The 2020 Olympiad was magnificent. Japan did a wonderful job hosting the trials. Athletes seemed to enjoy their experience, and performances were off the chart. It seemed more of a purity of sport. Here are some shower thoughts on the Olympics.
-High Jump-there should be no tie. The rules dictate a jump off. It’s not a story of sportsmanship. It’s ignoring the rules.
-Should they eliminate Auto qualifiers during rounds and just go top 24 to semis and top 8 to finals?  Just a hypothetical question. Centro and the US men’s 4×1 missed the finals because of this. However, if the goal of racing is to race, heats are structured in such a way they are even. Still there are times where there are too many auto qualifiers and not enough time qualifiers. In the 1500 semifinal, top 5 in each heat are auto, and there are 2 time qualifiers. It could be top 3 and then 6 by time.
-All 3 men’s medalists in the marathon wore Nike supershoes.
-Norway won 2 golds on the track. The US won 1.
-US 4×1 squad: There’s not much time to practice handoffs. Unless the US has a total stud they should just take 4-7 with 8 as the alternate from the US trials. That way those guys can just focus on handoffs at the Olympic village. The world is too good now to assume making it to the finals. If you assume 4-7 can run 9.9 that is a 39.6 4×1. Take into account saving .7 per handoff and you are now down to 37.5. That makes finals no problem.
-American distance runners: This argument may seem bunk considering the success of Mu, Seidel, Frerichs, Rogers, and Chelimo (he should have been DQed at the OTs and again at the Olympics). At the very least, this argument is more towards the men. American distance runners are too scared to race. They need to be in Europe getting smoked instead of hanging out at high school tracks.  Same story every year. They run once or twice to get a qualifying time, go to altitude, race championships, go back to altitude when it makes no difference for 3 weeks, then they come back flat for championships meets when they are racing against bruisers. Centro looked totally lost in that field. To quote the great Ancient Greek philosopher Omar Little “ How you expect to run with the wolves come night, when you spend all day sparring wit’ the puppies?â€Â   Laura Muir is awesome and she should be what the Americans aspire to be.
-“Iron sharpens iron.â€Â Delilah wants to beat Sydney and Sydney wants to beat Delilah. Delilah didn’t let Sydney win and it’s not like Sydney said well she’s winning and I’m good for second. A couple hundredths of a second just put a lot of money in Sydney’s bank account and she won’t be sharing it with Delilah. Delilah will win a Diamond League meet later this summer.
-How come people keep saying “it’s been 5 years since…,†“it’s been 53 years since.† It’s been 4 years and 52 years. This was the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Not the 2021 Olympics.
-The new track and field announcers hired by NBC should be Pat McAfee, a horse racing announcer, and Nick Agoris. Tim Hutchins and Kara Goucher did a very nice job, but everyone else needs to go.
Subjective Top 10 performances of Olympic Games. There were an exquisite amount of great performances. The amount of National, regional, and Olympic records was absurd.
World top 10-This list is impossible. There were so many great performances, that excluding anyone seems unfair. This list is probably “wrong.” But just for fun…
1. Karston Warholm-flawless performance. He is redefining the event.
2. Rai Benjamin-He also smashed the WR. Didn’t hesitant in the race. Not rhetorically, how many times has someone run a WR and lost?
3. Sydney McLaughlin-She gets the edge over Muhammad, as she won, of course. But she led for about 1% of the race.
4. Delilah Muhammad-Great performance. Runs the WR and loses. Ran 2 seconds faster than her gold in Rio.
5. Ryan Crouser-stats courtesy of Zach Roth-6 throws over OR and 99.6% of his own world record.
6. Nafi Thiam-back to back Olympic champion.
7. Damian Warner . Over 9,000 points.  Fourth time someone has done this.  Very close to WR.
8. Jamaica 1,2,3 women’s 100
9. Eliud Kipchoge-Everyone loves Zatopek, Elliott, Gebresallasie, etc…, etc…, but Kipchoge’s performances, longevity, and dominance in the marathon has to put him, at least in pencil, as the greatest distance runner in history.
10. Sifan Hassan-3 events, 3 medals. The 1500 and 10k are vastly different events.
2. Rai Benjamin-He also smashed the WR. Didn’t hesitant in the race. Not rhetorically, how many times has someone run a WR and lost?
3. Sydney McLaughlin-She gets the edge over Muhammad, as she won, of course. But she led for about 1% of the race.
4. Delilah Muhammad-Great performance. Runs the WR and loses. Ran 2 seconds faster than her gold in Rio.
5. Ryan Crouser-stats courtesy of Zach Roth-6 throws over OR and 99.6% of his own world record.
6. Nafi Thiam-back to back Olympic champion.
7. Damian Warner . Over 9,000 points.  Fourth time someone has done this.  Very close to WR.
8. Jamaica 1,2,3 women’s 100
9. Eliud Kipchoge-Everyone loves Zatopek, Elliott, Gebresallasie, etc…, etc…, but Kipchoge’s performances, longevity, and dominance in the marathon has to put him, at least in pencil, as the greatest distance runner in history.
10. Sifan Hassan-3 events, 3 medals. The 1500 and 10k are vastly different events.
Subjective Top 10 American Performances
1. Rai Benjamin
2. Sydney McLaughlin
3. Delilah Muhammad
4. Ryan Crouser
5. Athing Mu
6. Courtney Frerichs
7. Molly Seidel
8. Allyson Felix
9. Women’s 4×400
10. Men’s 4×400
US Medals (scroll to bottom)