Editors Alex Cyr, Katelyn Tocci and Michael Doyle jump into the studio for a their final emergency pod of these Olympic Games, right after the finish of the women’s Olympic marathon in Paris on Sunday morning. The final event of the Olympics did not disappoint, delivering a thrilling finish.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands put on a show in the final moments of the marathon, out sprinting world record holder Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia for one of the great marathon performances of all time. But it was not without its controvery, as Hassan and Assefa made contact with about 200m to go.
We also discuss Nike’s big win, if Hassan is the next Kipchoge, and what happened to American runner Fiona O’Keeffe (and why some are upset about her DNF).
The Women’s Olympic Marathon top 10 Results:
Sifan Hassan
Tigst Assefa
Hellen Obiri
Sharon Lokedi
Amane Shankule
Yuka Suzuki
Delvine Meringor
Stella Chesang
Lonah Salpeter
Eunice Chumba
Read our full recap of the 2024 Olympic marathon, plus full results, here:
https://marathonhandbook.com/2024-olympic-women-marathon-results/
Follow our live coverage of the track and marathons here:
https://marathonhandbook.com/live-updates-athletics-track-2024-paris-olympics/
Hosts: Alex Cyr, Katelyn Tocci, Michael Doyle
Hosts: Alex Cyr, Katelyn Tocci, Michael Doyle
Also check out the video version of our pods on YouTube.
Listen and subscribe to our Podcast: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / YouTube Music
Episode Transcript
Michael Doyle (00:04.855)
All right, I’m joined by my Tigist Asefa and Sifan Hassan of potting Alex here and Caitlin Tasi. I’m not sure which one is who is who here, one of you, spoiler alert, one of you wins a sprint finish at the end of this podcast. we’re gonna talk about that and so much more. This is gonna be a.
Alex Cyr (00:14.001)
who’s who?
Katelyn Tocci (00:16.076)
I was gonna ask that.
Alex Cyr (00:24.319)
and the other gets shoved.
Michael Doyle (00:32.065)
a big instant reaction pod. We’re all delirious after staying up in the middle of the night to watch this last event in the Olympics, the women’s marathon, which I think is going to go down as like one of the great, one of the great marathon experiences, viewing experiences, one of the great races and certainly Olympic marathon history. question for you both to start things off here.
Is this the most fun you’ve ever had between 2 and 5 .22 in the morning Eastern time? And if not, what were you doing?
Katelyn Tocci (01:06.87)
No, I was, okay, I tried to get some sleep in. tried, because remember for me it started at midnight. So I tried to sleep like from 10 .30 to midnight up, watched the marathon, tried to sleep again for an hour, hour and a half before I had to get up and get ready for the podcast. So I’m a little delirious. I don’t really know. I don’t know. I don’t know how this is gonna go. I’m still asleep.
Michael Doyle (01:15.383)
Right.
Alex Cyr (01:33.024)
I played the game and I won. I took a big gamble. So I watched the marathons with the CBC, the Canadian broadcaster and what they’ve done for this entire Olympic competition is as soon as a competition ends, they put it up on replay. It’s awesome. They did that for every competition except for the men’s marathon yesterday. So I was facing a decision last night thinking, do I wake up at two in the morning and watch the marathon and risk my own?
ruining my own big long run today? Or do I take a gamble on the CBC and hope that by 6am when I wake up, this race is there and ready for me? And luckily it was. So I’ve had a great night’s Mmm. Mmm.
Katelyn Tocci (02:12.097)
I can’t believe it. Yeah, I can’t believe it. Michael and I are on borrowed time today.
Michael Doyle (02:12.319)
Wow. to hell with you.
Michael Doyle (02:19.583)
My God, I’ve sacrificed my long run today. I’m to have to run it on a Monday on a work day just for this frigging podcast. And look at you, although I would have stayed up and watched the race anyway. I like to see these things live, but okay, kudos to you. You definitely did play the game and won and kudos to both of you right off the top here. I think we need to start a sports book, a track and distance running sports book between the
Katelyn Tocci (02:27.031)
you
Michael Doyle (02:49.077)
between the three of us or maybe not me. You guys can cut me out because between the two of you, nailed so many of the picks. And if you’re listening to this pod, surely you know by now that Sifan Hassan stunned the running world by winning this women’s marathon today in the Olympics. And and who had the pick who went out on a limb?
Katelyn Tocci (02:53.751)
you
Katelyn Tocci (03:10.605)
I did, I did. She was my dark horse, if you were listening. Last week, she was my dark horse for the pick because I know that there was a lot of talk about, she’s running the 5 ,000 and she’s running the 10 ,000 and she’s gonna be tired. But I’m telling you, as I mentioned in the last podcast, when I saw her in the 5 ,000, I was like, she’s holding back. And she’s just slipping in to third place because she has more gas in the tank and she’s holding back for the marathon. And she did. Yeah.
Michael Doyle (03:36.695)
We’ll get into that. We’ll get into that question in a bit when we start unpacking her performance specifically, because that’s a really interesting, that’s an interesting thought. Like did she sacrificed gold, silver, and sort of reaching for that fifth gear in those track events in order to save something for the marathon? Is that something that you can even like figure out how to do? Like, I’m not sure if that’s even possible, but that’s a good question. Mark. We’ll put a pin on that for later, but let’s first talk about this race a little bit in sequence here. So.
It starts at eight o ‘clock in the morning local time in Paris. I think it was a little bit of a, it was a very opulent start, very similar to the men’s race. A great starting spot, very beautifully photographed as was the men’s race. This, they bring out Catherine Switzer, that kind of icon of, of women’s running to start the race. And she’s got this like, like this like.
Gandalf staff that she bangs three times on the ground and they have this huge sound effect for it to start off the race and then she had to like scurry off to the side before they start the race. I noticed that the Canadian commentators because I’m watching here in Canada with as you are Alex, they were confused because they thought Paul Ragliff was supposed to start the race. So that’s I don’t know what went on there. But so this race can be broken down, I think pretty easily into
and conveniently into the four act theatrical structure. And I would say act one of this race was really sort of the first 14K where you had a massive field of runners. It was unclear what was going to happen, how it was going to play out. Everyone’s sort of checking each other. was a pretty pedestrian pace, but nevertheless pretty entertaining. Like what were your thoughts about like the first, kind of that first chunk of the race?
I still found it nevertheless pretty captivating.
Alex Cyr (05:33.599)
I thought it was captivating, but it was apprehensive. It’s like the women had learned from what happened with the men yesterday, is that the course stopped being all talk and became real. A lot of big names dropped out or had rough days, and so no one wanted to completely take it out. I mean, I don’t want to dote on Hassan this whole time, even though she won the race, but at one point she’s running in like 40th place in those first 10, 12, 14 K.
Katelyn Tocci (05:55.585)
Mm
Alex Cyr (05:59.869)
And I thought that was just such a baller move and just a good way to preserve energy, especially coming after all these races and a good display of confidence. that actually made me more excited and interested to see what she had in store for the rest.
