Who is your track/field athlete of the 2012 Olympics

TRR

Obvious contenders for me are Bolt, Rudisha and Farah. I'm sure people will add more.

Great argument to be made for each of the 3 above but I think I'd have to go with Farah.

I thought he ran 2 perfect finals and delivered when the expectation of the home crowd must have been suffocating. Obviously Bolt is a living legend but I always had an inkling he could do it if he turned it on, whereas with Farah, there was so no guarantee he'd win even if he ran to his potential as there 5-6 guys in each of the finals that could have beaten him. Rudisha was poetry in motion and without doubt is the classiest athlete of the games, seems a real gent in his interviews as well.

Hard call who's your choice and why?

PS just relaised I forgot Allyson Felix but if I'm hoenst apart from the relay I didn't get to see her run in the individual events. Anyway I like putting a male bias on things

Tombo2001

Rudisha for single most impressive performance.

Bolt for greatest achievement.

titan18

Rudisha, and it's not even close. That 800m race was excellent, and for Rudisha to run a WR in a major final, and no pace-setter is pretty amazing.

After that Felix Sanchez, Bolt, Kemboi, Farah, Pearson, Felix and Robert Harting (for the hurling celebration)

myflipflops

Rudisha gave the best performance by a distance.

Bolt was the star of the show in global terms again. Keeping the sport in the limelight with positive headlines. Farah was pretty close. Hopefully lots of kids in Britain will be looking at their local athletics clubs after seeing him.

I love Alyson Felix.

Special mention to the kid from Trinidad on winning the javelin tonight.

Dietsquirt

Bolt & Jamaica

the_real_lamp

Lashmanova was pretty special in the walk today and along with Mo, Felix, Pearson, Sanchez and Bolt they were incredible, but Rudisha has to get it.

ecoli

Rudisha hands down for performance

Not 100% sold on Farah here. Dont get me wrong Fantastic achievement and one I personally didnt think he would do but to me I just think the fields set up tactics giving him every chance to win. They ran his race and lost

In terms of athlete who most benefits the sport thats simple: Bolt. I still think that the rivalry was built up a bit to enhance his own reputation the old "The thing that makes an athlete great is a great rivalry thing". He had beaten the clock in Beijing now he had to beat a genuine threat to him though throughout the season was expecting him to come good here (and my wallet is thanking me kindly for going with my gut on him despite a mixed Olympics punting wise:D)

I think Felix though is probably my bet simply because she PB'ed in a race outside her comfort zone as well as in teh relay helping to world record and also dominated the longer distances (she ran 8 races in total at these Games winning 6 of them)

Few notable mentions though :

Sanchez reeling back the years
James after a less than stellar year coming good when it mattered (even Merritt would have been hard pushed to beat him)
Walcott handling the pressure of an Olympic final and winning at 19!
Pearson for being as dominant as ever

All in all been a pretty good games

K_1

Rudisha and Felix for overall performance.

Bolt and Farah for profile of the sport. ( and Blake to a certain extent)

Harting for celebration :P

Special mentions to Ennis, Jamaica mens 4x1, usa womens 4x4 and 4x1, sanchez, james.

cwgatling

Would agree with all of the above and throw Sanya Richards-Ross into the mix. What a great attitude and she did the business in the 400, 200 heats and relay. It was brilliant to see an athlete so positive and confident without being arrogant.

Savage Tyrant

Usain Bolt without question.
3 Golds.
1 WR
1 OR
And he now holds the WR in all 3 of those events. He could not possibly be a better athlete.
Perhaps he could start competitively challenging at 400m although I'm not sure if that would harm his 100m.
The man is phenomenal.

Pisco Sour

Rudisha

It is not a debate!

woodchopper

ecoli wrote: »

Rudisha hands down for performance

Not 100% sold on Farah here. Dont get me wrong Fantastic achievement and one I personally didnt think he would do but to me I just think the fields set up tactics giving him every chance to win. They ran his race and lost

There was no way Farah could lose if healthy and fully recovered. He is the fittest in both fields (remember he won the New York City Half Marathon, Tadese not in top shape). He had the best 1500 in the 10k so either fast or slow he was going to win that one. As for the 5000 Iguider didnt have it over the last 100 while Lagat is not the same in a kick finish, despite his trip Mo would have taken him.

If Farah ran in Paris he would have a 12.45 to his name, Koech cannot as of yet beat him while Gebremeskal got stuck on the rail on the back straight. If he had been on Farah with 120 to go he could have taken him but he is not tactically good enough to be an Olympic champion, Mo Farah most certainly is. THE CHAMP IS HERE!

