w1500m at London 2012 Olympics

[nevetssllim]

Alas, the 1500m from the 2006 European Champs is even worse.

1. Tomashova - nuff said
2. Chizhenko - ditto
3. Yordanova - busted before Beijing
4. Soboleva -
5. Chojecka - first clean athlete.
6. Dumbravean - tested not once, but twice
7. Tobias - busted this year
8. Lishchynska - shares the same coach as athlete No.7 who is, in fact, Mr. Lishchynskiy
9. Dehiba - EPO

10. Holovchenko
11. Clitheroe
12. Martins

[Flumpy]

Its not baddeley is it ?

It's worse than Baddeley. Lisa could actually win if she wasn't so completely incompetent.

[3a]

It's one thing to pee on a world championships, it's another to excrement on the olympic games.

Having said that, Sydney had the Algerian &Szekely, Athens had Tomashova, Beijing had the Ukranians....

Ugh, disgusting event. I'm done with it. Completely done with it!

[3a]

DISGUSTED... FCKING DISGUSTED!


Also!!! Obiri tripped Uceny AGAIN!!!! As in an EXACT replica of last year!!

Tomashova was fourth so if they are ever stripped she medals...

Lisa was so annoying, fcking Obiri ruined her, why she let her past, I'll never know!

The Turks and Obiri ruined this race....worst 1500m in history. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Obiri didn't have anything to do with the the fall i don't think

I'm 99% sure she clipped Morgan, surprised no one on T&F news has copped it. It's an epic fact

I've rewound and from my POV Obiri was rough on the turn, bumped the Belarussian who bumped Aregawi who hit Uceny's leg. Make no mistake, Obiri was the catalyst. Having said that, all of the ladies decided to jog for 2 laps so, tough t*ts.

[mump boy]

Its not baddeley is it ?

It's worse than Baddeley. Lisa could actually win if she wasn't so completely incompetent.

He was joking that Baddeley must be her coach

[jeremy1]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Doesn't it just make you want to vomit

"I'll probably get into trouble for saying this but I don't believe I'm competing on a level playing field' - Lisa being interviewed on 5live.

Looking back the writing was probably on the wall before she lined up, twice she came off the track and said she was 'terrified' out there. I'm sure all the athletes are nervous to some degree but is that the mentality of a champion? She's far too timid and negative when running, never takes the bull by the horns, always loitering at the back/on the inside, almost as if she's trying to fade in to the background. So disappointing

Dob ran as I exected ... stupidly... I think she is inspired by that other weird runner..Baddeley. Wonder what they discuss with their coaches and the advice they get... stay inside and hang around at the back so you stand no chance.

[jeremy1]

I'm afraid to say I hold out little hope of Lisa medalling tomorrow....maybe in a few months time!
This womens 1500 makes me feel very sad for our sport. Everyone knows its not being played out on a level playing field, but we have to put up with commentators telling us about 'great' performances from certain athletes.
I very much doubt whether a clean athlete will medal.

Is there any proof you have as to the current state of cleanliness or otherwise, in PED terms of whom , in particular?
Easy to point fingers and insinuate as indeed Carl Lewis has been doing solidly about Jamaican sprinters , snide hypocrite that he is.

[iain]

Cakir and Tomashova - Have a bit of a record
Bulut - See posts at top of page 2

[2012girl]

Kelly showed in Athens how running at the back early doors can work but you have to work your way up (preferably on the outside) and be poised to strike by the time the big guns at the front make their move.

How many races does this strategy of hanging back, letting someone get first run and then hoping her strength will tell in the last 50 metres actually win her anyway? There's usually 2 or 3 athletes who cross the line ahead of her. Even when she set her PB in 2009 there she is, boxed in on the bend and having to check her stride and step out before she can make her run, by which time Jamal & Willard have flown.

Rowbury wasn't a million miles away from the medals tonight and she looked awful in QF and Lisa usually has her measure. Not sure how many more chances she's going to get

Really unlucky for Uceny btw, tripped 2 years in a row!

[Flumpy]

Its not baddeley is it ?

It's worse than Baddeley. Lisa could actually win if she wasn't so completely incompetent.

He was joking that Baddeley must be her coach

Oh I see

[Flumpy]

Kelly showed in Athens how running at the back early doors can work but you have to work your way up (preferably on the outside) and be poised to strike by the time the big guns at the front make their move.

