Is Bekele a better distance runner than Geb ever was?

First day at LetsRun.com I see. . .

When I think of Bekele vs Geb, the main thing that comes to mind is the staggering number of times that Bekele has NOT won.

the first thing that i think about when i hear either of their names mentioned is how much more of a GOAT paul tergat is compared to them and everybody else on this planet. tergat has more depth and range than any runner who ever lived, and him loosing to geb in the 10,000 olympic final was a fluke.

hard to repeat a fluke two times in a row

as for the original question, no, geb had an incredible undefeated streak which bekele has come nowhere near matching, someday we might be able to say yeah kb was better than geb, but not yet

i'd say that he's faster, but not better. he'll be better when he wins as much as Geb did/still does

Herb Elliot was better...was NEVER beaten.

Alan

Runningart2004 wrote:

Herb Elliot was better...was NEVER beaten.

Alan

I can't take it anymore. Alan, you need to be banned for life. Your posts contribute nothing here, and often times have nothing to do with the topic of the thread. A banning might help you in two ways: 1) you will have more time to run, and 2) you will be forced to actually socialize with real people.

the430miler wrote:

the first thing that i think about when i hear either of their names mentioned is how much more of a GOAT paul tergat is compared to them and everybody else on this planet. tergat has more depth and range than any runner who ever lived, and him loosing to geb in the 10,000 olympic final was a fluke.

when you write stuff like this do you actually write it with a straight face?

straight as a ruler/pencil.

omurphy21 wrote:

the430miler wrote:

the first thing that i think about when i hear either of their names mentioned is how much more of a GOAT paul tergat is compared to them and everybody else on this planet. tergat has more depth and range than any runner who ever lived, and him loosing to geb in the 10,000 olympic final was a fluke.

when you write stuff like this do you actually write it with a straight face?

Not to quibble, but this does contribute something. It raises the question, how much weight do we put on winning streaks when comparing runners who don't overlap by much. In the span of Geb and Bekele's careers the overlap will be quite small, so their winning record against others will be relevant.

Herb Elliott lost one race over 1500m/mile in his career, but by modern standards he had a short career.

They never raced each other, so it's hard to compare but you could argue Lasse Viren had a better career than Geb, since he added the 5000m both times while Geb only did the 10.

the430miler wrote:

the first thing that i think about when i hear either of their names mentioned is how much more of a GOAT paul tergat is compared to them and everybody else on this planet. tergat has more depth and range than any runner who ever lived, and him loosing to geb in the 10,000 olympic final was a fluke.

Where do you come up with this stuff? Geb has faster personal bests than Tergat in every single track event that either of them has competed in. These events include the following:

1500

Mile

2000

3000

2 Miles

5000

10,000

On the roads, Geb is faster than Tergat in the following events:

10K

15K

10 Miles

20K

Half Marathon

25K

30K

How the heck can you have a functioning brain and still say that Tergat has better range?

Haile beating Tergat in the Olympics was a fluke? In which of the TWO Olympics that Haile beat Tergat was it a fluke? And what about the 1995, 1997 and 1999 World Championships? Those all must have been flukes as well? I'd LOVE to hear your response to this.

Its kind of similiar to comparing Woods to Nicklaus. One is obviously dominating now, but has yet to win as much as the elder.

I think if Bekele keeps up his streak of setting records and moves into road running later on, he could be considered better than Geb.

for one, his cross country running is pretty dominant, if not more than tergats, and his track times, minus a 1500/mile, are pretty amazing.

I'd say geb for now, but i'd be hard pressed to think that by the time bekele is finished, he won't be considered the GOAT.

stl runner, here you go buddy....

flightless wrote:

They never raced each other, so it's hard to compare but you could argue Lasse Viren had a better career than Geb, since he added the 5000m both times while Geb only did the 10.

I suppose someone could make that argument, but they'd be insane and wrong.

The thing that Bekele must contend with is the "shadow effect". Geb pretty much single-handedly forged the modern era in Ethiopian running dominance. Kenny is his extremely able apprentice, stepping into the path that his mentor forged against heavy odds. He has met the challenges, but not yet transcended them.

The Master has not yet left the stage, so the disciple must acquiesce until the appropriate hour.

the430miler wrote:

stl runner, here you go buddy....

You link me to another thread where everyone disagrees with you? Wow! You're even dumber than I thought.

flightless wrote:

Not to quibble, but this does contribute something. It raises the question, how much weight do we put on winning streaks when comparing runners who don't overlap by much. In the span of Geb and Bekele's careers the overlap will be quite small, so their winning record against others will be relevant.

Herb Elliott lost one race over 1500m/mile in his career, but by modern standards he had a short career.

They never raced each other, so it's hard to compare but you could argue Lasse Viren had a better career than Geb, since he added the 5000m both times while Geb only did the 10.

Uh, no. Alan's claim about Elliot has nothing to do with either Bekele or Geb, or the topic of the thread- who is better. You should be banned for life as well, jerky, for your terrible defense of Alan, not to mention your asinine hypothetical about Viren. Lasse was a great Olympic runner: Geb was a great runner, period. Year in and year out- Geb dominated world championships, road races, indoors, and had an endless list of world records.

Although it is all just opinions on this board mostly I think that the430miler should quite whatever he is currently doing in life and start a second competitive running boom. He could be the next lydiard or bowerman or who knows...actually he would be above them, there is no one you could compare him to.

I say this because he has such vast knowledge of running and history, he should write a few books and start professionally coaching.

Although Tergat has depth, Geb has the records and the golds and 'all time' is a very long time and past runners can not be compared to current ones in terms of greatness. Runners, as any sports athletes, are good for an era, they define the era. Whom will be remembered more 50-70 plus years later, GEB and Tergat will be known as the rival that usually fell one step short....except in the marathon but we will have to wait and see on that one.

the430miler wrote:

the first thing that i think about when i hear either of their names mentioned is how much more of a GOAT paul tergat is.

Maybe this is what makes Geb so great, the level of his competition. Bekele has Shaheen, but they rarely race each other. The great thing about Geb is he had amazing competitors around him and consistently beat them.