My coworker Gordon Mack made these charts last night:

	2016 Olympic Final			Where They Were In 2012
1	David Rudisha	KEN	1:42.15	2012 Olympic 800m champion
2	Taoufik Makhloufi	ALG	1:42.61	2012 Olympic 1500m champion
3	Clayton Murphy	USA	1:42.93	1:56 PB, 15th at Ohio State Champs
4	Pierre-Ambroise Bosse	FRA	1:43.41	4th at the 2012 Olympic semifinals
5	Ferguson Rotich	KEN	1:43.55	Possibly competing under another name
6	Marcin Lewandowski	POL	1:44.20	4th at the 2012 Olympic semifinals
7	Alfred Kipketer	KEN	1:46.02	Was 15 years old
8	Boris Berian	USA	1:46.15	1:48 PB, 2012 NCAA D2 Champion

	2012 Olympic Final			Where They Are Now
1	David Rudisha	KEN	1:40.91	2016 Olympic champion
2	Nijel Amos	BOT	1:41.73	7th at the 2016 Olympic 1st Round
3	Timothy Kitum	KEN	1:42.53	8th at the 2016 Kenyan Trials
4	Duane Solomon	USA	1:42.82	4th at the 2016 U.S. Trials 1st Round
5	Nick Symmonds	USA	1:42.95	Injured
6	Mohamed Aman	ETH	1:43.20	8th at the 2016 Olympic semifinals
7	Abubaker Kaki	SUD	1:43.32	Ran 1:49
8	Andrew Osagie	GBR	1:43.77	Injured

This is why the odd-year world championships exist in the first place, and why we breathlessly exalt repeat Olympic champions and medalists--four years is a lifetime in elite track, and every cycle sees past champions fade and ones who couldn't drive four years ago emerge. You could probably make similar charts in every laned final. But look at that chart! There's a reason it feels exceptional: Murphy was getting his ass kicked by Ohio preps four years ago, while only one guy other than Rudisha from the 2012 final even made it as far as the 2016 Olympic semifinals.

4 years ago, the two guys on the right won Olympic gold medals in London. The other guy was a 1:56 800m runner. pic.twitter.com/FeEGv0uA0N

— Gordon Mack (@gordonmack) August 16, 2016

Sports are a brutal way to make a living, and even more so when your economic opportunities are so dependent on one quadrennial track meet. Murphy seems like he's at the beginning of a long and successful career right now. But he did the right thing by signing that Nike contract in June, because most of the men in the London final probably thought they were on the way up, too.