Moses Tanui and Haile Gebrselassie's shoe slip

[MrPhilosophicalpanda]

Why did Tanui move out of the way for Gebrselassie in the final 100m? That doesn't make sense at all.

[SonNative]

...correction, "...but other runners also know...."

[SonNative]

Geb tried to draft "on Patrick Makau" on Sept. 25, 2011. Makau zigged and zagged and ran away from Geb to break his world record. After the race, Makau said "I didn't wan't to carry anybody...."

Makau knows very well that following someone closely helps the guy behind because he saves energy and didn't want to aid Geb.

Geb is a great runner. The best but other runners also knows that he loves drafting.

As for the shoe incident, it was an accident. Haile was following too closely.

[ixibittherus]

Do some of you people really think that Gebrselassie is just an ass when he runs? pissing other runners off, stepping on their hills, pushing and all that....? get the hell out a here....The guy gets out there, runs like hell, and if he is close to you in the last 200m, well, you are up for an ass kickin... and if a shoe or two comes off during the race, so what, it's life... just don't start throwin punches and the back of people's heads...

[mrtorviking]

Haile is all class and Tanui is an ass

[panchoreto]

@mrtorviking puffff



[reppy123]

These guys had history Tanui punched him in the back of the head once when he beat him close to th line.

[ambrosialmien]

@reppy123 That was Josphat Machuka, was it not?

[katiush65]

1:40 I'm surprised he only lectured him with waving the shoe, I would have popped him up side the head with it! Tanui said in the interview that Gebr. was pushing him for 5 laps but refused to pass like Tanui wanted him to. Why didn't he just pass him already, why did he have to run right up on the back of his shoes. Just wondering. Did they ever race against each other again?

[IveGotYourOats]

Everyone shut the hell up, if the guy really wanted to win he would have won barefoot.

[liam4458]

we can all have our speculations but truthfully we will never know.

[KlamparDafenrad]

Wasn't Geb's fault. I think Tanui made his bid that early because of the loss of his shoe. Gebrselassie must have felt bad after this, because of the doubt over his win. He must have felt so guilty as he sprinted past. You sympathise with Tanui until he refuses Gebrselassie's apology.

[iMaDeMoN2012]

This is typical of Geb...he pisses off other runners. He doesn't lead and rear ends the other runners.

[Pokekevin]

Shoe or not. these guys according to their life stories ran without shoes for most their live lol. I think Tanui just surged due to the mental aspect of losing his shoe. But on the other hand Geb's way of running was inexperienced BUT hey it was back in his junior years lol

[SonNative]

...cont

something happened in the race that affected Moses Tanui. He was furious.

[SonNative]

Crazy stuff.

From what I observe in the video, Tanui took off immediately af ter he took off his shoe. Was that part of his game plan? Let's pose it in another way;if thta shoe incident hadn't occured, would Tanui have kicked at the point at which he kicked?

Did the lack of one shoe affect his rhythm as opposed to running barefooted or even running with both shoes on? Obviously, we'll never know.

Another question; Did it mentally affect Tanui? All in all, it seems that something....cont

[kozmon0t]

@SonNative I run barefoot, and I can tell you the form is entirely different. Shorter strides and higher turnover, up to 180 strides per minute. It looks like Tanui switched to more efficient barefoot form, but kept long-striding and didn't maintain it on the stretch. Probably didn't sprint barefoot all that much.

[qaz67sd]

@SonNative y r u asking all this obvious questions?

[SonNative]

@qaz67sd ,

Because it needs to be asked.

[jimmyg141]

geb's tactics really annoy me here. i admire the man as much as anyone else and later he did learn to share the pacemaking, but his blatant disregard to share the pace is frustrating, though thats not the real issue. the real issue is that Geb should have stayed on the shoulder, not right behind, he should have had the sense and the decency not to do that. I feel very sorry for Tanui here. He did the work, he deserved to win.

[DoctorDragoMusic]

@jimmyg141 why???? you make no sense

[jimmyg141]

@DoctorDragoMusic what i mean is that running directly behind someone puts both athletes at risk of tripping or falling, getting spiked etc. generally u run on the shoulder of the guy in front, not only to prevent mishaps, but also so u can make a move without having to swing out.