Michael Doyle (06:12.703)
Yeah. And kudos to the, to the broadcast team because they did cut back to her on a few occasions in the first half of the race. She was 42nd going through the five K split. So way back in the pack, but we got some idea narratively of where she was at, which, you know, turns out to pay huge dividends in the end. like all too often with these broadcasts, you don’t get a clear picture of what’s actually going on.
in the race, you only see like all of a sudden, someone is emerging from the ether and takes the big lead. Especially when they go to commercial break, and they’re like, during the commercial break, see, find a son sprinted to the front out of nowhere and is now leading the race and it sort of like ruins the the dramatic element of of watching it. But yeah, so she she paced through very intelligently.
Katelyn Tocci (06:55.648)
Yeah.
Michael Doyle (07:07.339)
The whole group were like 227, 228 marathon pace. So to put that into context for a listener, like the, the qualification time is 226 to get into this event, through qualification. So pretty comfortable for pretty much everyone in the race. It was like a massive field. we had, just like with the men’s race, we had a runner kind of jump out in the front and then there was a little cluster of runners, including the French, the French athlete, Melody Julia, who, who
Katelyn Tocci (07:34.324)
Mm
Michael Doyle (07:36.842)
paste, I’d say right all the way up until I think it was into the Hills, into that 14 K section of Hills. And that’s really when you get into kind of to continue with the theatrical metaphor, you get into act two, which is you get into this hilly section between 14 and 20 K. And then all of a sudden all sort of like the the absolute apex predator elites of this race start appearing their merge one.
Katelyn Tocci (08:03.806)
haha
Michael Doyle (08:04.699)
one at a time behind her and then suddenly you’ve got this small pack of women, including at one point all three Kenyans, all three Ethiopians sitting behind her. And that’s when things started to get real.
The neatest thing I think in the race was, well, among the neatest things in the race was this moment when, and they got it on camera, when Hassan closed the gap. She was sort of falling behind, right? At around halfway through. And then she made this big move to catch up to this lead group before they took off because basically that was the race at that point. So let’s talk about the second half of this race.
Let’s talk about how the Hills played a role or didn’t they? Do you guys think that they were a big factor like they were in the men’s race? Caitlin.
Katelyn Tocci (08:52.744)
You know, I feel what impressed me so much about these times is that I wasn’t as we talked about in the last podcast, I wasn’t expect I was expecting the hills to really slow things down. And they obviously didn’t. And we’ll get more into that later with the times and stuff. But they didn’t slow things down. And what I was so I’m assuming and impressed with the fact that they really took advantage of the downhills because they had to take advantage of the downhills to make up for the uphills. At least that’s what I literally saw more obviously in the men’s race. I’m sure you guys spoke about it.
with just like flying down the downhills like they were running a trail race. And so I feel like that was definitely part of it, taking advantage of that as well and trying to keep pace on the uphills. But I just, I don’t know how they did it. It was really impressive.
Alex Cyr (09:39.485)
feel like getting confused on times here. I’m trying to figure out why there’s such a difference. Like, you’re right, Caitlin, it seemed to not affect the times that much. I see the ending, you know, that no one goes under 220, we’ll get into the finishing times after, but there was an Olympic record run.
Katelyn Tocci (09:55.188)
That’s what I mean. I mean, and I have to bite my tongue because these Olympic records happen and I verbatim said in the podcast, well, we won’t see any Olympic records on this course. And when, yeah, I know we didn’t think so, right? I mean, none of us thought so. And when the men’s, and I was like, boy, boy, Caitlin, you really, foot in mouth. They did an amazing job. And I think taking advantage of those downhills, if you can do it, wow, it really played to their advantage.
Alex Cyr (10:07.452)
I didn’t think so either.
Alex Cyr (10:24.796)
But I guess that speaks to a history of tactical running at the Olympics, right? Because at the same time, this race was still… Like you were right in saying that it was going to be a slow race compared to the other races we see on the calendar, right? Most people ran eight to 10 minutes slower than they usually do. So you are right. The hills, I thought the hills really impacted it. The hills actually, it made me think of two things. One, this tough course.
Katelyn Tocci (10:36.904)
Yeah.
Right, right, right.
Alex Cyr (10:51.862)
gave a little bit of limelight to people that I didn’t expect to see near the front, which was awesome. We’ve already mentioned this Julienne of France, but also Lindworm of the States showed her cards pretty early and she got in the front. She had some of that camera attention. Same as Lona Saulpeter of Israel, who pushed the pace quite a bit in that middle part. And then the other thing is, I think it scared quite a few people. At one point, when I was watching the hill climb, I thought Hassan was cooked.
Katelyn Tocci (11:21.031)
Yeah, yeah.
Alex Cyr (11:22.074)
I was convinced she was cooked. Her form, which is usually gangly, yes, she was leaning towards the front. She looked like she was hurting. She was being dropped by the lead pack in a time when you don’t really want to show vulnerability because that’s usually where people get broken. And so if I’m Sharon Lochetti or Helen O ‘Berry, I’m thinking, OK, we have her. If I’m trying to play the mind game and I’m Hassan, I’m trying to stay right on their shoulder and she was being dropped.
the hill really changed things, but also it wasn’t the be all end all, sun came back. So I think we were lucky to see something that we don’t see very much, is that tough of a course and it made it very interesting and hard to predict, even at 28 up to 30k.
Michael Doyle (12:07.507)
Yeah, it almost makes me want to. It’s like putting a call with the folks at Chicago or London. It’s like, let’s spice up your course a little bit. You know, this is more fun to watch these types of races from a, from a. A pure entertainment standpoint. mean, I mean, this was a very extreme example and obviously also one of the great most, you know, picturesque cities in the world, shutting down a course that they’re never going to shut down. I mean, the.
I’ve run the Paris marathon, the actual race that goes on every year. And it covers some of this, some of the sites, some of these similar spots, but not to the degree of this race. This was extraordinary. So, but yeah, there’s something about these hills, especially the extreme hills that create this kind of like quasi like paved cross country course type drama. Right. And that moment you’re talking about Alex with, with Hassan.
As I think I, I think I know exactly the moment you’re referring to, because I had the exact same thought and I took some notes at that moment as well. think it was right around the 29 ish kilometer mark where they’re going up that nasty 600 meter hill that they’ve dubbed the wall, which cause it looks like a wall and you’re, you come along it and then like you’re facing it and it’s literally a wall of pavement in front of your face for 600 meters. And she was lurched forward, getting dropped a little bit, but I’m wondering in retrospect, if like, that’s just her.
Katelyn Tocci (13:18.107)
Yeah.