Kelly was always perfectly positioned, at the back on the outside keeping an eye on all of her competitors. As you say Lisa is ALWAYS at the back, on the inside, trapped on the curb, bumping into people, boxed behind a wall of athletes, waiting for gaps to appear which she then ignores. Her whole race plan is dependent on other people allowing her through rather than making her own luck.

Apart from Andy Baddeley I've never known a more tactically naive/stupid runner. She's absolutely infuriating.

The race was won in 4.10 FFS!!!

[ldnbloke]

I think Mump and Flump really hurt for Lisa actually. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had won but you guys can't be surprised with tbphe tenth place either.

[Flumpy]

I'm actually shocked by 10th. She'd looked great in the rounds and seemed to be becoming tactically aware for once but the final was the worst I've ever seen her run.

If drug addled Cakir had stormed to a 3.56 and dragged a load of others under 4 mins and Lisa had only been able to manage a 4.02 then 10th would be understandable but they dawdled round in 4.10 and made no attempt to be anywhere other than the back

She needs a sports psychologist more than that headcase Asafa.

[ldnbloke]

She needs a tactics coach . Oh and she should watch Zarudneva, Rudisha , Holmes and others run races. But Even if you're not the absolute super best in the wold you can stil run your race and sometimes you treat parts of it as a time trial rather than bunching up hoping for the best.

[SteveK26]

I dont think Lisa could have medalled however the race was run. Partly because she has had such a shite year medically, and partly for other reasons.
She isn't tactically great, but thats not why she finished where she did tonight.

[jjimbojames]

I dont think Lisa could have medalled however the race was run. Partly because she has had such a shite year medically, and partly for other reasons.
She isn't tactically great, but thats not why she finished where she did tonight.

Look at Shannon Rowbury - always the forgotten woman of US 1500m running, yet bronze in 2009 and top American woman (again) this year - she gets the most out of her abilities. That's what Lisa needs to do.

You can't do anything about the dodgy people in front of you (mainly as she can't be sure exactly who that might be!) but she needs to be in the best possible position 'just in case'...

[alfie7]

She needs to beg Dame Kelly to coach her.

[jjimbojames]

She needs to beg Dame Kelly to coach her.

Interestingly, because of the timing of their careers, Lisa is one of our few top MD girls not to have come through On Camp With Kelly - both Hannah and Laura did, for example. Kelly could maybe do with taking a mentoring / tactics role

[paul]

What a horrible race for us. So very disappointing.

Pammy please cheer me up a little.

[mump boy]

She isn't tactically great, but thats not why she finished where she did tonight.

It is ABSOLUTELY why she finished where she did, i'm not saying she was going to win but she didn't even give herself a chance. She was never anywhere near a good position, boxed, at the back, on the inside THE WHOLE RACE. There wasn't even an attempt to get out. How on earth does anyone expect to challenge for a medal or any other position than 10th when there is a wall of people in front of then in a 4.10 race

I have literally never (apart from semi) seen lisa run anything approaching a competent race, it is an insane waste of talent and hard work. What is the point of overcoming so many injuries and training so hard just to throw it all away time and time again.

She doesn't even seem disappointed or annoyed afterwards, just grins, giggles inanely and shrugs. There is no point blaming an 'unlevel playing field' when she's basically standing on the sidelines

[mump boy]

She needs to beg Dame Kelly to coach her.

This ^^

did you see Kelly biting her tongue and trying not to be too critical afterwards

[Mr Me]

Having rewatched this race, I really hope this event improves, its depressing to watch such a slow olympic final. I think LIsa could of done more, but she really needed a fast pace to feed off in order to medal. I really would of liked to see Laura push the pace aswell, she could of taken more risks in order to give us a good race, she had nothing to loose .

I see Lisa is in the diamond league this week, I guess she'll post a fast time if the reports of her fitness are true. I see shes copt a bit of flack for her "level playing field" comments but as shes been kept off the podium twice (2008 olympics and 2010 euros) by drugs cheats, doesn't she does have a right to be more angry about it than anyone.

[SteveK26]

I think Lisa has had enough to put up with without reading all this negative stuff about her.
I'm sorry she didn't medal, (never expected her to), and hope she is back to full health.

Maybe, if the drugs cheats are caught in her athletics lifetime, she will be able to fulfill her dreams.

