“Idiots in offices,” she said
I saw the video on FOX news – replayed from different angles, in slow-motion, stop frame…
It was absolutely clear. The Winner of the Chicago Marathon, who had just completed a 24-mile run without slipping, stepped onto the plastic sticker that a sponsoring bank had stretched across the finished line, and slipped. His head bounced off the pavement, and he lay writhing in pain. (Watch the video.)
CHICAGO: Robert K. Cheruiyot was released from a Chicago hospital Tuesday, two days after his victory in the Chicago Marathon.
The Kenyan runner slipped on a decal and fell to the pavement just before crossing the finish line Sunday, causing a brain contusion, the Chicago Tribune reported. His body skidded forward, bringing his torso across the line so that he became the official victor by 5 seconds.
Oct. 24 (UPI)
He was treated for internal and external bleeding in his head and was expected to spend the night at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Agent Federico Rosa said he was not sure if his client lost consciousness.
“They don’t talk of any severe complications,” Rosa said. “They just say he’s stable. … At the moment, it is nothing serious.”
ABC News: Kenya’s Cheruiyot Wins Chicago Marathon
“Nothing serious?” No such animal with any head injury that causes internal bleeding and a detectable bruise to the brain, or that requires hospitalization for more than two days. And “lost consciousness” is a relative term. His question is revealing:
“Did I win the race?” he asked his coach. “What happened?”
link
After his release from the hospital, Cheruiyot still didn’t seem that focused:
‘‘I was just speedy and I just fell down. I don’t know why,’’ he said, refusing to blame the possibly slick logo for his fall. ‘‘There was really nothing wrong with the ground. I don’t know [why it happened].’‘
The decal was removed within a minute of his fall by marathon staff.
When asked point-blank if he planned to file suit against the marathon, Cheruiyot said no.
Chicago Sun-Times: Marathon Runner out of hospital
Yeah… the reason the marathon staff removed the decal was that it clearly caused the accident. But luckily for the race organizers and the bank, the Kenyan runner is not planning to sue. He is apparently not that familiar with American culture. Every personal-injury lawyer in Chicago must be jumping up and down, waving their arms and yelling; “Pick me! Pick MEeeeee!!!”
Speaking from experience, Cheruiyot, there’s a reason they tell you not to make any important decisions after a head injury. Including the decision not to sue the people responsible for the decal, whose defense was “we are very careful, and we never had this problem before”.
MrsDoF was reading the Chicago Tribune and she perfectly encapsulated the image of people in suits sitting around a conference table discussing the plastic decal they wanted to apply to the finish race of a marathon course…
“Idiots in offices.”, she said.
Well, it could be that he is a man of integrity and figures that it was as much his fault as anyone’s. I reckon there are some people in the world who will not sue at the drop of a hat…
I’d agree, if they were admitting guilt and promising change, But they are denying and covering their asses. A lawsuit may be the only way to get them to straighten up. Nothing dishonorable about that.
It wasn’t his fault at all – some idiot deliberately put a slick surface in the path of a few thousand runners and the first one to put a heel on it went down. It was so slippery he slid across the finish line. It was as if they had placed bananna peels across the finish line. It was gross negligence, stupidity.
That said, a lot of lawsuits are really dumb.