Katelyn Tocci (13:30.289)
Mm
Michael Doyle (13:35.016)
of surviving this really tough stretch and getting through it without having lost too much contact with that lead group. And then she really capitalized on her ability to run very fast downhill because there’s a huge downhill section after you crest that massive climb at 600 meters of 600 meters. You pay it all. It pays all back. And then she just, she just had that, that speed and that toughness. Okay. Let’s skip ahead here. Otherwise we’re just going to like,
talk out the marathon in real time and it’s going to take us two and a half hours. It boils down to a group of the, I counted it here, the first, second, third, fourth and 11th ranked marathoners in the world this year, all going head to head with a 12 K to go at about 30, 30, 30 kilometers. And so you had Sharon Lichetti, you had Helen O ‘Berry who won Boston and New York and Boston.
in the last three iterations of those races or the last iteration of those races. Our girl, Caitlin Perez, Jeff, cheer cheer the reigning Olympic champion and one of the true goats, take us to Cepha and Imani. She’s a cool. I sorry, who has one of the fastest times ever as well and five spots, only three medals. I mean, the tension was like super ratcheted up. It was
really fun to watch. None of them backed off at all. There was no game playing. They were just like pacing it very hard as evidenced by the Olympic record. And then they start to kind of drop off, right? First you had, Shenkouli of Ethiopia fall off, Chip Chir -Chir fell off first. Then Shenkouli fell off afterwards. then you had Obeeri, Lacheti, Aceffa, and Hassan hanging out in, in this, this
quad of runners with the three medals left. Let’s just jump ahead. Let’s talk about the finish. Let’s talk about the last few hundred meters. So it came down to his son versus a sefa a sefa world record holder. She’s run to 11. I was thinking about this and watching this. I’m like, I think her to 11 time might be the most impressive, just pure
Katelyn Tocci (15:37.98)
Amazing.
Michael Doyle (15:58.887)
performance in sports history right now. I can’t like maybe like Flojo’s records are starting to get kind of like scratched at and bolts times. I don’t, I don’t think they’re going to be touched anytime soon, but they almost seem like something like there was discussion for the first time in a long time that maybe maybe bolts 200 meter record might be under threat at some point. this two 11 is like absolute madness, right?
Katelyn Tocci (16:22.309)
Yeah. Well, because Hassan has the second fastest woman’s time, correct? At 2 .13. So it seems just miles away, you know, in two full minutes, a little more than two full minutes.
Alex Cyr (16:36.633)
And before, even if you discount Hassan, because obviously she’s also an outlier, when Asepa broke the record, she broke the previous record by three minutes, which itself was a 2 .14 by Bridgette Koskai, which itself was considered to be otherworldly, way faster than the old Radcliffe records, which themselves were considered amazing. So, yeah, I don’t think people have wrapped their heads around 2 .11 yen, what that means.
Katelyn Tocci (16:54.575)
We’re fat, you’re right, you’re right.
Michael Doyle (17:02.662)
Yeah, especially because she kind of came out of nowhere. No one knew anything about her at all. She was a very kind of a middling 800 meter runner of real with no name before she debuts in the marathon and completely crushes the world record by a lot. And so we have her versus Sifan Hassan. Sifan Hassan has got not just one 5k in her leg. She’s got, she had to run the qualifying race and then she had to run the final.
places finishes in bronze. So she didn’t sandbag the final. And then she runs the 10 ,000 meters 35 hours before this marathon starts. She ran the 10 ,000 meter final. Okay. Put this into context. Our guide Joshua chapter guy who won gold in the 10 ,000 meters, he was supposed to run the 5000 afterwards and he dropped out of the of the event because he was like
Katelyn Tocci (17:57.647)
Mm
Michael Doyle (17:57.926)
I’m too tired. cannot compete in the 5 ,000 meters. can’t go through the rounds. The 10 ,000 meters just like I’m spent. I can’t do this. And she’s got that. She’s got all of that in her legs and she had less than two days of recovery and she’s sitting there with the fastest marathon runner of all time on her shoulder. And then we get to see something special that I just can’t quite explain. Like just the most incredible
250, 300 meters of running. Actually really the most incredible last kilometer I’ve seen in a marathon in a really, really long time, wherever, given the context, given the pressure. Caitlin, question for you, because you picked Hassan. Okay, so like a one K to go and it’s her versus the Sefa. There’s real time betting happening. You’ve got your betting app open. You’ve got all your Hassan money.
Katelyn Tocci (18:31.513)
Yeah.
Katelyn Tocci (18:40.438)
Yes.
Michael Doyle (18:53.731)
You can see that you’re gonna get this huge dividend from your gamble. Are you gonna offset your bet? Are you gonna hedge? Are you gonna put a little splash of little money on a Cepha at the last minute?
Katelyn Tocci (18:56.477)
yeah.
Katelyn Tocci (19:03.749)
is just seeing Hassan in the 5Ks, in the 10Ks, watching her hold back throughout the races, watching her kick at the end. I just knew she was gonna do it. It was 2 .20 in the morning here and I was yelling. And I was like, someone’s gonna come. I was so excited. I was like, go, go, go, go, go, just yelling in the middle of the night. I’m sure my husband isn’t thrilled with me. I was the only one watching the marathon.
But it was just, I just had this feeling that she was gonna do it. Like she had come so close. She was so close and I felt like, okay, those two bronze medals, she wants the gold so bad. And some quotes from her afterward were just like, I think it was around halfway through that she was like, I just knew, I just needed the gold. I wanted the gold. I was gonna get the gold. So she was also super confident, which was awesome. And that kick was out of this world. Right guys? It was out of this world.
Alex Cyr (19:57.431)
And it was challenging. I mean, I’m sure we’ll get into the maybe this is the elephant in the room, the shove. But I feel like the shove almost had to happen because that last 300 meters is a tough course to navigate. There were like four or five curves inside of it. And if you’re trying to pass somebody, you really need to figure out where to do it. Either you do it on the inside and it’s risky or you risk taking too long of a tangent and then blowing your chance. So I was looking at that and I’m thinking, Jesus, if this is a sprint, this is also like a mental game.
as to how is Hassan going to go through the SAFA. So, yeah, I think it required a lot of concentration, especially at the end of 42 kilometers of like, is my B line here? And she managed it in some way. How long does a country have to make an appeal?
Michael Doyle (20:47.46)
I don’t know. This is a really good question. And it’s actually like the very first message I sent to our news editor, Jesse, on the Slack channel, because we were both doing live updates on the site. And I just ping her immediately. And I’m like, the shove is going to be contested by the Ethiopian team. And if they’re not, they’re not doing their job, right? So I imagine they’ve probably already submitted something.
I hit the World Athletics Marathon record books. I’m not sure if they’ve got a section on body checking and other hockey -like penalties, but like, I don’t know. This is a good question for you guys. I rewatched it a bunch of times. We’ve got a video clip of it on our recap story on the site. It’s got a video clip that you can watch. And I also like…
Katelyn Tocci (21:22.583)
Yeah, me too.
Michael Doyle (21:32.856)
grabbed the screen grabs of like the stills of like each each moment of the shove hashtag the shove and I’m of two minds about all this. I don’t mind a bit of contact in a race. I but and okay so I got to take I just want to hear I want to hear your perspective first Alex like fair or foul. She should she be DQ for for the shove or the the rub the brush.
I’m not sure what term we’re going to use for it.
