I think that Simone and Aimee had a unique chemistry. When Simone was a junior her nerves and her power were out of control. Aimee "got" Simone and knew what she needed both psychologically and in terms of actual training. So its not just that she got lucky and happened to train someone with...
I think that when an athlete, or anyone actually, exhibits that level of courage, winning a race becomes almost irrelevant. The victory was in literally ignoring major obstacles and standing up to the challenge. Lindsey won.