[SteveK26]

Mump has written some especially hurtful remarks about Lisa.
Perhaps it would be wise to remember that she has a World silver, Commonwealth gold and Olympic 4th on her CV.
How many of our other athletes have achieved as much? Perhaps if her event was cleaned up a bit she might take a more posative approach when she goes in global finals. It must be very depressing to feel that you are already at a disadvantage.
In fact it may be that she has done amazingly well to achieve as much as she has.

I'm sure Jeremy would agree with you, Mump, that she is a perrenial underachiever. And would probably question the contention that there is a serious drug problem in the W1500. After all, where's the proof?

And finally, to end this mini rant, I would add that this years health issues may just have meant that the Olympic final was one race too many for her. I dont think she needs Kelly Holmes; I think she needs a bit of help from WADA.

[Flumpy]

She came 10th Steve.

Not 5th.

She wasn't robbed of a medal by a drug cheat and even if she was the race was won in 4:10.

I have no doubt that at least 3 of the top 4 are doped to the eye balls but that doesn't change the fact that she ran a terrible race and there is no point pretending otherwise.

[mump boy]

Mump has written some especially hurtful remarks about Lisa.
Perhaps it would be wise to remember that she has a World silver, Commonwealth gold and Olympic 4th on her CV.
How many of our other athletes have achieved as much? Perhaps if her event was cleaned up a bit she might take a more posative approach when she goes in global finals. It must be very depressing to feel that you are already at a disadvantage.
In fact it may be that she has done amazingly well to achieve as much as she has.

I'm sure Jeremy would agree with you, Mump, that she is a perrenial underachiever. And would probably question the contention that there is a serious drug problem in the W1500. After all, where's the proof?

And finally, to end this mini rant, I would add that this years health issues may just have meant that the Olympic final was one race too many for her. I dont think she needs Kelly Holmes; I think she needs a bit of help from WADA.

My 'especially hurtful' remarks are only so if you can't face the truth

Can you point to one thing i said that is incorrect ??

[SteveK26]

Flumpy
She didn't perform to her best here, but she has some fine results to her name, including Olympic 4th.
She has been suffering with very serious ill-health. Give her a break!

Mump
If Lisa reads this board, (which I doubt), I would imagine she would take your mostly unkind comments to heart.
Did she not do well even to make the Olympics this year, let alone the final?

[mump boy]

Flumpy
She didn't perform to her best here, but she has some fine results to her name, including Olympic 4th.
She has been suffering with very serious ill-health. Give her a break!

Mump
If Lisa reads this board, (which I doubt), I would imagine she would take your mostly unkind comments to heart.
Did she not do well even to make the Olympics this year, let alone the final?

My comments were not about if she had 'done well' or not, it was about her total lack of anything resembling a tactic. Her ill health has NOTHING to do with this.

I said she was talented and hard working and 4th at OG is an amazing achievement but maybe not so much when you should have got a medal, have you seen where she was when Jamal made a break in 04 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMnnptAtSas and this year she does EXACTLY THE SAME THING.

I was wrong to say she had never run well, in Berlin she was in exactly the right place at the right time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHRhF7sSXeM and came home with a Silver medal (could have been gold if she dipped) in Barcelona she was running a flawless race then just at 200m when she should have started a kick, instead getting her elbows out and fighting for her place she lets 5 athletes over take her !! and suddenly she's 6th !! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3qlTdPQp44

The reason she infuriates me is because she has SO MUCH talent but throws medals away left right and centre with the same awful tactics and lack of killer instinct, she runs like a novice constantly worried she might upset someone and more concerned with being polite than winning.

Can you please point out any of these observations that are incorrect

[SteveK26]

Where we disagree, Mump , is on our expectations of how well she should have done in London.
I disagree totally with you that her ill-health has nothing to do with this. It has EVERYTHING to do with it. I doubt she could have been in the shape required to execute her perfect race. Its my opinion that she probably drained her reserves in qualifying for the final.Therefore was she able to be in the right place to win a medal? She finished nearer last than first not because she ran a crappy race, but maybe because that was the best she could do right now. (I dont remember her her storming down the straight picking off her rivals one by one, all too late) She struggled home even off the slow pace.

I'm saying Lisa did well to make the final, and that is the best we could hope for.

[SteveK26]

I've just watched the full race again on YouTube.
With 250 to go she was totally in the clear, way off the leaders, and dropped further behind all the way to the line.
Fully fit and able to herself justice? Not in a million years.