Not just finishing fifth, but finishing fifth in a race that did not have Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay, Yohan Blake, etc, etc. Three of the guys that beat him have zero chance of medalling at the World Champs, and little chance of even making the finals.
Look, you guys can act like this was a fine result all you want, but it simply isn't. It's a fine result if this were 1979, but it's not; it's 2011.
The truth is, there's a reason that so many people avidly follow Christophe's every move and post on this board--because he's our one shot at something extraordinary in track and field. You know what 10.03 is? Ordinary. "Good for a white guy." That's what it is. Well, Christophe is our lone hope of taking that phrase out of the English language. He's our one chance that no one will ever have to say, "Good for a white guy" again. We will never eradicate that phrase with bums like Connaughton and Aaron Rouge-Serret, or even Pickering. So when Chistophe goes out and runs a completely mediocre "good for a white guy" 10.03, I'm not happy about it.
I think you guys sometimes forget what a symbolically important figure Christophe is. He can afford an occasional off race, but he can't keep going out there and getting slaughtered week after week like this. All those fans filling the stands in places like Monaco and Paris. They're there to see Christophe win. And he loses badly in every one of these Diamond League meets. Often people post about the hope that young kids will be inspired by Christophe and go into sprinting. How long will they be inspired after watching their hero get annihilated every time they get their hopes up?
Nah. There's only one way to say this wasn't a lousy race, and that's to say, "good enough for a white guy." I refuse to say that. 10.03, in a race where others were running 9.88 and 9.90, was not good enough.