Alex Cyr (22:05.034)
the term matters, I guess. My take is it’s fair. the reason I feel like my argument here is more emotional than it is thought out. I will be honest with this. And there are two reasons for that. One, it’s tough to disqualify someone after such a long race. Disqualification has to, there has to be an advantage taken, right, by the person. It’s like in sprinting, for example. You don’t…
I don’t think you’re disqualified by stepping out of your lane on a straight if you’re doing a relay. You’re disqualified if you trample in someone’s area, if the exchange happens outside of the zone, or if you walk inside of your lane on a curve. It’s like you need to have an advantage. You have to ask yourself, was that an advantage that Hassan took for herself? Did she disadvantage Asefa by doing it? That’s debatable. I think my take is also in like…
I think my take’s also influenced by how Aceffa reacted to, which to her credit, she just didn’t engage. She could have thrown her arms up in the air. She could have started crying. mean, Ford after, she could have fallen. It’s an emotional and tough part of the race. It’s the very end and this athlete gets shoved and what does she do? She just keeps on with her business, keeps running and then finishes and celebrates. And so I feel like that
Michael Doyle (23:11.778)
She could have fallen. Yeah, exactly.
Katelyn Tocci (23:12.8)
Yeah.
Alex Cyr (23:31.495)
almost changed the look of the shove itself and that, maybe it wasn’t much. was just Hassan getting herself through. But because there was no fall, I think I call it fair. I think Aceffa had a bit of time after the shove to potentially clap back and try to pass her again, which didn’t happen. But I still think that if I’m on the Ethiopian team, I’m trying to contest it.
Katelyn Tocci (23:58.594)
Yeah, think I, I mean, I think I would too. I agree with you, Alex. I feel as though she was just trying to get by. And how does this shove differ from the shove in the five, was it the 5 ,000 meters women’s race? Yeah. Okay. You know, how does that shove change? Because there you did see a lot of, you know, faces and reactions and a disqualification and then a reinstatement. And then, so how was this shove different than the other shove? Because nothing was said, nothing was immediately done.
And in that other race, there was an immediate reaction and then another reaction. And so what was the difference? It seems like Hassan was trying to pass and she wasn’t given the space to pass. And so she passed and agreeing with you that Asafo really, you know, she just took it and said, okay, I’m just going to still go and give it my all. And I’m not going to make a big deal out of it and try and, you know, and waste my opportunity. And perhaps later something will happen. She’ll get disqualified and then I’ll still get my gold. So
I don’t think it was worth kind of making a big deal out of it at the moment. They’re going to replay it if they want to take action against it. It’s going to happen anyway. But she did the right thing. Just kind of took it up. You know, it’s like when soccer players, I don’t know if you guys watch a lot of soccer, but when soccer players get hit and they’re like rolling around on the floor, rolling around on the ground, rolling around on the grass, you know, waiting for a foul, I love the fact that this was nothing like that. She was just like, okay, I got shoved. I’m going to keep going as hard as I can. Not going to make a big deal of it.
Michael Doyle (25:12.178)
man.
Alex Cyr (25:28.658)
Yeah, if Aceffo was a soccer player, she would have tossed herself in the crowd on the other side of the course.
Katelyn Tocci (25:32.351)
Exactly. Yep.
Michael Doyle (25:33.94)
That’s right. That’s right. She needs, she needs to take a lesson or two from the Italian national team. and then they could bring out the magic spray and spray down her leg and then she’d get up and, finish the race. Yeah, no, I, I like the way she rebounded and, at the same time, I mean, I do have legitimate questions about whether or not it, it, it impacted her, her end performance. And it certainly did. Cause like you think about it when you’re
Katelyn Tocci (25:36.907)
Ha ha ha.
Katelyn Tocci (25:42.633)
Magic spray. Yep.
Michael Doyle (25:58.657)
All out sprinting, end of a marathon, all adrenaline. You’re throwing everything you have at it. I mean, this is just like you’re at 100 plus percent. you’re you’ve maxed yourself. And if you get thrown off your line or knocked, like think about it, just, I think it’s, it’s weird to try to compare this to our own experiences as runners. But when you think about doing an extremely hard interval, say on the road and you,
You just take a bad step or you hit a pothole and you weren’t paying attention or whatever, uneven ground, and it throws you off. I mean, it really throws you off, right? So imagine that times a thousand. That’s what Asafa just went through in the biggest moment of her career thus far. So yeah, big question mark. Who would have thought that distance running in the marathon would have also, would also potentially come down to like the referees getting involved and altering the outcome of a great performance in a great moment.
Hopefully that doesn’t happen. And I think that there’s probably going to be a real push, no pun intended for this to obviously just kind of go away because the narrative is really clean for everyone involved except for a SEPHA where it’s like Hassan, this incredible performance, this legacy defining Olympic trio, the treble of running medals. And it’s like,
know, let’s just vet her and enjoy this and celebrate this amazing marathon performance and move on, right? So, but I do feel bad for Acephah. Final K, just for the stat heads out there, I eyeballed the final K for Hassan at 255. That’s, I marked this down.
That’s a 1435 5K, a 29 10 10K or a 203 Marathon Base. So that’s what she threw down in the last K, 203 Marathon Base.
Katelyn Tocci (27:55.267)
my god.
Alex Cyr (27:58.429)
her 62nd kilometer of the weekend, of the week, her 62nd racing kilometer.
Michael Doyle (28:03.614)
Yes.
Katelyn Tocci (28:04.809)
That’s insane. That’s insane.
Michael Doyle (28:06.176)
Yeah, was a was a 255 kilometer. Yeah. So and just also to put that into context. 3043 won the 10K and she ran Hassan for bronze ran 1430 61 for the 5K. So she wasn’t far off her 5K pace in that last kilometer. That’s bananas. Absolutely bananas. I think
Katelyn Tocci (28:29.587)
Wow.
Katelyn Tocci (28:33.311)
She’s so impressive. You know what? I want her to run a stage race with me. She, I mean, she’s stage race trail ultra running material. She did these four races in a row. She had her best performance in the last one. I mean, she’s got a whole other career ahead of her if she wants one.
Alex Cyr (28:52.306)
Well, she’s trending that way, right? 800 in Rio. So she competed in five different Olympic distances in the last three Olympics. 800, 1500, 5000, 10 ,000 marathons. So I don’t know, I guess that’s what’s next.
Michael Doyle (28:52.329)
Let’s talk.
Katelyn Tocci (29:02.749)
You
Michael Doyle (29:04.704)
She is the only woman in history to win a 5 ,000, 10 ,000 marathon gold medals in the Olympics. So she’s good at them all. let’s put, just briefly to, we did a segment yesterday, Caitlin, on the men’s marathon history action pod where we kind of did a Mount Rushmore, let’s reassess the legacy of this runner segment and.
Katelyn Tocci (29:13.511)
Wow. Yep.
Alex Cyr (29:16.7)
Not bad.
