Final 8 Finals

Done--and done!
Eight finals ended the Olympic Games from Rio De Janeiro.
As I've done throughout, I will give you a detailed report on what happened.

What's wrong with Women High Jumpers?
(I was asking this same question last year--about the Men!!)
In the Q round, a record 17 women jumped 6-4 to qualify.
There was grumbling, because of how long people thought the final would take, with 17 (instead of 12) World Class women needing to jump each height.
Well, not to worry.

Vashti Cunningham was out after clearing just 6-2, the opening height!
Another teen, Morgan Lake, went out after clearing 6-4--the Q height!
But older women failed to get beyond 6-4 too!
Inika McPherson, Alessia Trost, and Kamila Licwinko!!

The next bar---6-5.50--would become the determinant!
Blanka Vlasic--always a crowd favorite--got over.
So did Bulgaria's Mirela Demireva--a PR for her!
As did the 37 year old Ruth Beitia!
The latter had the fewest misses!
When no one could clear 6-7, the Gold went to the eldest!
No records, no great marks, and much less than it should have been!

The opening rounds of the Men's JT saw some good throws.
Johannes Vetter reached 279-11.
Julius Yego added almost 10 feet to that, his 289-6 now leading.
In the 2nd round, Keshorn Walcott got one out to 280-1.
Yego had injured himself, and either fouled or had shorter throws from then on.
In the 5th round, the 2016 season's longest thrower--Thomas Rohler---finally got one out there, his 296-3 winning the Gold!
Again, no records or PR's!

That WOMEN'S 800!!
A great race, with Kate Grace (Check the rhyme scheme, please!  LOL) finishing 5th, and last!
(But I betcha her Oiselle legions of fans were nonetheless cheering as if she'd won!!)
As for who DID win, that was indeed a great race.
Going through 400 in 57 and change, it was Joanna Jozwik, Lynsey Sharp, and Melissa Bishop in the lead group, with Grace and Marina Anzamasova following.
Grace seemed always ready to unleash her fierce kick, but never did.
Bishop--in HER year--did what she's been doing all year---take the lead, and drive it home from there!
At the end, her 1:57.02 Gold winner broke her own National Record of Canada.
Jozwik's 1:57.37 took Silver, with Sharp running 1:57.69 for the Bronze.

For some strange reason, there were 3 other people running.
They ran faster than Bishop, but since they are unidentifiable (and shall remain so!), there is no way they can be included in the results!

Congratulations to the FIVE WOMEN who ran a fantastic 800 meters!!

Then came the Men's 1500 Meters WALK!
(Wait!  When did they add a 1500 WALK to the Rio Program??)
Oh, I see.
"Joking" aside, the 1500 did indeed begin at a baby's crawl pace!
In fact, the WOMEN ran faster in THEIR 1500 Walk!!
OK, OK, I'll stop!
When the running began, with maybe 600 to go, and with Matthew Centrowitz being the rabbit, it looked like it was anyone's race.
Asbel Kiprop had been hanging towards the rear, but now he was sidling up to the front.
When the bell rang, the Men's 400 Meter Dash was off!!
And surprisingly, it was Centro's 50.5 (according to some sources) that prevailed.
Who woulda thought?
Even in this type of race---ESPECIALLY in this type of race---I didn't think Centro was the fastest 400 guy!
I figured that would be Kiprop, or Ayanleh Souleiman, whose 800 PR was 1.47 seconds faster than Centro's!
For the first time since 1908 (!!!), an American has won the "metric mile"!!
Centro's arch-rival---someone he always raced at the Millrose Games--Nick Willis got the Bronze, with Kiprop back in 6th, 0.87 behind Centro.
Souleiman was 0.29 back--in 4th!
Taoufik Makhloufi barreled into 2nd.
Just 1.73 seconds separated the 12 runners!!
Ben Blankenship was 8th!
Oh yeah, Centro's winning time was 3:50.00---just 0.07 seconds faster than Genzebe Dibaba's WR!!

The Men's 5000 was an early Christmas gift to Mo Farah.
When they opened in 62, I thought we might see a real test for Mr Medals!
But alas, they slowed to their usual Championship 5K pace.
Even with Farah running last, you KNEW the outcome.
(As this was taking place, I was at home watching, telling them to let Farah go directly to the Medal Ceremony podium, give him his Gold, then let the others have their little tempo run around the oval!)

Farah's final 1000 was 2:23.94 (!!), which happens to be about 3:51 or 3:52 Mile pace!!
His last 400 was "only" just south of 53 seconds.
The final time--13:03.30--wasn't bad---for the Payton Jordan meet!!

It was what happened AFTER the race that got everyone in a tizzy!
Originally, Paul Chelimo shocked by taking 2nd, time of 13:03.90.
His time ranks as 11th A-T US!
Bernard Lagat was 6th, in a new Age 40 (& over) record time of 13:06.78, breaking his own mark, set last year--when he WAS 40!!  (He'll be 42 in December!!)

But as Chelimo was being interviewed by NBC's Lewis Johnson, he was informed he'd been DQ'ed!!
On Worldwide Television!!
Later, after an appeal, he was reinstated, and given the Silver!
Lagat, who had moved up to the Bronze position because of other DQ's, was returned to 6th!
(I'm not 100% certain I have this right, but I think that's the GIST of it!!  Whatever the details, it was a weird, wild, and EMBARRASSING series of events!!  With the whole world watching!!)

