Boston Marathon 2012 Results: Geoffrey Mutai Is Still Olympic Material

Geoffrey Mutai ran the fastest marathon ever recorded at the 2011 Boston Marathon. It may not be an official world record, but it stands as the fastest marathon ever all the same.

Despite that, Mutai entered Monday's running of the Boston Marathon with something to prove. The Kenyan marathon team for the 2012 Olympics has not been finalized yet, and Mutai knew he was just one of six men in consideration for three spots.

To punch his ticket to the Olympics, Mutai needed to show in Boston that he was worthy.

Mutai was not able to do that. 

At mile 18 of the 26.2-mile race, Mutai started suffering bad stomach cramps, which presumably had something do with the unusually high temperatures that marred the race. He was in too much discomfort to continue.

Just like that, my bold/stupid/idiotic prediction that Mutai would run the world's first ever sub-two-hour marathon went up in flames. Nuts.

"I don't know what happened,'' said Mutai, according to The Boston Globe. "After some fuel, my stomach was sick and I started struggling. My stomach was getting tight. I did not know that I would drop out. But I am happy.''

It's unclear what Mutai's withdrawal on Monday means for his Olympic status. Joe Battaglia of NBC Olympics spoke with Isaiah Kiplagat, chairman of Athletics Kenya, after the fact, and the good news is that Mutai's DNF does not mean he is out of the running (pardon the pun) for the Olympic team.

“Geoffrey Mutai not winning today doesn’t mean that he is out,” Kiplagat said.

However, the standards the selection committee has for the Olympic trio complicate things for Mutai. Kiplagat says the committee is “looking at their time and their consistency, their capacity to withstand a championship event rather than having a pacemaker, all of these kinds of things.”

Mutai proved last year that he can put up great times. What came into question on Monday is his ability to be consistent. In addition, Mutai's ability to maintain his own pace came into question.

“That is more important,” Kiplagat told Battaglia. “The ability to perform with top pressure and nobody in front guiding him, just alone, is quite a task.”

The issue? Mutai clearly pushed himself too hard on Monday. Eventual winner Wesley Korir knew he had to slow his pace to deal with the heat, and his result speaks for itself.

So in short, Mutai's Olympic standing is not what he wants it to be right now. He's not eliminated from consideration, but he's hardly a slam dunk either. The selection committee chooses the marathon team in late April, and they may be forced to select Mutai simply because they have faith that he can be an Olympic competitor.

Basically, they're going to have to give him a pass for Boston.

Should they?

I think they should. Monday was not Mutai's finest moment, but that should not be taken as an excuse for anyone, selection committee included, to assume that Mutai isn't capable of running 26.2 miles faster than the fastest runners in the world.

The pace-setting concern should be a non-issue. When Mutai set course records in Boston and New York in 2011, he did it without the benefit of a pace-setter. He just ran and ran until he crossed the finish line.

Mutai had it in mind to do the exact same thing on Monday. It just so happens that hostile conditions intervened. Instead of perceiving it as a colossal misstep on Mutai's part, it should be perceived as a learning experience. He's not going to let something like that happen again.

And on the bright side, those are six less miles on Mutai's legs, a not insignificant amount.

Despite all the technicalities, the point for the selection committee is to pick runners who could potentially win a gold medal. They need runners who can be really fast in a single marathon, not consistently fast in multiple marathons.

The committee knows for a fact that Mutai is capable of running 26.2 miles faster than any marathoner alive. He has shown than he can run a marathon in roughly two hours and five minutes, a time that would have been good enough to win gold at the 2008 games.

A time like that would be good enough to win gold in 2012. Since he has shown on multiple occasions that he can do it, Mutai is Kenya's best hope at taking home gold.