Michael Doyle (29:33.257)
So let’s take a look very quickly at Sifan Hassan’s, her legacy now as it stands. And I think Alex, we can get out the chisel and we can start kind of working on the profile of her face on the side of Mount Rushmore of women’s distance running around Mount Rushmore, certainly, or just overall distance running Mount Rushmore because she’s second fastest all time, just pure time in the marathon. She’s got
a boatload of medals from Olympic games and all different distances. And she’s won a shitload of world championship medals as well, including two gold medals on the track at Worlds. And she’s won Chicago and London, so two marathon majors, and she’s only run three marathons, or four marathons now. So there you have it. That’s a pretty good legacy, and it’s a pretty deep, deep resume.
Alex Cyr (30:29.02)
Yeah, and she’ll be known for so many things, like her times, her clutch performances at the Olympics, and also her longevity and her ability to bounce back quickly and handle a bunch of different races. It’s a skill set that I think very few people have showed. You you mentioned Joshua Chepdiguy. You could put many of the top athletes in that category, too, that can show up and deliver one massive, incredible race per competition. And then that’s it. I think the people who can
show up twice, three times at one Olympics are few and far between, especially when you’re talking about a 10K marathon.
Katelyn Tocci (31:03.677)
Yeah, she’s so, the resilience is inspirational. It’s amazing.
Michael Doyle (31:09.096)
I’m going to sort of stamp on our last segment that I’ve got penciled in here, which is a winners and losers of this race segment. Get ready for the hot takes. But I’ll stamp on it with this. think, guys, think Nike has found their Elia Kicchugi replacement. It’s Sifan Hassan. I think they were struggling in the last couple of years to sort out.
just exactly how to transition from the Kipchoge era in distance running, just both from a marketing standpoint and also just having that iconic athlete, which Nike just desperately needs to have for all their pinnacle sports. running is certainly, like, it’s their DNA, it’s their origin story, right? And Kipchoge did so much for them in the last six or seven, eight years. And then I think they thought they had it lined up with Kelvin Kipchum and unfortunately, you know, he
passing away really kind of changed everything, right? And there’s just been a real dearth. There’s been a void and we’ve talked about it a lot. We’ve talked about it on previous pods. Hell, talked about it, Alex and I talked about it yesterday and it just dawned on me as I was watching this performance in the closing seconds of this marathon with what Sifan Hassan did and also her character, her individuality, her persona and
how you could kind of market her as like this warrior, right? Like you just said, Caitlin, that like she’d be an amazing stage racer, right? Like she, she’s just so versatile. And she’s also well spoken and charming and kind of, you know, like she’s just talking about how like, she’s like, I’m so tired, you know, like, which is like kind of funny and relatable and also completely wild. So yeah, no shit, you’re tired. But maybe she’s it. Maybe she’s the next Kipchoge. She’s 31.
Katelyn Tocci (32:41.511)
Yeah, incredible.
Katelyn Tocci (32:51.191)
Really?
Michael Doyle (33:02.909)
kind of coming into the peak of her powers as a marathon runner, just start lining her up for the majors. I mean, she’s shown she can do, she can do things Kipchoge can’t do. She can run a hilly course and win, right? And he could not do that. She could win Boston. She could win New York. And so I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing a whole lot of SiFan Hasan in Nike marketing materials in the next 12 months or so. What do you think?
Alex Cyr (33:30.0)
breaking breaking to 10 maybe
Katelyn Tocci (33:32.317)
amazing.
Michael Doyle (33:32.893)
Yeah, man, let’s do it. Let’s go. Yeah, that’s a great idea, right? Like the next pair of that technology, right? The next phase in Nike’s super shoe development era is working with Sifan Ahsan, breaking the unheard of 210 barrier, which I mean, I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I imagine that 210 is probably a harder accomplishment.
physiologically than a sub two hour marathon is for a guy.
Alex Cyr (34:05.552)
Well, not too long ago, breaking 210 would have been the Canadian men’s slogan. There was only one man who had ever broken 210 until 2018.
Michael Doyle (34:10.961)
Yeah.
Katelyn Tocci (34:11.769)
You
Michael Doyle (34:14.589)
That’s right. That’s right. I think we did a story when when Asefa broke the world record and ran to 11. We did sort of like a roundup of like how much faster she is than like ex national records around the world. Like she was better than I don’t remember how many men’s national records. It was like 16 or it was more than that. It was like way more like a dozen like a couple of dozen national records. Anyway.
So I’d say Sifan Hassan is somebody we’re going to see a hell of a lot of in the near future. Quick round out of the rest of the field here. Asafa has to settle for silver. still think, let’s talk about her for a brief second here. Like she is a rising star. She’s in her mid to late 20s. believe she’s 27, if I’m not mistaken.
came she’s come to the marathon pretty quickly, pretty suddenly, pretty emphatically guys. think we can now kind of admit the thing that certainly we’ve been talking about behind the scenes and, Slack and Alex and I texting over the last, however many months and years about this stuff is I think there was a worry. And the running nerd community that she was a flash in the pan that she was somebody who
suddenly appears out of nowhere runs 211. No one knows who the hell she is. And then maybe we just never see her again, or she’s not able to replicate the performances. And there’s a lot of like, there’s a lot of like, the, the thinking questioning emoji about like that performance and about whether or not there’s doping involved and things like that. And I would say now, you know, she’s run London, she’s run this Olympic marathon.
She’s put herself sort of into the testing pool. Her biological passport is now being well documented. and you can start building some trust in the performance. And also she’s a gamer. Like she’s, she’s been the runner up in two big time marathons facing the best runners in the world. And, it’s totally delivered. Like I’m super psyched for her. I want to see more of her racing too.
Alex Cyr (36:24.335)
I feel ridiculous saying this and we’ll get into the winners and losers and I’m I’m not gonna mention her in the winners and losers because I thought she’s a winner and a loser today winner because Obviously exact for the reason that you said she’s proven herself. She’s an absolute gamer tough course battled until the end got shoved didn’t mind Stuck to her business and finished well. I Think she lost the strategic game today. It’s
Michael Doyle (36:51.793)
Yeah.
Alex Cyr (36:52.431)
It remains that she’s a 211 marathoner, blazing fast. I think if I were her and I knew that maybe my top competitor is coming into the race tired, I don’t take it out in 1730 or whatever the group was running. I take it out much faster by myself and come with me if you want. And I get the apprehension of the course. It’s a tough course. But I think if I were in a S .F. issues, I’d like to think that I would have challenged Hassan more early in the race and try to break her.
Michael Doyle (37:22.683)
Yeah, I would say that, you know, just even in the last 250 meters, the penultimate turn, the shove turn, just showed maybe a little lack of, of, of tactical experience in road running where Hassan saw the opening and she saw that Asafo was not running that tangent. know, even Caitlin, you, I’m sure you tell your, your athletes that you coach recreational runners, we it’s drummed into us like
try to run that tangent, know, shortest line between two distances, right? Otherwise you’re running more needlessly. And Asifa sort of took this outside line and Siffan saw that inside track and just went for it. And the gap was closing once Asifa sort of realized it, but it was too late, right? So those are just, I mean, those are things that, that’s a tough lesson to learn that at, at this level. And in that moment in a, will become, I’m sure an iconic moment in marathon history, but yeah, super psyched for
Katelyn Tocci (37:50.967)
Even trail running. Mm -hmm. Right.