Dan man

My pick would have to be Asli Cakir of Turkey who won gold in the women's 1,500m.....:D

sorry, only joking....David Rudisha for me, his performance really blew me away...in the same way as Michael Johnson's WR run over 200m in 1996 and Bolt's 100m/200m performances from Beijing 2008. That will live long in the memory for me.

Trumps all other performances for me.

Rhys Essien

Taoufik Makhloufi - 1500m = sublime performance,out of knowhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoufik_Makhloufi

PaulieYifter

For me these will be my memories:

David Rudisha - legend
Mo Farah - hero
Ezekiel Kemboi - fruitcake
Allyson Felix - smooth

walshb

I'm going with Ennis. A lot of hype and pressure in 7 events and she performed off the charts.

G-Money

Can I pick 3?

Jessica Ennis
Mo Farah
David Rudisha

MungoMan

David Rodesia was my favourite moment by a half mile . Such a nice guy too in interviews.

Second mo, third sally pearson, fourth kirani james.......

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Mo Farah
David Rudisha
And perhaps a mention to AB in triathlon, being injured and coming back to win gold so easily shows the guy has class not to mention his 10k time off a swim and bike would be good enough to challenge a mid pack finish in the 10k alone. I could be biased though:)

No matter what i can remember/experience about 5 or 6 Olympics and by far this wins hands down.

Brianderunner

For me it's Felix.

- Dominated the race with the strongest line up in the games (the womens 200m final)
- Ran a stormer in the 4 x 100m setting a new WR in the process.
- Made mince meat out of Russia and the others with her 48.1 2nd leg in the 4 x 400m.

Rudisha could not have done more but he only ran one final while Felix had 3.

The better Brownlee?

RoyMcC

Hard to argue against any of the above picks. I'm still going with Ennis though. I can't imagine how she dealt with the expectation to produce the performance that she did. And she also set the tone for the whole of what was a great athletics show.

Woddle

Brianderunner wrote: »

For me it's Felix.

- Dominated the race with the strongest line up in the games (the womens 200m final)
- Ran a stormer in the 4 x 100m setting a new WR in the process.
- Made mince meat out of Russia and the others with her 48.1 2nd leg in the 4 x 400m.

Rudisha could not have done more but he only ran one final while Felix had 3.

Yeah has to be Felix, 4 finals and 3 golds, a PB in the other and what a smile.

PaulieC

I can't see where all the love for Felix is coming from.

Apart from being beautiful, graceful, stylish and fast, there's not much to her. Each to their own though I guess

Bugsy2000

I'd have to go with David Rudisha but a close second for me was Robert Heffernan. Over 7.30 off irish record and beaten to fourth by three people who beat the existing olympic record. I never would have thought that race walking would have me on the edge of my seat as it did for the last 10k of the 50k. It was a savage performance in what was obviously difficult conditions. People dropping everywhere after the finish line.

Edit: Just spotted the title asked for Track / Field athlete but I'll stand over it.

Tombo2001

Bugsy2000 wrote: »

Edit: Just spotted the title asked for Track / Field athlete but I'll stand over it.

With your edit in mind, special mention to the sprint finish at the end of the women's triathlon.

Best end to any event in the games, and both women collapsed in exhaustion at the finish line.

It actually was unfair to seperate them I thought, they both should have gold.

zymar

1 rudisha
2 bolt
3 allyson felix
4 kirani james
5 S A frazer pryce

thirstywork2

Rudisha was outstanding to front run and break the WR.
Farah and Ennis both had huge pressure and delivered.
Bolt a master class both on and off the track
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/usain-bolt-parties-with-three-of-the-swedish-1230004

Felix Sanchez was amazing and to witness his win was amazing.
The emotions on the podium and the roar he got just before his national anthem finished was unreal.
66-1 outsider and 8 years after winning the Olympics at the age of 34 for me was the standout on many levels.
People forget he went unbeaten in 43 races between 2001-2004

BenMicheal

Anyone who watched the 50km walk race on Saturday would say Rob Heffernan! The man was immense!

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

What was so special about the Rudisha performance (genuine question - don't know much about athletics)? And what do people mean he did it without a pace-setter?

walshb

THFC wrote: »

What was so special about the Rudisha performance (genuine question - don't know much about athletics)? And what do people mean he did it without a pace-setter?

