[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

I wish people would shut up making excuses she wasn't unlucky or brave she was a failure. You have to do it on the day and if you don't then its tough luck. True Champions come through.

[Adam]

I feel a little sorry for here, but at the end of the day we're doing pretty well. Shame about the Swimming. We were proper shite.

[Ickle Angel]

I think that maybe as shed run as far as she had then she should have finished the race. Even if it wasnt in a medal position then people would have looked better at her

[MK Chris]

You don't know what has happened though to be honest. I have a feeling she would have finished had she not been so overcome by emotion.

I feel sorry for her not just because she didn't do it, but because she comes across as the most genuinely nice person in the whole Olympics. I haven't heard her reaction to it, but apparently she has refused to blame conditions, which is commendable.

The thing is fair enough she hasn't managed to do it in the Olympics but she has proved that she can do it before. Also, why the hell were the cameramen stuffing cameras in her face when she was in tears... That was horrible.

While we're on the subject of the Olympics, did anyone see Jan Ove-Waldner against Ryu Seung Min? ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic ... efault.stm if you don't know what I'm on about.)

Supporting minority sports...

[Aaron]

She can't explain why she pulled out according to Newsbeat. She has proved she can do it but as Gaspode said, why do people keep making these excuses up for her, shes failed this time, simple as, the others had to put up with the heat/conditions the media are implying she had to deal with.

[MC]

I agree that true champions should come through but still can't help feeling a bit sorry for her. As Topher said she is a genuinely nice person (I know cos I met her a few years ago) and to be the favourite but miss out on an Olympic medal again must be hard to take.

I notice Moyles didn't mention it this morning (not that I can remember anyway).

[Aaron]

No he didn't.

[Tom Holt]

probably so the whole link didn't have to be editted out - one thing i have noticed - because they have to edit out all references to olympic news, the listen again doesn't appear for a few hours rather than 30minutes

[Mafro]

I wish people would shut up making excuses

Here here.

[MK Chris]

Yeah fair enough but the press is making the excuses not her.

[DemonHorse]

true, she hasn't actually explained it. the theories are running rife, especially the 1 that she pulled out just because she wasn't in a medal position.

Not sure what to believe until I hear more about it, but it's not like she's denied (or confirmed BTW) anything.

[Bridgie]

well if you saw her interview from today you would have seen that she said she doesn't know why she wasn't right that race but about 15-20k in her legs just gave up, then it went away for a bit but kept coming back and by the time she stopped she kept wobbling over to the edge of the track and had nothing left in her.

anyway they said they've sent stuff off for tests but she doesn't know whether it was anything at all

[Sidders]

Probably just that time of the month. That was always the excuse for the girls missing PE when I was at school.

[Lew]

this is just ridiculous. It matters not if she wins the olympic gold or not, she is still the greatest marathon runner in the world and ever and no-one will be able to take that away from her for a long time to come.

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

shes the fastest female marathon runner in the world. I find it hard to call people the greatest until they have won anything.

Kelly Holmes - true champion.

[MK Chris]

Kelly Holmes was fantastic this afternoon - it must take some guts and confidence to sit at the back and still believe you can win.

Matula - should be in the mens?

[Mafro]

Bit off topic but does anyone else have an unexplainable hatred for the USA runners or is it just me?

[Gaspode_The_Wonder_Dog]

Just you.


My hatred is entirely explainable (is that a word?)

[Mafro]

I think its because they keep winning the track events like jammy bastards and are top of the medals table.

[kendra k]

the american coverage showed footage of the 1984 women's marathon before complete with the film of gabirele andersen-scheiss. (fitting name too, if you catch my drift.) after seeing that, pulling out made sense.

here's a website about it.

The most dramatic finish of the race was not Benoit's impressive victory, but the finish of Swiss competitor Gabriele Andersen-Scheiss, who entered the stadium fifteen minutes later suffering from heat exhaustion. The crowd gasped in horror as Andersen-Scheiss staggered onto the track, her torso twisted, her right arm straight and her left arm limp, her right knee strangely stiff. She waved away medical personnel who rushed to help her knowing that, if they touched her, she, like Dorando Pietri seventy-six years earlier, would be disqualified. For nearly six minutes Andersen-Scheiss hobbled around the track, occasionally stopping and holding her head. Doctors watched her carefully and determined she was in no immediate danger. She collapsed over the finish line in thirty-seventh place into the arms of waiting medics. Fortunately, Andersen-Scheiss recovered quickly. Her time of 2:48:45 would have won the gold medal in the first five Olympic marathons.

An embarrassing note to the women's race of 1984 concerned Leda Diaz de Cano of Honduras. In the midst of world-class competition, de Cano fell behind immediately, trailing by over six minutes just three miles into the race. By the nine-mile mark she was last by nearly a half-hour, and officials convinced her to drop out. Coubertin's credo of the importance of taking part had given way to the importance of keeping to the schedule on the track and allowing cars back on the freeways of Los Angeles.

[Mafro]

Fools.