Sebastian Coe vs Said Aouita - 1500/mile race - Who would win?

gakjlj wrote:

Looks like Coe simply lacked a front-running mentality needed for elite 3000/5000m racing, thus him remaining in his comfort zones of 400-1500m.

1500 was the prestige event

No hopers and chickens like Coughlan and cheater-aouita ran 5k

gakjlj wrote:

Looks like Coe simply lacked a front-running mentality needed for elite 3000/5000m racing, thus him remaining in his comfort zones of 400-1500m.

Rubbish. How many WRs did he break virtually on his own. His were the days when the pacemaker would drop out after less than two laps, or in Coe's case with James Robinson, take him round the first lap of a 1500m WR attempt at 1000m WR pace and then drop out.

Funny, but I'm sure the same usual suspects who like to bash Coe for his supposed 'lack of endurance' are the same ones who point the finger at him for blood doping. Not sure how that works out.

Coevett wrote:

gakjlj wrote:

Looks like Coe simply lacked a front-running mentality needed for elite 3000/5000m racing, thus him remaining in his comfort zones of 400-1500m.

Rubbish. How many WRs did he break virtually on his own. His were the days when the pacemaker would drop out after less than two laps, or in Coe's case with James Robinson, take him round the first lap of a 1500m WR attempt at 1000m WR pace and then drop out.

Funny, but I'm sure the same usual suspects who like to bash Coe for his supposed 'lack of endurance' are the same ones who point the finger at him for blood doping. Not sure how that works out.

Both very salient points! Agree

Can Deanouk and Coevett please provide a valid answer as to why Sebastian Coe ended his career with a 5000m PB of 14:06 and a 3000m PB of 7:54?

iijijk wrote:

Can Deanouk and Coevett please provide a valid answer as to why Sebastian Coe ended his career with a 5000m PB of 14:06 and a 3000m PB of 7:54?

Probably because he did not care. While both Deanouk and Coevett would suck Seb's schlong they would still be correct to assert that Seb had no reason to try to run fast at 3000m or 5000m.

Agree, but then they need to stop playing the could've would've game. If that's the case Gebrselassie could've run 1:41.2 if he cared about the 800m, but no one has ever cared about the 800m.

Ontario you wrote:

iijijk wrote:

Can Deanouk and Coevett please provide a valid answer as to why Sebastian Coe ended his career with a 5000m PB of 14:06 and a 3000m PB of 7:54?

Probably because he did not care. While both Deanouk and Coevett would suck Seb's schlong they would still be correct to assert that Seb had no reason to try to run fast at 3000m or 5000m.

Hahaha True!

Ontario you wrote:

iijijk wrote:

Can Deanouk and Coevett please provide a valid answer as to why Sebastian Coe ended his career with a 5000m PB of 14:06 and a 3000m PB of 7:54?

Probably because he did not care. While both Deanouk and Coevett would suck Seb's schlong they would still be correct to assert that Seb had no reason to try to run fast at 3000m or 5000m.

?

The other side of the spectrum is that Aouita had no chance of running under 1:42 for the 800m.

Maybe Aouita could break 1:43. Maybe.

It is interesting that Aouita never ran an 800m from the front chasing a fast time. He always ran the Wottle/Borzakovskiy tactic with even splits.

What was Aouita's 400 speed?

Inquiring minds want to know wrote:

What was Aouita's 400 speed?

Depends, is he fleeing Australian authorities?

jkljslk wrote:

Agree, but then they need to stop playing the could've would've game. If that's the case Gebrselassie could've run 1:41.2 if he cared about the 800m, but no one has ever cared about the 800m.

We've both given reasons why it's reasonable to believe Coe's pbs over longer distances are no real reflection at his ability at those distances.

You couldn't make a plausible case for Gebrselassie running 1:41.2, other than perhaps he was likely more loaded with EPO and other drugs than any man in history other than El G.

And what's this about nobody caring about the 800m?? The 800m has always been one of the premier events, MUCH more glamorous than the 5000 or 10000m, or for that matter, the 400m. That's why Rudisha, who only runs the 800m and can't even manage a decent 1000m, is one of the few names that non-athletics fans might recognize. It's a sprint (or at least 'speed endurance') event where tactics and physical contact come into play. It's unique amongst the track events, and it's always been special for most athletics fans.

The truth is as somebody else said in this thread, the 5000m was for a long time the event where 1500m runners who couldn't quite get to the top went to. The standard was nowhere near that of the middle-distance events. Aouita was a 5000m runner for the same reason that Coghlan, Moorcroft, eventually Wessinghage, Scott, and Walker were, because the 1500m was stacked, in particular with the Brits dominating. The difference was, Aouita was the WR holder in the 1500m yet was not willing to take on the challenge of Coe, Ovett, Cram over the blue ribband event (which he himself stated was his favorite and best event).

jkljslk wrote:

Agree, but then they need to stop playing the could've would've game. If that's the case Gebrselassie could've run 1:41.2 if he cared about the 800m, but no one has ever cared about the 800m.

The title of the thread and the whole discussion that it creates is by its very nature, a could have, would have game, you dope!

More knowledgeable fans only comment because idiots like you and your multiple handles claim that Coe was of 'Uni' standard over 5000m due to his pb. He only ran the distance once on the track in his entire career. There are many examples from road races where he beat established 5k stars over distances even longer than 5000m.

Geb was 5'5" and couldn't break 49 secs for 400m. He didn't have the speed or physiology to run faster than 1:44, and I would think 1:45 would have been a stretch while training for the 5 and 10k.

The 800m has far greater depth and prestige than the 5000m. One of the reasons why Coe didn't move up. He found running the distance boring.

When did Coe beat Cova in a road race?

Josh Birnbaum wrote:

When did Coe beat Cova in a road race?

Vigevano road race over 7.5km in 1980.

All-Time Indoor 1500m List

1. Hicham El Guerrouj (MOR), 3:31.18

2. Haile Gebrselassie (ETH), 3:31.76

Coe is not even found. Dude couldn't run the mile indoors. His listed excuses: always injured; base building with blood transfusions; didn't want to lose to Coughlan, etc.

Who has the speed now?

kjj wrote:

All-Time Indoor 1500m List

1. Hicham El Guerrouj (MOR), 3:31.18

2. Haile Gebrselassie (ETH), 3:31.76

Coe is not even found. Dude couldn't run the mile indoors. His listed excuses: always injured; base building with blood transfusions; didn't want to lose to Coughlan, etc.

Who has the speed now?

The 'Coe was a doper' arguments on this forum are so transparently dumb, that you may as well be arguing that he didn't dope.

BTW, doesn't his relatively slow 1500m indoor pb (run on the same crappy Cosford track that he set his 3000 pb on) show that his longer distance pbs are meaningless as a reflection of his ability at those distances?

Peer Mediator wrote:

Josh Birnbaum wrote:

When did Coe beat Cova in a road race?

Vigevano road race over 7.5km in 1980.

Thanks. Found the results.

Coe beat Cova by 31 seconds!

Are you guys aware that Cova was a 21 year old nobody who had done nothing yet and likely wasn't on PEDs yet when this road race occurred?