I guess it was down to him breaking a WR at the games in a middle distance event. Typically WR in middle distance events are broken at grand prix meets when they are set for that, with pace makers etc. With Rudisha being so so strong he is his own pace maker and has that ability to just race so so hard for two laps, pacemaker or not. He does it all himself. At championships pacemakers aren't usually allowed, or permitted. Not saying pacing does not happen.

ecoli

THFC wrote: »

What was so special about the Rudisha performance (genuine question - don't know much about athletics)? And what do people mean he did it without a pace-setter?

Effectively it is easy you follow than to lead. You use more energy leading than following this is why many grand prix races set up pace makers (someone who leads the field out for 75% of the race and then drops out) as a result it is rare for WR attempts in Championship distance races.

To put it into perspective the last time it was done was 15 years ago

So not only is the fact that he broke his own WR (a record which he had a pacer for) in a championship but also the fact that there is a possibility that he can go even faster and perhaps come close to the 1.40 barrier

RayCun

ecoli wrote: »

Effectively it is easy you follow than to lead. You use more energy leading than following

Is it physically easier? Is there a drafting effect? Or is it just mentally easier?

ecoli

RayCun wrote: »

Is it physically easier? Is there a drafting effect? Or is it just mentally easier?

From what I remember there is physical benefits (i.e energy expenditure) but I would also image there is a psychological advantage also

walshb

There has to be a slip stream affect? Unless of course you are a little far back to benefit from it.

RayCun

walshb wrote: »

There has to be a slip stream affect? Unless of course you are a little far back to benefit from it.

Is Rudisha big enough, and moving fast enough, to create a slipstream large enough for another runner to profit from?

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Cheers lads.

Brianderunner

RayCun wrote: »

Is Rudisha big enough, and moving fast enough, to create a slipstream large enough for another runner to profit from?

you need to be travelling at 17-18 km/hr to get a drafting benefit in still air so yes he is moving fast enough.

http://www.hillrunner.com/jim2/id39.html

From Without Limits "it takes 6% more energy to lead than to follow"

StaggerLee

Rudisha, Felix and Bolt on the track.

The triathletes performances blew me away though. A Brownlee running away in the mens and the finish in the womens was epic.

walshb

Brianderunner wrote: »

you need to be travelling at 17-18 km/hr to get a drafting benefit in still air so yes he is moving fast enough.

http://www.hillrunner.com/jim2/id39.html

From Without Limits "it takes 6% more energy to lead than to follow"

I would think that Rudisha in an 800 race at full tilt could exceed 30 kph.

His top end speed would easily hit and exceed 30 kph.

tunguska

For me its Meb Keflezighi. What a run in the marathon. At one stage he was 17th, but gradually worked his way up to 4th. Says he'll go again in Rio, delighted to hear that, I'll bet on a top 5 finish even though he'll be 41.

walshb

tunguska wrote: »

For me its Meb Keflezighi. What a run in the marathon. At one stage he was 17th, but gradually worked his way up to 4th. Says he'll go again in Rio, delighted to hear that, I'll bet on a top 5 finish even though he'll be 41.

Yes that really was a mad one. I thought he was dead on his feet at one stage, and withing 50 metres he had gained so much and pulled away.

RayCun

Brianderunner wrote: »

http://www.hillrunner.com/jim2/id39.html

From that link

Galloway - Well, the words/terms drafting, wind, wind resistance, race strategy, racing tactics....or anything remotely associated with these subjects....don't appear in the index of his book. Heck, the word "race" doesn't appear at all!

:pac:

ecoli

tunguska wrote: »

For me its Meb Keflezighi. What a run in the marathon. At one stage he was 17th, but gradually worked his way up to 4th. Says he'll go again in Rio, delighted to hear that, I'll bet on a top 5 finish even though he'll be 41.

A bit like Kirui very underrated yet great championship runner was delighted to see him do this after his silver back in Athens

runamile

Rudisha. He planned to do it and he did it!

LordSutch

Jessica Ennis.

G-Money

In no particular order. Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah, Usain Bolt and David Rudisha.

runamile

Hard to argue with those four, but I will order it:
Rudisha, Bolt, Farah, Ennis.

walshb

I think Farrah was the star of the games. Home games. The brilliant double and he lived up to the immense pressure too. Plus, the Mo bop, or what was it called?

robinph

Mo because he keeps on wanting to have his picture taken with me:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152285019045290

Shame Ennis isn't stalking me as well.