miraculously appeared in front of McGee, it would have been easier to clear than Chebet.

tarckstar wrote:

This place will melt down when Jake is awarded the 1500 gold even though he hit the deck with 300 to go.

Didn’t the French steepler make something like this happen at a WC or Oly a year back? Dudes name is too hard to spell and im not going to even give that piece of shi-l- the satisfaction of another google search of him, but somebody has to remember what im talking about, he got a huge name DQd and then got a medal for it

its only 5k wrote:

It’s more surprising how bad these athletes are at running in a group, the problem is the way they approach the race with sit and kick, they just get in each other’s way when they want to prepare for kick phase.

Just image if road racing was only allowed to have 15 people, that fact there is more and falls/trips occur very infrequency shows it’s how they race or the lack of experience of the athlete racing. The tripper really should should be DF each time.

I'm not a professional runner, but the lack of falls in road racing would seem to come from:

-No heats, just a final

-Longer races creating more spacing

-Terrain providing springboards for attacks before the end

-Long straight finishes allow runners to advance on either side, where on the track overtakes are almost exclusively outside

Mekhissi-Benabbad, and he filed a protest against Ezekiel Kemboi to get him DQed....the worst part about that is that he knew he was going to do it ahead of time. He didn't even bother to try to run down bronze, but he celebrated like he got the medal immediately. On the otherhand Kemboi DID step over the inside line, which is a DQ offense (personally i have never liked how strict the IAAF rules are about that. I much prefer the NCAA rules, where you can step over the line as long as it wasn't intentional and you didn't gain any material advantage.)

Benabbad is a prick all around though. The guy got suspended for getting into a fist fight with a teammate at the finish of one race. He also shoved over a 14yo in a mascot costume for no apparent reason.

I'll bet the super spikes lead to more clips from behind due to the protruding heel which accommodates the plate.

it is tough because in these huge fields, there is too much depth. too many strong runners getting boxed far back and having to be more aggressive than they should need to be.

of course this does not account for runners like mcgee who are not medalist quality.

high school xc coach wrote:

it is tough because in these huge fields, there is too much depth. too many strong runners getting boxed far back and having to be more aggressive than they should need to be.

of course this does not account for runners like mcgee who are not medalist quality.

McGee will fight to get blown off the back end of the field

The rule is simple and has been applied the same way for decades. The person Changing Lanes or running lines is always at fault. The rule says to cut in one must have a full stride lead on the person being passed. Obviously, Jewett didn't have a full stride lead on Amos as they fell. Amos did nothing to Jewett. Jewett's foot hit Amos knee. So, Jewett did not have a full stride clear to pass Amos.

Similar to McGee, she had established position and path. The other lady moved in, which I can't tell how the fall happened and fell in front of McGee.

Both Amos and McGee had their paths impeded by the other runners, that is why they were allowed to advanced. This isn't soccer neither Amos or McGee play acted or fell on purpose. They both were upset as they both had a shot at the finals. Amos was a medal contender.

The interpretation of the rule has never really changed as far as I have witnessed. And I've been watching Olympics since I was a kid. Earliest memories are Moses and Jenner in 1976

Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:

Did she not clip her (serious question) - I thought she did. I mean the point is, that even if she had, it's purely accidental and just one of those things. We know this, because actually the rules confirm it, because nobody is getting disqualified. So how beyond this point someone can advance based on being "impeded" is complete bullsh$t because anyone behind the incident technically has that argument.

You are right with the heat sizes being far too large. Presumably they did this to (obviously) reduce the number of heats athletes have to run which used to encourage doubling of events. I say used to because they then messed with the schedule to the point where it's almost impossible anyway.

Just seeing this, but like others I don't see any fault for McGee. Yes, I also have no reason to believe she'd make it as well ,so I agree it's being fortunately unfortunate in some sense. Though if she's hurt like Amos it doesn't matter.

You are wrong that the heat sizes are done to reduce the number of heats to run. Whether you put 40-48 qualifiers in 3 heats or 4 you can adjust the number of auto qualifiers and fastest losers to get to the 24-person semi. There is some scheduling concern with extra heats or something behind these super-large heats. But contradicting that they had women's 200m heats with 5 runners and 3 auto qualifiers. So whatever the rationale it is is, it's silly and they can afford the extra 5-15 mins for one extra heat for the distance races. They're in the AM session which is for the diehard fans anyhow.

JNathletics wrote:

The rule is simple and has been applied the same way for decades. The person Changing Lanes or running lines is always at fault. The rule says to cut in one must have a full stride lead on the person being passed. Obviously, Jewett didn't have a full stride lead on Amos as they fell. Amos did nothing to Jewett. Jewett's foot hit Amos knee. So, Jewett did not have a full stride clear to pass Amos.

Jewett did cut in hard, but it actually appeared Jewett did have a full stride or two before the contact. Jewett and Amos were aligned for a full stride or two before Amos started to move outside when his leg crossed the path of Jewett's trailing leg.

Armstronglivs wrote:

I'm waiting for them to award a medal for an athlete who takes a tumble in a final.

Too late

Go watch what happens with the girl in front of her before the collision. Chebet actually clips Hulls heel and causes her to break stride slightly. That causes McGee to run up on her and causes the larger collision. There was a camera view from the outside of the track that shows this. I can't find it right now though.

I agree with the general premise of automatically advancing being a bad idea though.

super spikes wrote:

I'll bet the super spikes lead to more clips from behind due to the protruding heel which accommodates the plate.

And here we are - Rozmys lost his shoe in the semi #2, came to the finish line in 3:54 and was advanced to the final by qR.