Michael Doyle (38:19.981)
For a Cepha want to see more of her. seemed like, the moment wasn’t too big for her at the start line. She was one of the key athletes that they announced at the start. Like they, kind of give a shout out to five or six athletes that they want to spotlight. And, I don’t know. She seemed like super pumped to be there and wasn’t overwhelmed by it and obviously delivered with the performance. So speaking of performances, let’s just go through a few more notable performances here. first, the sad one, as we mentioned before,
Our girl, Perez, Jeff, cheer, Caitlin, our pick to win. She faded to 15th place. mean, that’s, that’s a tough pill to swallow. That’s a tough one. I’m sure she’s not pretty. She’s not very happy right now in the hotel. I can imagine.
Katelyn Tocci (38:51.126)
Yeah.
Katelyn Tocci (39:02.156)
No, but your dark horse pic did really well, Michael, because you picked Luchetti, right? And she came in fourth? Yeah. She was, yeah.
Michael Doyle (39:09.634)
She did. She came in fourth and she was right in there to the bitter end. Right. Like, yeah, I feel badly for her because again, she sort of got outkicked by Helen O ‘Berry, except in this case, O ‘Berry was just fighting for that bronze. And O ‘Berry will get kind of, I think, overshadowed a little bit in this performance and this marathon because, you know, still an amazing performance, but she was sort of the distant third place behind the top two finishers. Right. So.
Dakota Lindwurm of the US, top American finisher, 12th, 226, pretty good time, pretty good performance. As you said, Alex, she got some screen time. what is that? How do we feel about the Americans today? So was her, Emily Sisson, 23rd and 229 wasn’t really a factor. her on TV a couple of times.
Alex Cyr (39:58.34)
I think Lindworm carried the squad a little bit about her. People don’t realize her quick ascension. She didn’t really have much of a big name on the scene before the trials. Her greatest claims to fame, think, were winning something called, and shout out to this one because I’ve heard of it before and some people really like it, but it’s not a worldwide known marathon. It’s Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. She won in 21 and in 2022.
Michael Doyle (40:20.952)
Yeah.
Katelyn Tocci (40:21.21)
Okay.
Alex Cyr (40:26.092)
This was not a Boston Marathon champion coming into trials. She finished third at the American trials, just made the team, and then fast forward here, and I think she carried the squad. It was maybe the only bright point. Sisson held her own, right? She was 29, top 30. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but also probably not a performance that’ll define Sisson’s legacy and career. And then there’s Fiona O ‘Keefe.
Michael Doyle (40:51.371)
Okay, so we’re talk about this.
Alex Cyr (40:53.674)
We probably should talk about this.
Michael Doyle (40:55.841)
Let’s talk about this. Okay. yeah, so you go unpack.
Alex Cyr (40:57.302)
sushi.
unpack. Well, O ‘Keefe gets to the Olympics. We don’t know this. We’re not sure what’s going on, but she might have an injury. it’s known enough for the alternate to be contacted by USATF. The alternate is—shoot, the name escapes me right now—Jessica McLean. Thank you. She’s contacted. And so she flies to Paris and is told—
Katelyn Tocci (41:21.037)
Just look.
Michael Doyle (41:21.731)
Jessica McLean.
Alex Cyr (41:30.036)
You might have to run because someone might have an injury. While she’s in Paris, the decision is reversed. She’s told actually just have fun here. Our three runners were expected to race or actually going to race. The race begins. Fiona O ‘Keefe runs all of two kilometers at not race pace, easy pace, never a factor, doesn’t go with the field or anything, drops out. And there we go. We have it. Only two Americans in the race. So you have to wonder.
What was going on there? Did she genuinely think that she would be able to run and in her first couple steps, she realized, okay, no, whatever I had gave out again and I have to drop out or was this more of a planned thing? Michael, we were talking about this before. Michael, you mentioned it’s just like a contractual obligation that she needed to start the race to get a type of bonus. We don’t know. We’re just speculating right now. We’re looking at early news.
And there were news hits about how she started and stopped after 2K, but we don’t know what’s behind it. And you hope that it’s not just one of those things of, I made it to the Olympics. I want to say I’m an Olympian, and so I’m going to start this race. Because at the end of day, that doesn’t mean much. And of course, the alternate is in Paris waiting, and she probably would have made it further than two kilometers. So yeah, what do we think?
Michael Doyle (42:44.663)
Yeah. I would.
Katelyn Tocci (42:44.972)
Yeah, I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt like you said Alex. mean, I would love to hear the benefit of doubt and say, you know, I really felt like I was in tip -top shape again. I went out for a run a couple days earlier. I didn’t feel any pain. If she is in fact injured, I felt ready to go. And then I just started out and I had this incredible pain and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it and why injure myself further if. But I would really truly hope that it was that she felt wonderful and ready to go. And it wasn’t it wasn’t one of the other alternatives. What about you, Michael? What do you think?
Michael Doyle (43:14.506)
I don’t like the idea of someone starting an Olympic marathon just so they can put it like underneath their email signature that they were an Olympian. I mean, I guess this gets into a philosophical existential debate about what an Olympian is. Are you an Olympian if you finish your event, you qualify for your event, but you’re not able to race, you’re named the Olympic team.
If you’re there and you start the event, but you don’t finish your event like what is an Olympian? I’m sure Olympians have got strong feelings about this, but I don’t love the idea of somebody, as I said, starting this race simply so they can check off a box in life. She’s 26 years old. I believe this would have been her second. Well, it was her second marathon. She started. She obviously won her debut at the U S Olympic trials, really bright future for her.
I’d like to think that she’s got more confidence in herself and her future abilities as an athlete than that. and so I will give her the benefit of doubt on that, but at the same time, I think this boils down to, you know, I’ll just say it, it comes down to running kind of existing on two different planes at the same time. On the one hand, you’ve got this kind of like feel good, as you know, like
It’s all about inspiration and positivity. And isn’t it amazing that these people have just worked so hard and they’ve got here and just getting to the start line is the victory, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you’ve got the professional elite life or death, trying to eke it out as a, a professional athlete element of the sport that we’ve been talking about for the last 45 minutes, where there’s a lot of women in this field trying to make a living running and.
If you don’t respect that or you don’t give someone else the opportunity to have success, I think that’s a pretty selfish move just to say that you ran an Olympic marathon or started an Olympic marathon. It doesn’t count for much to run two kilometers at 430 pace, I would say. So maybe I’m being a bit harsh on her and I obviously don’t know the details of it. And maybe she was feeling amazing and was ready to go and put in a lot of work. I’m sure she did. But I do feel badly for Jessica McLean who apparently got on a plane on Monday.
Michael Doyle (45:35.511)
and flew for 10 hours to be there and had been training all summer long to be ready for this just in case. And is also somebody who was unattached. She was not a sponsored athlete. She did recently sign a deal with Brooks apparently. So she is getting paid to run professionally as the fourth fastest woman in the United States as a marathoner as far as qualifying for the Olympics went this year.