[Oomegaa1]

that's bull! Hile would have won it either way..with sho our with out man. dont lie

[brandon7715]

kenyans egoists, They cannot lose.

[mazzon06]

That shoe didn't effect him. The man grew up running shoeless as did most of the kenyans. He ran hard and should be commended. He just didn't have enough left. 

[zerubabel123]

It is very doubtful that Tanui lost the race because he had to kick off his loose left shoe and run bare foot.

Running bare foot did not, for instance, eclipse the victory of the great Abebe Bikila in Rome in 1960.

The real question is;

Did Tanui really have enough in the tank, as they say, for his sprint in the final lap?

It is thrilling to see how Haile shot forward shrinking both time and space!

[thegreatcarraway]

I was watching a cross country race today and saw someone run by missing one shoe, and I thought of this video.

[DoctorDragoMusic]

@thegreatcarraway their time should not have counted then because you need to finish with two shoes so if you lose one you need to carry it the whole race, that sucks for the runner if the officials actually knew the rules haha

[DaTeam2008]

Hehehe! Ooops sorry!

[Chocosizzles]

Although an excellent strategy, (drafting saves energy), this is probably a risk in putting the drafting technique into effect. I do think that Geb should've been disqualified for touching Tanui's body, but I do support Geb's efforts in his other races. Geb is very skillful when it comes to what he does best.

[percdann]

This is ridiculous, Tanui was a poor sportsman trying to force gebresellasie to run TANUI's race... he didnt deserve to win it, geb did

[dc3rvant3s]

It's a good thing that he had no socks on lol

[pabanil]

@dc3rvant3s hah!

[bijection765]

Hilarious!!!! LOLOL

[viperdude281]

It's not Haile's fault Tanui didn't double knot his shoes.

[joeyyowee]

Why did he start his finishing kick right after he lost his shoe?

[sixteynine10]

@joeyyowee

Usually the final sprint is started with 400m remaining and Tanui knew that Gebreselassie had an amazing kick so had to go sooner

[joeyyowee]

@sixteynine10 That's true but it seemed like he started his final sprint as soon as he lost his shoe. Do you think he would have started it that early if he didn't lose his shoe?

[MrFuckrudders]

@joeyyowee Geb has possibly the best final 200 m of any distance runner aside from Kenenisa Bekele, so Moses is just upset he lost because if he were to of waited for later than 400 m to go to start his kick, he would have lost regardless.

[danibush39]

all u kenyan who said this wasnt an accident how bout back in 1996 olympics he punched him on the back nd he still amemsalimia

ETHIOPIA PRIDE

[wechlem]

mean Ethiopians

[GetUpAndTryAgain]

yeah i agree it was disappointing and not a "fair" finish but it was an accident. any one, and i mean ANY ONE unless there is something wrong with them, would not have just let him win on the spot.

the most you can do if something like that happens is win it if you can, and then apologize and say "hey man, theres no way i would have beat you if ur shoe was on" even if you dont believe what you're saying. and if they're still pissed off at u, they have a right to be and oh well.

[HaileHailu]

lets look at it a different way: why fall back to second because you unintentionally clipped off your opp's shoe when you are able to beat your opponent with or without a shoe.

[HaileHailu]

the victory does have a sour taste because of how it was won. you can't help but think that maybe if his shoe hadn't fallen off he might have won. but an accident is an accident and then again why should you just fall back to second place after all of your work. you have to take in your situation, bad or good, and make the best of what you got. moses tried to do just that;he flung off his shoe and went for the finish, but he didn't manage to win.

[HaileHailu]

Unless you can't tell, it happened by accident. Haile doesn't need to get that kind of advantage to win.

[aarontheardvark]

I lost a shoe in the first 200 of a mile race. It really sucked. I had a crazy blister.

[champion747]

wow seriously that sucks, and if i were in Gebrselassie's position in a lower level meet (not world championships) i would not have overtaken him at the end, thats just a harsh move seeing that you're stupidity and someone's weakness (lacking a shoe) is used as an unfair advantage...hell even in a world champ meet i might consider giving it away...

[CockpitpilotB737]

where is tanui now??