Allen Johnson and 4x4

[mump boy]

I'm just watching the 97 WC where Allen Johnson ran the anchor in the 4x4 heat

HOw on earth did he get to run ??

According to IAAF his 400m pb was 48.27 (although he's obviously worth more) from 96 so why was he ever considered for a relay place ? and aren't their rules in the US about who can be considered ?

[bearraccoon]

It was funny wasn't it? Allen Johnson was on the ground confounded by how much pain he was in. He had this smirk on him that had lactic acid dribbling from his the side of his mouth. I remember the tv commentators laughing. I think they let him run cause he was king of track at the time and he could do no wrong. If I recall, didn't he still run in the upper 45s?

[mump boy]

he ran really well 45+ with ease but what about all those that ran 400m at trials and were in relay squad ?

[gh]

The T&FN story of the event says "Michael Johnson, Butch Reynolds, Milton Campbell and Mark Everett were ailing." That obviously pretty much wiped out the available relay pool.

[Powell]

But wouldn't one of the 800/ 400H specialists be a more obvious (and probably better) choice?

[dj]

Johnson was a known relay talent, having run a 44.92 split to anchor a team at Penn Relays that April. On that leg he was only 0.05 slower than Antonio Pettigrew.

[gh]

Given the tenor of the opening question, you'd think he had cocked things up royally. He did exactly what he was asked to do: anchor the team to a spot in the final. Which he did, by the comfortable margin of a full second. This was somehow an error that needs to be made a fuss of??! (split was 46.19 by the way)

[Flumpy]

I don't think mump was suggesting that he'd done anything wrong just curious as to how he ended up being picked. In a country with such a huge pool of 400m runners it's certainly strange that they decided upon a high hurdler.

Although having said that all of us Brits are hoping that Jess can be persuaded to take part sooner or later.

[mump boy]

I don't think mump was suggesting that he'd done anything wrong just curious as to how he ended up being picked. In a country with such a huge pool of 400m runners it's certainly strange that they decided upon a high hurdler.

Although having said that all of us Brits are hoping that Jess can be persuaded to take part sooner or later.

Exactly, he ran really well but it it would seem an unlikely selection.

Maybe US should have drafted in Aries Merrit this year, they could have used the help

[gh]

I don't think mump was suggesting that he'd done anything wrong just curious as to how he ended up being picked. In a country with such a huge pool of 400m runners it's certainly strange that they decided upon a high hurdler.

Although having said that all of us Brits are hoping that Jess can be persuaded to take part sooner or later.

But the pool wasn't huge, that's the point. As you well know, the IAAF allows you to name a team and some alternates and when the alternates pool runs out you can only use other people on the team in another event. Given—as DJ pointed out—that he had ran a 44-point earlier in the year he would have seemed the perfect candidate. Perfectly logical under the circumstances.

[mump boy]

I don't think mump was suggesting that he'd done anything wrong just curious as to how he ended up being picked. In a country with such a huge pool of 400m runners it's certainly strange that they decided upon a high hurdler.

Although having said that all of us Brits are hoping that Jess can be persuaded to take part sooner or later.

But the pool wasn't huge, that's the point. As you well know, the IAAF allows you to name a team and some alternates and when the alternates pool runs out you can only use other people on the team in another event. Given—as DJ pointed out—that he had ran a 44-point earlier in the year he would have seemed the perfect candidate. Perfectly logical under the circumstances.

i didn't know they were the circumstances or that he's run a 44 split, that is why i was asking