Alex Cyr (45:37.597)
you
Michael Doyle (46:05.429)
But you know, there’s an alternate reality. know, we talk about, we talk about the multiverse. There’s, there’s a, there’s a, there’s a reality in the multiverse right now where Jessica, Jessica McClain started this marathon. And maybe there’s a reality where she also placed really high and did really well and changed her life and her career. So.
Alex Cyr (46:25.757)
You’ve been watching too much Dark Matter on Apple TV, Michael, have you?
Katelyn Tocci (46:28.096)
Yeah
Michael Doyle (46:29.494)
You know what? I did start that series and it’s pretty good. got to admit. Yeah. I thought you were going to say like, you’re like an MCU guy, which I am not. So, all right guys, we talked about that. Check that box off. I don’t see any other major performances that are jumping out at me right now. I don’t think team GB did all that well. Top finish Clara Evans, 46th place, 233. Shout out to Melinda Elmore.
lone Canadian in the race who finished in 35th and 231. I’m not sure she’ll be happy with that because she did so well in Tokyo and, and, used the course and the day to her tactical advantage and didn’t really quite do so this time around. okay. Yeah, do it.
Alex Cyr (47:15.579)
I have a shout out to make.
want to shout out Eunice Chumba of Bahrain. Do either of you know why?
Katelyn Tocci (47:22.967)
because she ran 340 something, 350 something. She was the last runner. no.
Michael Doyle (47:31.668)
No, no, she was in it for a bit.
Alex Cyr (47:34.761)
She was the only runner to finish in the top 10 at the two last Olympic marathons on the women’s side. Only one.
Katelyn Tocci (47:40.767)
Really?
Michael Doyle (47:40.896)
Get out. Wow. That’s an interesting stat.
Alex Cyr (47:45.417)
10th this year, 7th in 2021. So here’s to consistency. Good job, Eunice Chumba.
Michael Doyle (47:51.606)
That’s impressive. Good call, Alex. Good eye on the stats. I love it. Okay. Speaking of, yeah, rub it in.
Katelyn Tocci (47:52.156)
All right. Good job.
Alex Cyr (47:56.91)
That’s what happens after a full night’s sleep.
Katelyn Tocci (47:58.87)
Exactly. I obviously have the stats because I looked at all of the stats and the finish and I saw some times that I was surprised at at the end and I don’t remember who that was obviously.
Michael Doyle (48:11.477)
amazing how quickly things change, right? It’s not even four years. It’s a three year cycle, not a four year. Yeah. All right. So let’s do a last a quick, rapid round of winners and losers, which, which, Caitlin, we had to explain to Caitlin winners and losers, because she’s too nice a person. She’s like, she’s like, I don’t watch sports entertainment, trash TV, I don’t listen to talk talk radio. So I have no idea what you guys are talking about. We’re like, not the people who
Alex Cyr (48:15.41)
years.
Katelyn Tocci (48:39.114)
Yeah.
Michael Doyle (48:40.979)
Not not you’re not like, we’re not criticizing character here. It’s we’re not calling someone a loser. We’re saying that they had a lot to gain or lose and they won maximally or or lost maximally on the day. So winners and losers of the of the Women’s Olympic Marathon to close out this instant reaction pod. Alex, who are your winners?
Alex Cyr (49:04.392)
Okay, can I go broadcast here because I think we’ve talked about my winners. I could talk about Hassan. We’ve talked about or I could talk about Lin Worm. I think I’ve given my takes in that sense. I’m going to go with the broadcast and I want to say that the winner is the video capturing broadcast. The types of angles that they had were very much superior this year. We saw this on the track with these flyby cameras that we talked in previous podcasts like the NFL.
Very cool angle, same thing with the marathon. What caught my eye this morning was I don’t know what type of technology they were using. Someone can tell me this in the comments, but it was like you would see the runners pass and then you would have an amazing, like really, really smooth slow -mo shot of their facial expressions, like each of the five runners in that lead pack. And it just gives you so much more because you can almost tell what they’re thinking. Who’s hurting? Who isn’t? This was visually.
an amazing show this morning. And I thought that was so cool. give them that’s, you know, that’s a winner. I want to see other marathons do the exact same thing where they can improve. And everyone is watching or listening to a different broadcast depending on the country they’re in. I’m going to leave this an open call because I don’t want to criticize anybody in particular. Let’s have people who know the marathon in and out and only people who know the marathon in and out.
comment on these broadcasts. And I’ll leave it at that. It’s awful. Yeah. yeah. I’ll leave it at that.
Katelyn Tocci (50:35.272)
Mm -hmm.
Michael Doyle (50:35.654)
Amen.
Especially play by play the person who is leading and orchestrating the broadcast. I don’t know. Just know a thing or two about the event about about the sport.
Alex Cyr (50:47.311)
It’s not a game. It’s not a tournament. It’s a marathon.
Michael Doyle (50:54.344)
I can feel Caitlin just like resonating with that one based on our pre -pod chit chat of her watching the broadcast in her home country of Costa Rica.
Katelyn Tocci (50:57.226)
Yeah.
Katelyn Tocci (51:03.824)
No, and you know, I’m not a, I am gonna be very humble about it. I’m not a big expert. You guys are the experts and I love doing my homework and I’ve loved this whole process and I am so obsessed with running like news and professionals and championships in the Olympics. Like now there’s no turning back for me and it’s all thanks to you guys. So I can’t say that I’m the biggest expert on these things all the time, but I do my homework and I come prepared.
and I know what’s going on. And I think that that’s important. So if you’re not that big expert, you know, put in the time, do your homework and show up ready because, you know, you should be ready for anything. You’ve got to know all the stats or at least have them handy. Know what’s going on. I completely agree with you, Alex. It’s super important.
Michael Doyle (51:51.334)
Okay. So Caitlin, who’s your big winner or winners from, from this final event in the Olympic program?
Katelyn Tocci (51:57.574)
No, mean, mine is so obvious. just, even though it’s the obvious choice, I have to stick with Hassan because I just wanted to see her amazing triple meddling. She just, Michael, you described her so well and it seems like her character is just, I don’t know, she just seems like such an amazing person and I just love her character. And I think that I wanted it, we all wanted it for her so badly and we had a lot of doubts because we thought, well, just how can someone
compete in those four events because at the end of the day, she’s racing four times and come out on top. And so, I mean, she’s just the biggest winner of them all. It sounds obvious, but it’s the truth.
