Olympic 5000m Recap

Lagat in the mix on the final turn. Farah leads

Continuing a short series of posts - A quick look back at the 5000m Olympic Finals:

Coming into London, the US men's 5000m team looked to be the strongest chance for a distance medal of all the races on the Olymic slate. The team included multiple-world champion and American record holder Bernard Lagat, American record holder Galen Rupp, and former 1500m specialist Lopez Lomong. All three men made it through the heats to the Olympic Final including Rupp, newly minted in silver from his brilliant triumph in the 10000m.

 The looming question was whether Britain's Mo Farah could double up on his gold medal win from the 10000m. The best take on how the race unfolded, a very slow tactical affair with a bunched field until the bell lap, was this note from the Atlantic Wire:

Mo Farah is emerging from these Olympics as Briton's breakout hometown hero. After winning gold in the 10,000 meters last week he said he was tired. He wasn't sure he had enough in the tank to win the 5,000. But then someone reminded him that 5,000 meters is, like, half of 10,000. And he's so good at the 10,000! Gold medal good, even. So Farah was all like, "I got this," and he totally dominated Saturday's race on the way to his second gold of this Olympics.

Lagat congratulating the champion

Hahaha - that just cracked me up because that's a pretty good read of how the race went down. Rupp looked tired too, and although he moved up into a strong position with two laps remaining he almost immediately faded from the front and ended in seventh. Respectable, but out of the medals. Lagat hung tough and may have moved into bronze on the finishing sprint if not for a small stutter and near-trip. He finished fourth. Farah's gold was Britain's first Olympic win in the event. Full results here (Race video here - beginning at 0:55:40)

The reason why most championship races tend to unfold so slowly is because front-running in an elite caliber field is an almost certain way to lose the race (this is the reason rabbits are used in non-championship races - to keep the pace honest). Allowing a slow pace might seem counter-intuitive for runners that lack a kick because such a tactic all but assures that the best kickers will win anyway. But a runner that chooses to push the pace from the front simply allows the rest of the field to easily tuck and draft, then attack with fresher legs at the finish. Often times national teams will employ team-tactics by swapping leads to push the pace, then sacrificing their least talented athlete as the pacesetter toward the crucial point in the race.

In a rare example of what it takes to front-run and win, Kenyan great John Ngugi (below) jumps the field in the 1988 5000m Olympic Final. Ngugi had the skill and credentials to pull this off but to do it successfully he had to surprise the field with sub-4min mile pace for two laps early in the race. A phenomenally bold move to throw down in an Olympic Final. Note the Portuguese who gambles his own race for gold to see just how difficult such a move can be. 

1988 5000m Olympic Final - Seoul, Korea

2012 London Olympics
 - Olympic 800m Recap
 - Olympic 1500m Recap
 - Olympic 3000m Steeplechase Recap
 - Olympic 5000m Recap
 - Olympic 10,000m Recap
 - Olympic Marathon Recap
 - Week One: The Olympic Vortex

Olympic 10,000m Recap

Rupp and Farah leading everyone on the planet

Continuing a short series of posts - A quick look back at the 10,000m Olympic Finals:

This was the big race that runners across the country had circled on their calendar. For the first time in a couple of generations, the US team had a runner in the field - Galen Rupp, formerly of the Univ. of Oregon - that had a legitimate shot of cracking the formidable talent of the East Africans and finding his way to the podium. Rupp's primary weapons are that he trains with the current World Champion and world no.1, Mo Farah of Great Britain, and that he has the finishing speed to close the race with a 53sec final lap. Only a half dozen of the world's elite distance runners have that kind of closing speed, Farah is one of them. With that said, the drama surrounding the race became a question of whether Rupp could step-up and resist cracking under the pressure of an Olympic Final, and whether the rest of the world's top distance runners would pursue a strategy to press a fast enough pace throughout the race to negate the kick of the favorites.

My man Dathan representing Boulder in the early going

The race began slowly as the runners found their legs, then Team Eritrea went hard to the front after the first mile and began alternating leads and pressing a strong pace (27min pace). Long time fixtures of the American distance scene Dathan Ritzenhein formerly of the Univ. of Colorado (Go Buffs!) and Matt Tegenkamp formerly of the Univ. of Wisconsin, were mixing it up in the lead pack through the first 6000m. As the race drama peaked over the last few thousand meters the Eritreans fell back to recover as both the Ethiopian and Kenyan contingents were chattering with one another at the front, debating their next move. They chose to sit and kick. Rupp held onto fourth position on the rail and all the front runners held tight until the bell.