The two 4X400 Relays ended Rio's TRACK program--with the Marathon the only remaining event!
And they were great!

The United States, with Courtney Okolo starting, took an immediate lead, and never relinquished it.
Jamaica had a strong 4-some, and gave good chase, but could never really challenge.
The US ran 3:19.06---with Allyson Felix running a 49.7 anchor.
Jamaica, anchored by Novlene Williams-Mills, finished in 3:20.34.
Then a gap of more than 5 seconds to the Bronze winner, Great Britain, with their 3:25.88.
From GB to Australia's 8th place time of 3:27.45 fell just 1.57 seconds of time!!
The Aussies got the best-ever 8th Place mark!!

The Men's race was one of the deepest in history!!
The US, with LaShawn Merritt on anchor, held off the Jamaicans, 2:57.30 to 2:58.16, for the Gold!
The Bahamas, with 37 year old Chris Brown on 4th leg, took the Bronze with 2:58.49.
Then we saw how the rest of the world was catching up, and the wealth of fast 400 meter men was spreading!

Belgium---with those 3 Borlee's!--ran a National Record time of 2:58.52.
This moves them from 13th A-T Nation to 8th!
Botswana continued their ascent, their new National Record of 2:59.06 taking 5th.
And it was the best 5th Place mark!
They move from 14th A-T Nation to 12th!
Cuba's 2:59.53 gave them the best 6th Place mark!
And made it SIX sub-3:00's for the 1st time in one race!
Poland's 3:00.50 in 7th missed a Place record, but was still good!
Brazil brought up the rear in 3:03.28.

Today's Men's Marathon pretty much went close to the expected narrative.
In a steady rain, with temps in the 70's, a massive group of maybe 50 runners hit 5000 in 15:31--about 2:11 pace!
They actually SLOWED over the next two 5K's, to 15:37, then 15:45, and went past 15K in 46:53, now closer to 2:12 pace!!
Eliud Kipchoge, whose PR is 2:03:05, led a still-large group of 25 to 30!
Near him, in white baseball cap, was Galen Rupp, with the ever-popular Meb (Keflizighi) close.

A slight pick-up to the 20K mark, after a 15:34 split.
But now Ben Hawkins of Great Britain had assumed front-runner's status, if only by half a step!
At the Half, reached in 1:05:55---just under 2:12 pace--a group of 2 dozen still were within 2 seconds of the lead.
Rupp was right there, while Meb was toward the rear of this pack, and the third American, Jared Ward, quietly back another 2 seconds, maybe 30th or so!

But Meb was hurting.
Seen stopping at one point, he was out of the medal hunt.
Matching their slowest 5K split (15:45), 25K was reached in 1:18:12.
Something had to give!!
And indeed it did get faster.
The next 5000 took 15:03, the fastest of the race by 28 seconds, and found Stanley Biwott, Rupp, and Kipchoge close together.
Ward was now 15th, but had fallen back as the large pack had split up.

Finally, Kipchoge--a great track racer in his day--REALLY opened up, throwing down a 5K of 14:25, and daring anyone to follow!
Feyisa Lilesa, who had always been in the lead group, stayed closest, but was a step off.
Rupp was maybe 3 steps back of Lilesa, and the Medalists were these three---but in which order?

Kipchoge's track times could match Rupp's, but were several years old!
Rupp had a faster Mile and 10000, but this was just his 2nd Marathon---and his first--2:11:13---was over 8 full minutes slower than Eliud's 2:03:05!!
And Lilesa wasn't anybody a serious Marathoner could ignore!

Slowing only to a 14:44 through the next 5K, Kipchoge, now clearly in the lead, passed 40K in 2:02:24!
He'd run that 2nd 20000 in under one hour!!
Lilesa seemed to be slowing--or Rupp was speeding up---but the gap of 10 to 12 seconds between them stayed steady.

Kipchoge won, time of 2:08:44, with splits of 1:05:56 and 1:02:48!
Lilesa looked back--saw Rupp wasn't advancing--and crossed the line making a political statement (crossing his arms in support of people in his home country who were fighting a corrupt government), but happy with his Silver, time of 2:09:54.

Rupp, more than satisfied to be winning the first Olympic medal by an American since Frank Shorter's 2nd in 1976's Montreal Games, ran 2:10:05.
(CORRECTION: Just read article in "Women's Running" saying announcers were wrong in sating Rupp's medal was the first Men's Marathon medal since 1976.  Meb won Silver in 2004's OG 26.2!!  My apologies!)
He is now 18th A-T US!!
Crossed OFF my US DDD was the iconic Craig Virgin--also a great track racer in his day!--whose 2:10:26 was from 1981.

Fourth went to Girmay Ghebreselassie, the youngster who had won the 2016 World Championship Marathon in Beijing, in 2:11:04.
Jared Ward amazed by taking 6th, one of the best finishes by an American in recent Games.
Meb, who had puked, and been forced to stop SEVEN times (according to sources), finished in 2:16:46 in 33rd place---simply astounding, considering the circumstances!!

And thus, the Games of the 31st Olympiad, were over!!

In the next few days, expect my "Best & Worst"---which MIGHT be TWO posts!!
I may also have a general editorial-style analysis/wrap-up on the entire Rio experience!!

And lest we forget, this T&F season of 2016 AIN'T over!!
There's still FOUR Diamond League meets---where numerous Olympians will certainly appear---in super shape!!

See you soon, and thank you for using THIS blog as your key source for Rio Olympics T&F reportage!!