Michael Doyle (52:40.807)
Yeah. mean, I don’t want to double down on that. So I won’t add too much, but has said is obviously the clear takeaway winner. I, I spoiled one of my kind of hot take talking points for this little closing segment where I think, you know, Nike is also a big winner here because the shoes are a huge component to what is happening here. I would say that this Olympic games is really, mean, Alex, you could probably unpack this in more detail, maybe at a later date, but like,
I don’t think we saw the true effect of super shoes in Tokyo to the degree that we’re seeing them here today. And there was a lot of talk in these two broadcasts in the marathon about, you know, like we thought this course was going to be slow and produced two Olympic records. Like how did that happen? Now, obviously they’re not flaming hot times by today’s standards, but I think that because the conditions were, I mean, they were warm and they were humid and the course was hard.
but not impossible, clearly. I think the shoes did factor in. And I think that for Nike, were, they were kind of down to their last cards, right? Like with this, this event, and they only had one, they only had to continue with the metaphor of gambling. They only had one hand left to play. And that was just Hassan with 10 K to go. You got Hassan as your only athlete left in the lead group with someone.
a couple of total killers that are wearing Adidas after Adidas had a big day the day before by winning the men’s marathon. And then you had, you had O ‘Berry and the cool new on running prototype super shoe. And then you’re like, what do we do? And then you had, you even had Lochetti and a pair of underarmor shoes, right? And for Nike, I imagine there was probably a lot of nerves in Beaverton and HQ.
with 10k to go where they’re thinking our girl needs to deliver here. Otherwise, our shoe doesn’t look like can get her it can get her across the finish line. The reverse happened. And that’s why I think Nike is a big winner here today because that that shoe basically, they can now market that like, hey, look, you know, it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon, you know, look, there you go. There’s the there’s the
Michael Doyle (55:00.37)
the horrible play on the cliche that Nike can now use with Sifan Hassan and the marketing materials moving forward where it’s like she ran four rounds of events, know, 60 whatever two kilometers of running over the course of however many days. And she still was able to close the fastest mile, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, said an Olympic record in this shoe. I mean,
That’s all the marketing you need right there. It’s like the proof is in the pudding, that’s the performance. So I’d say Nike’s a huge winner.
Alex Cyr (55:30.596)
Maybe the slogan now is it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon and a 10 ,000 and a 5 ,000 and a 5 ,000
Katelyn Tocci (55:34.642)
And a 5 ,000.
Michael Doyle (55:38.716)
That’s right. That’s good. That’s good. And that works for a sign because she’s sort of this eccentric character, right? So she would do it. We’d all be laughing our asses off in the process watching her saying that. So losers, we’ll figure out a way to put a bow on this and end in a positive note because we don’t want to end in a negative note here because it’s such an incredible day. like just who lost the most here, Alex?
Alex Cyr (56:07.278)
My loser was the broadcast, but no, you know what? I’ll stick with the shoe game.
Michael Doyle (56:10.086)
Yeah. OK.
Alex Cyr (56:14.572)
I thought, I thought A6 was going to clean up with the shoes.
Katelyn Tocci (56:18.609)
Mmm.
Michael Doyle (56:18.962)
your brand. You love the Asics.
Katelyn Tocci (56:21.281)
Okay.
Alex Cyr (56:22.489)
This is personally motivated. I love the shoes, the training, racing, everything. And I think that if you have to give a few winners away, Nike eked it out last minute. Adidas looked awesome in the marathons. You know, which other brand I should… And this is throughout the Olympics, let’s say, but also a little bit in the women’s marathon with Lindworm. Puma. Puma was everywhere. No Usain Bolt, but a lot of Puma throughout these Olympics at the distance events. So I think Nike wins, Adidas wins, Puma wins, A6.
Katelyn Tocci (56:44.557)
Mmm, okay.
Michael Doyle (56:47.185)
Totally.
Alex Cyr (56:52.706)
Bashir Abdi notwithstanding, silver medalist in men’s marathon wearing the MetaSpeeds. They weren’t that present, I find. So maybe these new shoes have something that we don’t know. We don’t quite know what type of Adidas shoes Assefa is wearing. Is it the Pro Evo 1s or Evo 2s or something else entirely? I think with all the shoes that I’ve tried, the A6 are pretty high up there, but maybe they’re not trying what I’m trying anymore. Maybe they’re advanced at the Olympics. That’s usually how the game goes.
This suggests that maybe ASICS has a little bit more work to do after I thought that they were at the forefront of things.
Michael Doyle (57:30.267)
All right, Caitlin, I know this is tough for you. You’re the queen of positivity. You like to keep it happy. Let’s go dark. Change it.
Katelyn Tocci (57:31.407)
You know I don’t like this. I know, I know. Okay. I’m even going to change the word. No, I’m even going to change the word. I’m not going to say loser. I’m going to say I think maybe someone who is the most disappointed with the race is Jeb, Jeb dear. Like she’s, I mean, we all had really high hopes for her. She’s an incredible, amazing runner. Just wasn’t her day. And I think that maybe she’s probably, I mean, she’s obviously disappointed with her.
with her performance and so I feel maybe she’s disappointed. I’m going to use that word. Yeah, she’s a disappointed one.
Alex Cyr (58:06.948)
She’s the disappointed one.
Michael Doyle (58:10.074)
Something tells me that Perez is not hitting her IG account with the tough day at the office excuse right now. Yeah, I think she’s literally like maybe one of the greatest distance runners, marathon runners of all time.
Katelyn Tocci (58:25.028)
I love watching her race. I love watching her race just every time. So this is, yeah, a bummer. Yep, yep.
Michael Doyle (58:30.116)
Yeah. Not a tough one for her for sure. Yeah. I mean, I I’ll close it with this. We’ll close it with a positive here. Let’s let me put on my positive hat because I think this marathon was one of the great marathons in history. And I maybe I’m the prisoner of a moment here, but that finish, the course, the week that’s
Katelyn Tocci (58:49.412)
Totally.
Michael Doyle (58:59.28)
that has been in athletics. I just think it was like a culmination of everything that’s great right now in distance running in particular. And also maybe we found ourselves the next generational talent that we can really kind of rally behind with Sifan Hassan doing incredible things. So I would say World Athletics, the IOC, they’re kind of winners in all this, right? Because they have cemented this idea that
these big global championship races are really important and produce iconic moments and iconic athletes in sport. And I think maybe there was a lot of interest in, and there still will be of course, world marathon majors. mean, everyone loves a New York or a Boston, a Chicago, you like they’re all incredible. London’s an extraordinary experience. Tokyo is like, you know, everyone wants to go to Tokyo, but.
I think the Olympic marathon, it’s the crown jewel of distance running. It’s the Olympic marathon. And I think it reestablished itself after certainly Tokyo, you know, just being such a strange moment in obviously global history, but in sports history as well. So I think it was a good one. Okay, guys. We’ve had not quite a marathon, close to a half marathon of potting. I’m not sure who I’m going to award the
sprint finish too. Hopefully I have not been the Perez Chip cheer cheer of this podcast.
Katelyn Tocci (01:00:31.801)
No.
Michael Doyle (01:00:35.603)
Okay, enough of the terrible metaphors. All right, guys, this is it. This is the end of our Olympic coverage. For now, congratulations. We can move on to other potting topics. The fall is just around the corner. We’ll be back to our usual schedule. We might keep it to Thursdays. We’re going to have a little internal discussion about that, but we’ll have a pod coming out later on this week. All right.
Katelyn Tocci (01:00:39.373)
Can’t believe it.
