I dont tend to take much notice of the after race interviews. The athletes are tired and generally quite emotional and the last thing they want is a mike shoved in their face.

Yeah dodgy strategy, backing yourself to outsprint the pack with some quality names in it. and especially after admitting that he could have pushed the pace earlier himself and got the required time to qualify....why would you take such a risk at the Olympics!?.... but as he said, if he made the final he wouldn't have made an impact anyway with that form.

"Complete and utter amateur" is really unfair based on, as Skip said, a post-race interview. Like the rest of the heat, Mottram ran his best effort on the night and not everyone can make it through.

My favourite part of that race was the guy from Somalia who was well behind the rest of the group. Still battled through and even raised his hands to celebrate finishing despite coming in about 15 seconds behind anyone else. Ah, the spirit of the Games!

(One of my pet hates is post-race interviews - especially with swimmers - I will leave the room rather than listen to them.)

I would have said rather that he copped it pretty gracefully. Didn't resort to sports cliches, just basically said he wasn't good enough on the day. I agree also, post-race interviews are bollocks, and should perish in hades.

The Somalian guy was priceless! Good on him.

Not all sports are the same dude- if i'm fighting someone in a boxing match, you bet i'm scouting his technique. Running, well its a bit like swimming, you leave it all out on the track and hope your best is good enough, the other competitors will take care of themselves.

Sally McLellans interview was amazingly hillarious i think she may be a little retarted...

And Usain Bolt is an absolute legend!

Not quite so - there are tactics involved (same with cycling) and it's fair to say he could've benefited from more knowledge of his competition. But "complete and utter amateur" for a guy who went out and ran 5,000m against some of the best in the world is very unfair.

The commentator who appeared to have knowledge of running had noted during the race that there were opportunities where Mottram really should've tried to push away and create a bit of a gap before it got down to a sprint.

Not quite true Quagmire. The pace of this race was slow. Mottram would have known this and it should have been a factor in how he ran the race in case he didn't finish top 4. Having an each way bet i.e finishing top 4 AND if not, running a qualifying time to me would have been smarter. I'm sure it was a time he could have run if allowed to set his own pace!

Agree about McLennans interview ... would love to see it again ...

RMM how ironic that you misspelled retarded

All fair points. But not even knowing what time you have to run is unforgivable in my books. He was in the final heat! You don't get a better opportunity than that. Ah well, his waste of an Olympics, not mine.

Look at some of the other Sally McLellan interviews - she is certainly NOT retarded (or retarted!) - and how extremely unfair of you to say she is. She was definitely on a post-race high though. That interview is one of the highlights of the Games.

I agree about Craig Mottram. Given he was in the last race so he knew exactly what time he needed to qualify. In the interview he said he knew it was a slow race. What bad preparation to not even know the time.

And Isaac, how right you are about the Somalian runner!

The person who interviewed Sally McLellan straight after her race said to her "You must have ice running through your veins at the moment."

By the way that interview went, i wouldn't be surprized if that wasn't the only thing flowing through her viens.

200922 quite clearly you are the retard

So Motts didnt know "Oogle Baloogal" from Qatar.

It would not be so important to know the guys name, it would only be important to know that the guy was in the race and what country he came from.

I would be suprised if the guy from Qatar could name Mottram by any other name than "that guy from Australia"

The rest of his strategy is up for debate.

One train of thought would be that he didnt concern himself with other peoples times, he only concerned himself with what he was going to do, not worrying about things he couldnt change

He couldn't change other people's qualifying times but he might've been able to change his own to get below the other's times if he had known what they were!

I think he should've known the time to beat if he didn't finish top four. His reasoning of "If I couldn't finish top 4 in my heat then I wouldn't have been any good in the final" (or similar) doesn't wash with me. The final is a different race. It could be run at a different pace, people may be tired, the weather may be different and who knows Ooga Booga from Qatar might have blown his load in the heats.