The repechage
I can turn out to be a bit obsessive—common readers may have seen. My newest obsession is the repechage. It comes from the individuals who introduced you the lengthy bounce with out a board. Say no extra. (Monty Python, Nudge nudge.) And as we all know, a nod is pretty much as good as a wink to a blind horse!
I’ve famous that within the ladies’s 800m, two athletes within the conventional six quickest losers class progressed by means of the repechage, however 4 didn’t. Nonetheless, none progressed by means of the semi-finals – whether or not as a result of they weren’t adequate (in spite of everything, 4 of them wouldn’t have certified by the standard technique) or as a result of they’d an additional race of their legs. The timing of the boys’s 1500 was warmth, repechage, and semi-final on successive days. George Mills (GB), an athlete able to reaching the ultimate, ran, by his personal admission, in a horrible race within the warmth. He progressed to the semis however stated nothing afterward that he couldn’t run three robust races on the Olympic stage in three days.
What does the repechage obtain for athletes and the Olympics? It permits athletes to run twice earlier than a capability crowd, however does it assist the competitors? Within the center distance, operating an additional race actually places an athlete at a drawback in comparison with those that progressed with out going by means of a repechage. It’s considered one of life’s unanswered questions why the repechage for 1500 is the next day when the 110m hurdlers have 2 days to get well and compete of their repechage. You might additionally say that repechage races assist fill this system.
That leads properly into the case of Freddie Crittenden, a US dash hurdler. Freddie was ‘barely injured’ with an ‘aggravated muscle.’ Noting a two-day hole between the prelims and the repechage, he determined to not threat going flat out within the prelim however simply jogged down the monitor, stepping over the hurdles and ending in 18 seconds!
After his efficiency on Sunday, Crittenden stated of the choice to complete final: ‘It was an intentional selection. It was both get prime three or everybody will get by means of to the repechage. Each athlete has an opportunity to race within the repechage. So, I made a decision to not make an emotional however a sensible selection. Give my physique time to get well a bit bit from being aggravated. Lean on my medical docs. Lean on God. And simply look forward to the repechage spherical. Come out [here] and attempt to kill it on the repechage spherical.’ Crittenden did nothing incorrect however hardly what the repechage was meant for!
Within the 400, Shaunae Miller-Uibo stopped operating midway spherical however then walked to the end. She was initially proven as DNF, however that has been corrected to a time of two:22.29. Is she additionally planning a repechage run?