Farah bossin' it in front of the adoring British crowd

Farah set off the bedlam by surging into the final lap. The London crowd roared their approval and the chase was on. The surge created space for Rupp to come off the rail and he was one of five that were away and chasing medals; Farah, one Kenyan, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia (the world record holder and two-time Olympic champion), Bekele's brother Tariku, and Rupp. I stared at the television and thought to myself - an American is in position to conceivably win this race!? Oh shit, this was seriously going to happen. Rupp showed steely patience in lane two with the frightening shadow of Bekele on his heels, and then went all-in on the top of the bend, pushing past the fading Kenyan (bronze!), then on the homestretch the Ethiopian began to falter and Rupp overtook him 40 meters to the line (silver!), and then it was over!

Disbelief at the finish

I was in the pediatric ward of the hospital as this was happening. My brother and I, eyes glued to the set were whispering to each other this whole time, miming the tension and disbelief of those last four laps, and with great discipline and restraint, not yelling. Just then I hear my wife - who dislikes talk of running and related nonsense - calmly ask from behind us, 'wait, did Rupp just win a medal?'. Yes, he most certainly did. What a magnificent race.  Results here  (Race video here - beginning at 2:29:30)

Whew, well I'll follow that with a quick clip of another of the finest Olympic 10000m finishes of all-time. Greats Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie battle for gold at the Sydney Games - in slow motion backed with opera music. A bit of a do-it-yourself job, but quite marvelous just the same.

Tergat and Gebrselassie - Sydney 2000

2012 London Olympics 
 - Olympic 800m Recap
 - Olympic 1500m Recap
 - Olympic 3000m Steeplechase Recap
 - Olympic 5000m Recap
 - Olympic 10,000m Recap
 - Olympic Marathon Recap
 - Week One: The Olympic Vortex

Olympic 800m Recap

Rudisha at the finish. Symmonds (far left), Solomon (center-left)

Continuing a short series of posts - A quick look back at the 800m Olympic Finals:

The US men have been exceptionally deep in the middle distances this year, and in the 800m the rare opportunity to place a man on the Olympic podium seemed more likely than not. The problem: Kenya's David Rudisha is the most dominant athlete in track and field not named Bolt, meaning that the available podium spots for the remainder of the field were just two.

Two men from the US contingent of three navigated their heats into the final, Duane Solomon , formerly of USC, and five-time US National Champion Nick Symmonds of Oregon. Unlike most championship races that play out tactically (read: slowly - see all other recapped races), this one was the race that David Rudisha had likely been waiting his entire life for. An historically deep field, roaring crowds, massively high-stakes and soaring adrenaline. At the gun he blasted straight to the front, mashed the pedal down in the first half of the second lap when runners generally relax and gather themselves for the sprint home, then sent that last 200m for a new world record (1:40:91) and Olympic gold. As masterful and bold a performance as any in the London Games. In his wake, he dragged every other runner but one to a personal best time. Three of the eight runners, including himself, ran to a new national record. The finishing time for each place in the race, one through eight, were all-time bests for that place. It was the greatest 800m race ever run. Amid all of this, the Americans honorably held it together for 4th and 5th place finishes. Out of the medals yes, but with the second and third fastest finishes in US history - D. Solomon (1:42:82), N. Symmonds (1:42:95). One really couldn't ask for better performances in an Olympic Final. Results here  (Race video here - beginning at 1:44:00)

This was Kenya's fourth gold medal in the event over the last seven Games, going back to Seoul in 1988. The US last stood on the podium in 1992 when Johnny Gray (still the US record holder and coach to D. Solomon), won bronze.

Rudisha - Fortune favors the bold

An interesting stadium-seat view of the race as it unfolds. The Americans run near the back of the field until closing hard at the finish. 

2012 London Olympics 
 - Olympic 800m Recap
 - Olympic 1500m Recap
 - Olympic 3000m Steeplechase Recap
 - Olympic 5000m Recap
 - Olympic 10,000m Recap
 - Olympic Marathon Recap
 - Week One: The Olympic Vortex

Olympic 1500m Recap

Leo Manzano - Olympic silver medalist

Continuing a short series of posts - A quick look back at the 1500m Olympic Finals:

Following an uncharacteristically good showing at Worlds last year (Simpson winning the womens title - go Buffs!, Centrowitz taking mens bronze) there was some question as to whether the Olympic contingent could continue to punch above their weight. What our milers lack in raw speed seems to be balanced by their collective savvy as racers. The men did not disappoint.

