Olympics Thread

[scotty]

If you look at how she ran, from heats to semi final and even her other races in Europe that's how Semenya runs, she comes from behind and only really kicks the 2nd lap.

[fabes]

If you look at how she ran, from heats to semi final and even her other races in Europe that's how Semenya runs, she comes from behind and only really kicks the 2nd lap.

But if you read what some guys says in an article, you will learn that she didn't give her best last night

[fabes]

 

You need some troll food Fabes ?

Seems so

[Wyatt Earp]

Seems so

 

I will gladly trade you some troll food for a dog bone

[scotty]

But if you read what some guys says in an article, you will learn that she didn't give her best last night

Semenya can be the mistress of disguise, in the semi's which she won she hardly looked like she had just run. She has stated she misjudged it. She was bearing down on the Russian and IMO if it had been a few metres more she would have caught her.

[fabes]

 

Semenya can be the mistress of disguise, in the semi's which she won she hardly looked like she had just run. She has stated she misjudged it. She was bearing down on the Russian and IMO if it had been a few metres more she would have caught her.

That is exactly how I saw it, and I reckon another 30 m and she would of had a gold

[Agteros]

Dunno. You read the timing stats, it looks like she didn't kick, the others just faded.

She definitely kicked, go watch it again. She just kicked too late

 

I'll (I'm sure TNT1 too) go with these guy: Jonathan Dugas & Ross Rucker, and their scientific comment and analysis

 

From http://www.sportsscientists.com/2012/08/womens-800m-analysing-semenya-other.html (underline mine)

 

"

Of course, this may all be a totally misplaced accusation. Maybe Semenya just didn't have the physiological capacity to run the race tactics people are accustomed to seeing. Maybe she was just not good enough to go with that early pace, and to respond to those surgest. Perhaps

there is nothing to her performance other than that she runs a more even pace than her rivals

.

A comparison between her semi-final and this race is interesting in this regard. In that semi, she went through

400m in just over 58 seconds, 600m in about 1:28 and then closed the final 200m in 29.5s

, looking like she had something in reserve.

Tonight, she went through

400m in 57.69s, then through 600m in about 1:27.1, and then closed in a touch over 30 seconds

. My point is, her performance in the final was slightly faster at every stage than the semi, until she closed slower over the final 200m. To finish SLOWER than she did in the semi implies that she has little reserve and that she is closer to the limit than she looks.

She wasn't actually that fast over the final 200m, it's just that everyone else was very slow

!

 

It's possible that she doesn't have the speed (or psychological capacity and confidence) to be able to run a 56-second first lap, or a 28 second 200m split, regardless of when in the race it happens. If you look at Semenya, her running style is very laboured - the commentator described her as "lumbering" and that's about right. She lacks a knee lift, and her heel-flick is also very limited, so it is possible that she lacks the ability to change pace much, and so I have to put forward the possibility that she may not actually have the capacity to respond to surges, and maybe a 28-29-29-30 race breakdown is as fast as Semenya can go.

The rest of the race, incidentally, went 27s to 200m, then 29s to 400 (56.3 at the bell), and then 29.2s for the next 200m, and closed, for the most part, in 32s.

So, you have Semenya with a 28-29-29-30 (57.69s & 59.54s)

, running against

everyone else with a 27-29-29-32

(

Jelimo, for example, was 56.66s & 60.93s

). In this regard, Semenya actually didn't finish the race fast, as much as everyone else finished it really slowly. The one exception of course was Savinova, who closed the final 200m in just under 30 seconds (57.29s and 58.90s halves).

 

The rest, Jelimo in particular, were terribly slow over the final 200m.

"

 

That first lap of 56seconds was very fast. To go from 56s for first lady @ 400m to 1:56 for the winner was quite a dramatic slow-down. But that is how the 800m is run. Go hard for as long as possible, and try to hang in there to the end. A serious case of HTFU!

 

In any case, none of you guys have ever run a sub 2:00 800m I'm sure.

Well done to her, and nothing wrong with being "caught out" and having to "settle" for silver!

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Lekker article, Robo...

[RockCoach]

In any case, none of you guys have ever run a sub 2:00 800m I'm sure.

 

Have too

 

Good read though. It makes a lot of sense. I think she did really well. She is still young and will learn how to adjust her pace and race tactics.

[SwissVan]

So what happened to the 3 SA marathon runners?

Did they send the shopping team to run the marathon

+10 minutes and + 40th place....

[Pieter1]

Is the closing ceremony seriously only shown on supersport hd?

Edited August 12, 2012 by Pieter1

[GrumpyOldGuy]

So what happened to the 3 SA marathon runners?

Did they send the shopping team to run the marathon

+10 minutes and + 40th place....

 

Yeah, we faded badly in the last stretch, dont know why because our guys have 2.08 / 09 times under their belts, so they have been in this position before, maybe the nature of the course with all the turns got to them, or maybe just the occasion, dont know, but we have good marathoners, I didnt think we could beat the Kenyans who are masters here, but I was hoping for a top 10 from at least one of our guys.

[Agteros]

So what happened to the 3 SA marathon runners?

Did they send the shopping team to run the marathon

+10 minutes and + 40th place....

The SA marathon record is about the same as the 'slow' time they ran today. I'm sure our record was set on a fast course, etc etc blah blah.

The winning times for our local marathons tend to be just under/about 2:20. Personally, I'm not surprised by the times our athletes ran. Pretty much on par.

[heed0]

Is the closing ceremony seriously only shown on supersport hd?

 

on sabc 2 now

[Agteros]

Have too

 

Good read though. It makes a lot of sense. I think she did really well. She is still young and will learn how to adjust her pace and race tactics.

Well done on the "Have too"

 

If I read what was written correctly, they reckon she might be a one speed 'machine' (all respect to her!) due to her running style? Hope she'll get the running tactics thing sorted though, been caught out twice with same tactics...

 

Maybe she is just a slow starter, like Burry (read that something to that effect was said one of his opponents a while ago. Hopefully, not too many Epics in those legs!)

[Red Zone]

What was the deal with Robert Forstemann starting the Xcountry and then pulling out?