Haile Gebs 1995 5K World 12:44 youtube link

I'll never forget hearing about this, and not believing it. 11 seconds??? WTF??? Geb's form on this run is extraordinary. And here we are 12 years later, wondering if he'll do a Thon WR, or Oly Gold next year.

Hahaha

"but with no disrespect to them, no one really cares about the rest of the runners in this race now"

What was the deal with his countryman who was about to get lapped at the end? Did he drop out with one lap to go to congratulate him?

man wrote:

Hahaha

"but with no disrespect to them, no one really cares about the rest of the runners in this race now"

hahahahahahahaha.....

"...someone from Germany finishes in third I think....but again.....who cares"

hilarious!

The Germans helped with the bigger problem. But they also failed right?

I loved Ovett's reaction to the split at 4,000m when Haile clocked a 2:31km! The realisation that he/we were witnessing something/someone special.

"No one is going to get close to that record for an awful long time"

Twelve years later the record is seven seconds faster. I believe that this race destroyed the notion that the limits of human capability were being reached.

anyone have this in avi or mpeg format? I'd like to put it in my next track movie.

SVC wrote:

I bet when your mother looks at your face, she really regrets banging that retarded janitor nine months before you were born.

Please die now.

Well if anyones mother should be red faced its yours. What kind of moron does not understand what is behind these records. I would say please die, but having retards like you around only helps me.

I was there that night. It was, by far, the single greatest running performance I've ever seen: unforgettable, electrifying, and mind-blowing. That night also had the 2nd fastest mile ever, and history's first sub-8 minute steeplechase! Not a bad meet.

what time did bk run in that race

What a f***ing brilliant work of rhetorical genius!

My point (which apparently is still drifting well above your small, sadly deformed head like an untethered thought balloon) was that whenever any record at any level of athletics is broken by more than what some lame fanboy deems an acceptable margin, it's inevitable that some f***tard douchebag will gleefully wave the PED drug flag for all to see. Lucky us!

BTW, was Bob Beamon on EPO?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Beamon

SVC wrote:

What a f***ing brilliant work of rhetorical genius!

My point (which apparently is still drifting well above your small, sadly deformed head like an untethered thought balloon) was that whenever any record at any level of athletics is broken by more than what some lame fanboy deems an acceptable margin, it's inevitable that some f***tard douchebag will gleefully wave the PED drug flag for all to see. Lucky us!

BTW, was Bob Beamon on EPO?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Beamon

This is an absolutely superb post. :)

Beamon made his leap in thin air. It's a well known and accepted fact that any sprint/jump record set in Mexico City was aided. If he did all his jumps for his entire career in Mexico City he would have set and broke his own record multiple times. But, he never approached anything close to his record ever again because he wasn't jumping in thin air all the time.

Geb is like 100 years old now and still running fast. I believe that about as much as I believe a 40 yr old Regina Jacobs still winning championships and running fast times. There was still no test for EPO in the mid 90s. To be an elite endurance athlete (distance running, cycling, swimming) and NOT be on as they say in cycling "a medical program" that includes an undetectable drug (EPO and hGH at the time) would be foolish. That would be the difference between just making the Olympics and making the Olympic final. It's only a matter of seconds, but those seconds mean millions. I'm old enough and have read enough to lose every childish notion about professional sports. Look into the history of doping in general and you'll understand what I mean. From strychnine to amphetamines to steroids to EPO and hGH doping has always been a part of professional sports because professional sports lead to money, power, and notoriety. If you see it all around you and you come face to face with the reality that you can't even be competitive without a "medical program" then it doesn't become cheating, it becomes leveling the field. I believe the world leaders and record setters are clean in the same way I believe Lance Armstrong went from an also-ran in the Tour (he was a successful one day racer and champion, but not a good multi-day racer) to having cancer and becoming the best Tour rider ever simply on his Texas brashness and American apple pie.

I'm not at that level, never will be, but if you study the sport enough and study the body enough you'll eventually come to an understanding. Calling me names won't change anything. Hold onto your beliefs if you must, I once believed in those same things, but as you grow older you'll grow more suspect. Every 18yr old kid wants to "make the Olympics" or wants to "play in the NBA" or some other grand goal. Every 18 yr old kid thinks Lance is clean or the sport is clean, etc, that's the nature of being a bright eyed 18 yr old kid. You still have these perfect notions of the world. It will pass, and reality will set it. I'm just preparing you for it now.

Alan

Alan

Alan

I don't have any idea who is on drugs but Geb is in his 30's and has slowed down. He moved up to the marathon because the leg speed wasn't the same, he's not the 3rd best 10k runner in his own country now. Regina got faster as she approached 40, way different in my book.

Greenville:

You make some good points, but you can't argue facts with a tin-foil-hat zealot like Alan Alan Alan who thinks that everyone that's better than he is MUST be on drugs. To think otherwise, he'd have to face the fact that he's a no-talent loser.

The most humorous part of his long, rambling whine is that he actually believes that the only reason that Bob Beamon broke the WR in the long jump by over TWO FEET is because of the thin air in Mexico City. I guess that explains why the Colorado Rockies hit 1,000-foot home runs on a daily basis.

Being malignantly cynical and paranoid isn't a sign of wisdom. It's the sign of someone who has lived a life of disappointment and embarassment.

SVC, please keep posting. Don't ever stop.

old tymer wrote:

I was there that night. It was, by far, the single greatest running performance I've ever seen: unforgettable, electrifying, and mind-blowing. That night also had the 2nd fastest mile ever, and history's first sub-8 minute steeplechase! Not a bad meet.

Yeah, but that's only because those guys were all on EPO and HGH and the air was exceptionally thin due to sun spots and unusually high UFO traffic in the area. Plus bigfoot was chasing all of them.