Paul Tergat - Second greatest runner of all-time?

2nd greatest distance runner of his era. Let's not forget Zatopek

doesn't stack up to Rexing

wasnt his 1/2 record broken 2x this year? by Wanjaru?? and Zarsenay?

maybe call him the best second-best runner of all time. there are lots of examples of good runners getting overlooked since superstar was ahead of them for that time.

Clearly he is now the best active marathoner, dethroning Kannouchi with both his awesome world best and now 2 big wins.

But certainly we can't overlook Ramaala. I mean, if the guy had actually outkicked Tergat we'd be talking about how awesome HE was! And again, that 4:22 mile had to be Ramaala's undoing. It was not a prudent move.

But I'd have to say Paul is certainly looking like a god right now.

And Olympic golds are not a fatal flaw. For example, everyone knows Ron Clarke was one of the greatest 10k guys ever, and he had but one Olympic Bronze. Similarly with Dave Bedford who came up with none.

Tergat's case is very strong. On the track Geb is clearly better, but Tergat so throughly crushed Geb in cross that Geb gave it up entirely rather than get beat up by Tergat every year. The cross WCs Tergat won all those years were incredibly competitive races. Fortunately both Geb's and Tergat's careers are still going so we may see them head-head again. One is Magic, one is Bird. Bekele would be MJ after the first 3 titles.

Unfortunately, Tergat is shadowed by Haile's immense record breaking performances and it will be a bit difficult for Tergat (or even for Kenny!) to come out and shine. 2006 London Marathon is another showdown of the titans and if recent performances of Geb's anything to go by, then the athletics world is in for another Geb vs Tergat battle. What a life for these two gaints!

ND Runner wrote:

wasnt his 1/2 record broken 2x this year? by Wanjaru?? and Zarsenay?

Yes, by a second I believe. Tergat did run another insane time that was thrown out because the course was short (I think by 40 yards or so). Accounting for this, he would still be the world record holder.

He also has a number of insanely fast times at the half marathon.

2008 Olympic marathon may be a big show-down and 2006 London a preview:

Geb vs. Teg vs. Ram.

Add in Rutto, and growing list of 2:06 guys and it may be one hot night in China in 2008.

He has my vote. To do what he has done from 5000m to the marathon, over a variety of terrain (track, grass/mud, road), is to be in a category of one.

Well who's first?

Seriously.

Because Rono should be thrown in there for second best at least.

What do you mean "seriously"?

Neither Rono nor anyone else comes close to Geb.

Rono was a GREAT RUNNER who had a GREAT season or three and who then squandered a great CAREER via alcohol. Longevity is one defining aspect of greatness, and Tergat & Geb both seriously outshine Rono in this aspect. Rono deserves to be on a list of all-time greats, but not in the top 5.

If Geb wins the 2006 London and adds a couple of big city marathons in 06-07 into his portfolio, then I would safely say 2008 Games would be a forgone conclusion. Perhaps, Tergat being one of the best, and others would make the race interesting but once Geb put together his mojo in marathons - as he did it on track - the rest is history!

Tergat also deserves credit for never ducking Geb. He could've easily gone down to the 5000 in Atlanta and Sydney to get away from his strongest competition, but he didn't. Niyangabo moved up to the 5000 to get away from Morceli in 96, I'm not criticizing that move at all, but Tergat wanted to face the best.

Also...never droping out....even when he had to finish at VERY slow pace at london.

It's hard to compare runners over different eras, but Zatopek and his three golds at one Olympics comes to mind as does Nurmi and is 9 medals. When you talk about "best ever" rankings you have to compare how they dominated their sport NOT how fast they have run. That being said it's hard to pick many runners in the current era because of the quality of competition they tend not to dominate as much. Even so, Geb has dominated on the track both with records and medals. Tergat is likely one of if not the best #2.

Alan

Kenenisa Bekele is also better.

to clarify, i meant tergat as second greatest behind Geb. of course, some might also argue against geb being the greatest.

regarding bekele, his accomplishments already rank him among the greatest ever but i think he needs a few more years at this level to be on the same plane as geb and tergat. these guys have been doing great things on the world scene for 12+ years.