I’ve been a marathoner long enough to have run one in just about every kind of weather-freezing cold, big rainstorms, desert-like dryness, falling snow, and the occasional beautifully crisp, cool day-and, like just about everyone else with marathon experience, I’ve learned that the worst conditions of all are the unfortunately common combination of high heat, high humidity, and direct sun. Climate change seems to be blessing us with more such marathons every year-even the traditionally temperate Chicago and Grandma’s marathons were run in awful heat and humidity in 2007-but the Olympic Marathon, perversely, has almost always been run in this worst of all possible weathers. It’s part of the Summer Games, of course, which are held in countries where the weather will be nice for things like soccer, rowing, and beach volleyball-and sprinting, for that matter. And the gymnasts and swimmers and fencers don’t care much either way.[More]

After Bernard Lagat, the defending double-world champion at 1500 and 5000 meters, shocked everyone by failing to make the 1500-meter final here by two hundredths of a second, he was quoted as saying that he would go all-out to win the 5000 meters. This meant that he would have to take on the world record-holder, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, who had already won the 10,000 meters here and would now attempt to become only the sixth man to win both races at an Olympics. Bekele usually seems unbeatable, but he has been comparatively vulnerable in major-championship 5000-meter races, especially when he doubles back after a 10,000. In both the 2003 World Championships in Paris and the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Bekele allowed the pace to lag enough to enable runners without his endurance but with as much raw speed to keep contact until the last homestretch and outsprint him. Hicham El-Guerrouj of Morocco accomplished this in each race; Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya beat them both in Paris.[More]

If there is one thing that I will take from the competitions in Beijing it is the eternal axiom: “The only thing that is constant in the universe is CHANGE”. It is an axiom that I hope I never forget. I saw many things change at this Olympics, perhaps more at this one than at any other that I can remember. I also believe that it was the lack of this understanding that left some of us-coaches, athletes, and even spectators-stuck in the past while we looked on in disbelief at what was happening. I can see now that the best athletes, coaches, training systems-be they national or individual-are the ones that are constantly changing, constantly evolving, constantly moving forward with the inevitably new demands that are required to be on top in the sport. [More]

Here are the results (with photos) of the Olympic Track & Field distance running events. Enjoy!

Track aficionados like to explain the frequently slow winning times in distance races at major championships by pointing out that winning these races is all that matters, and that no one wants to lead them in the early stages because an early leader becomes a target for the rest of the field. This may be true in general, but I saw an exception today in the women’s 5000-meter final, in which the phrase “tactical race” was taken to an absurd extreme… [More]

The marathons and Beijing Games are over–at least for me, as I head to the airport shortly.
What a close it was. It was the greatest marathon performance ever. Young, 21-year-old Sammy Wanjiru ran a race to remember. Leading from the gun at a blistering world record pace all while the sun was getting higher and hotter. Sammy gradually knocked each rival one by one until he ran alone. A 2:06 marathon in the Olympic Games, and a hot one at that, is unheard of. The next fastest Olympic run was three minutes slower. The Americans ran strong and tough!

The hype was building all week for the crowning event–the men’s marathon. Much to everyone’s surprise, the day dawned cool and clear. It was the nicest day here yet. In line with the favorable weather conditions, the lead guys were flying at world record pace at 10k; crazy in the Olympics. Ritz was running smart, Hall was farther back and not looking like himself. I was hoping he was just being cautious early on. Sell was running steady. The stadium was energetic with inline skaters and constant entertainment. I am fine with the race alone.

I like to think I have at least some control of my emotions, but making the Olympic team has proven otherwise. It’s not like I broke down and cried or anything like that; the night of the 5K final was great, but it was pretty much what I would have expected. What I didn’t expect was to have a total loss of motivation when I got back to San Diego. I spent about a week there before heading over here to Europe to race. During that week I just felt tired and unmotivated. One day I ended up just skipping everything I was supposed to do in the afternoon to go to the beach! Fortunately there were people there to tell me that was a normal way to feel right after the Trials. [More]

Every American track fan has been waiting for Eugene’s favorite sons, the heroes of the men’s 800-meter Trials race, to continue their storybook ascent into the upper echelons of their sport here at the Olympics. With their Hollywood-worthy three-man come-from-behind finish, Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating, and Christian Smith, all Oregon-based runners, produced a crowd reaction that rivaled those at other hometown favorites’ huge victories, like Fani Halkia’s in the Athens women’s 400 hurdles, Cathy Freeman’s in the Sydney women’s 400, and Steve Prefontaine’s right there in Eugene at the 1972 Olympic Trials men’s 5000 meters… [More]

Tom Burns, a friend of mine who ran 20:20 for four miles at age 47, once said that the races he was proudest of weren’t his fastest ones, when everything had gone right, he’d beaten who he’d wanted to beat, and splits that he usually struggled to reach suddenly felt effortless. He said he was proudest of a few races in which everything had gone wrong – when the people he wanted to beat receded into the distance ahead of him, the splits were pathetic, and he felt like his legs were lead weights – but he still didn’t back off. [More]

To date, here are the results (with photos) of the Olympic Track & Field distance running events. We’ll update this gallery as events are completed.

NYRR has got two new updates on U.S. women’s 5000 meter competitor Jen Rhines: An interview conducted by Cecil Harris just before she left for Beijing, and her latest distance journal. Both offer fascinating insight into Rhines’s thoughts before the Games.

On Day Two of the track and field competition, I watched Anthony Famiglietti line up for the second of the two men’s steeplechase semifinals and thought, “Surely he won’t try what he did at the Trials.” Fam, a New Yorker and a friend of mine – I’ve gotten to interview him twice for NYRR and have ended up talking for much longer than expected about things like art, poetry, and his early extreme-skateboarding career – had gone out to a huge lead in the final Trials race and had held on to win. [More]

These interviews with NYRR took place in July, as the two Olympians prepared for Beijing. Anna Willard / Jorge Torres

The Olympics that looked in advance like they would be remembered for their horrible weather got a bizarre reprieve yesterday. It was as if Zeus looked down on the environs and decided that Games held in his honor simply could not take place under a dense, fetid, brownish-gray sky and threw down his thunderbolts… [More]