Manzano (triumphant) and Centrowitz at the line

Leo Manzano and Matt Centrowitz both made it through heats to the finals and followed a slow pace to the bell along with most of the field. The eventual champion from Algeria broke the race open on the backstretch with an improbable surge covered by the race favorites from Kenya and Ethiopia. All of these men but the Algerian faded badly on the homestretch where Manzano reeled them in with the closing acceleration he's known for, climbing the ladder to a silver medal (3:34:79). Centrowitz followed closely, barely losing out on bronze (3:35:17). Manzano's kick to glory was reminiscent of his win at the Trials and at Indoor Nats in Albquerque this February (where he incidentally kicked down Rupp and Centrowitz). A marvelous run for the Americans and a vindication that US runners are once again a threat on the elite level. Manzano in silver claimed the first American Olympic 1500m medal since Jim Ryun in 1968 (yes, Jim Ryun). Results here (Race video here - beginning at 2:28:00)

Uceny - an Olympic final (and years of work) abruptly fade

While the US men performed way above expectation, the women ran nearly the opposite. All of the Americans were possible medal threats with current world number one Morgen Uceny, defending world champ Jenny Simpson (go Buffs!), and Shannon Rowbury a former worlds bronze medalist. Simpson inexplicably washed out in the heats, and Uceny - repeating the disaster of last year's World Championships - tripped up in traffic and crashed to the track at the bell, failing to finish. Absolutely crushing to see that happen to her in two straight championships. Rowbury hung on for a solid 6th place finish (4:11:26). Results here (Race video here - beginning at 2:04:27)

A bit of video of Ryun at the Mexico City Games. The Kenyans intentionally drive the pace to use the 7000ft altitude to their advantage. Ryun leaves it way too late to respond. Kip Keino's winning time - at altitude, in 1968 - was less than a second shy of the winning time in London (3:34:86).

Keino vs. Ryun in Mexico City - 1968

2012 London Olympics
 - Olympic 800m Recap
 - Olympic 1500m Recap
 - Olympic 3000m Steeplechase Recap
 - Olympic 5000m Recap
 - Olympic 10,000m Recap
 - Olympic Marathon Recap
 - Week One: The Olympic Vortex

Olympic Steeplechase Recap

Coburn running in CU kit at the Trials

This year's Olympics were sweeeeet, and the US distance contingent was the strongest to suit up since at least the '84 Games in Los Angeles. With this in mind I wanted to look back at a few of the races and draw some context over previous Olympic years - beginning with the Steeplechase.

Fronting the women's team was Emma Coburn (two time National Champion) and Shalaya Kipp, both collegiates from the University of Colorado (Waddup!). Coburn made the finals - along with the third member of team USA, Bridget Franek - and ran to a 9th place finish in a personal best time of 9min 23s. Results here. (Race video here - beginning at 2:26:30).Coburn redshirted her senior year of eligibility at CU to train exclusively for London. It's the second straight Olympics that the top American Steeplechaser hails from CU (U.S. record holder Jenny Simpson in '08).

Jager and Cabral drive the early pace

In the men's race, the top American was U.S. record holder Evan Jager running in just the seventh steeple race of his career. He knocked out a very respectable 6th place finish (8:23.87, best US finish since 1996), followed closely by recent Princeton graduate Dan Cabral in 8th (8:25.91). Both Americans were in the lead group at the bell but fell well off pace in a blistering final lap. Results here. The race was dominated by the '04 Gold Medalist and double world champ Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya who toyed with the field in the heats, then celebrated this win with his usual lane-7 finish followed with some memorable dancing on the track (Race video here - beginning at 2:48:40).

An incredible observation: Kenya has won steeplechase gold in every Olympic year they've sent a team going back to 1968 (African boycott in '76; Soviet boycott in 1980). That's 44 years. Below is some video of the finish in '68. The leader on the final turn  is none other than Silver City's George Young, who finished in bronze.

1968 Olympic Steeplechase Final - Mexico City

2012 London Olympics 
 - Olympic 800m Recap
 - Olympic 1500m Recap
 - Olympic 3000m Steeplechase Recap
 - Olympic 5000m Recap
 - Olympic 10,000m Recap
 - Olympic Marathon Recap
 - Week One: The Olympic Vortex

Family Addition

NM state mile champ - 2029-30

In the midst of wall-to-wall Olympic coverage in our house the last couple weeks, the Desert Babe and I hosted an Opening Ceremonies of our own - the delivery of our first child, little baby Peter. He arrived four weeks early, skipping month nine like a boss. He's named after his great-great uncle who trekked the Julian Alps to rid himself and his family from the clutches of Romanian Communism. This kid is destined for greatness.

The Desert Babe is exhausted from all of this as one might imagine, but she is in agreement that the ceremonies went well. Our relay team of feed-change-sleep seems to be operating with marvelous efficiency, the envy of all nations.

My un-sophisticated Dad-brain is mostly excited about having the world's best running partner in about 10-11 years! I know! I'm lucky they don't require Dad tests to have one of these little guys because I wouldn't pass! I'm also disturbingly pre-occupied with whether he'll be held back or pushed forward a grade level due to his August birthdate. This is so I can calculate in which years he'll win the state mile championship. I realize this type of thinking will backfire on me horribly and he'll likely gravitate to beach volleyball or platform diving just so that my head will explode. Such is life.

Until then, the missus and I will be stuck in a Holly Hunter feedback loop of parental fawning that looks a bit like this: