Coevett wrote:
said88 wrote:
Come on! Ovett would not have medaled in Seoul, not even close. His best time was a 3:36.90 while well beaten in Hengelo. His 5 Olympic middle distance finals is great, but a sixth in 88 was just completeley unrealistic. There is a reason why he wasn't selected.
Same for your comparison with Rudisha, a pure and only 800m runner who has won two 800m Olympic Golds in majestic style. On the other side Ovett, a fantastic Miler who has had some success in the 800m (sorry, but his 800m Gold was won in a relatively weak final where the only really great opponent totally underachieved). Ovett would not (and has not) medaled in 76, 84, 88, 92, 96. Winning 800m Gold at the Olympics and six years later Gold at the Commonwealth Games over 5000m is a great achievement, no doubt. But winning a solo 800m at the Olympics in WR time and then moving up to the 5000m is something different.
The typical saidipede - a poster makes a complimentary comment about Aouita, whilst suggesting that Ovett might have been on a similar level of talent and range, and the saidipede feels obliged to denigrate Ovett's achievements.
Ovett's achievement in winning the Commonwealth Games 5000m six years after the Moscow Olympics, and with all that went on in-between (impaling his thigh on a railing and then suffering cardiac problems in the smog of LA), is in my opinion superior to Aouita's 5000m Olympic gold and 800m bronze. Ovett did what he had to do on the day in Moscow and he did it in supreme style, with still I think the fastest 2nd lap in a major final. I think also at the time it was the biggest winning margin in the history of the 800m at Olympics. Considering he was actually boxed in at the bell, that's quite remarkable.
If we're talking devaluded Olympic finals, what about the LA 5000m?? Ovett's 800m victory was far superior to Aouita's LA gold. Coe didn't perform because Ovett had out psyched him. Perhaps it can be said that Bekele underperformed in the 2004 5000m final, but it doesn't distract from El G's victory (El G's likely doping however....).
EVERYBODY underperformed in the Seoul 800 final except Aouita, who ran close to his pb and likely maximum potential over the distance, and Ereng (whose win looked better than it was because of the paced nature of the race). Cruz did well to win silver after his career seemed over, but there's no doubt he was nowhere near the Cruz of LA. I think he'd had about 3 major operations by that point.
I agree, however, that Ovett wouldn't have made the 1500 final in 1988, not in the form he was in that year. He was obviously very close to making the team however, which Saidipede doesn't seem to understand. I don't know what Ovett's injury problems were in 87/88, but looking at that excellent German site 'The Great Distance Runners' we can see that something must have happened to Ovett straight after his highly creditable second to Aouita over 5000m in the middle of 1987, a race in which he beat some of the top 5000 guys that year, including both DeCastro brothers. He was in fine form up to and including that race, over the 1500/Mile as well, but that was his last good performance. After that he appears a shell of his former self. I doubt if it was simply age, but rather injury combined with age making it harder for him to battle back.
However, as I stated recently, Ovett had come back from similar patches of poor results caused by injuries, so it's unsurprising he did keep battling on. I know that in the winter of 87/88 he was confident of challenging for gold over 1500 in Seoul, along with Coe - who he still saw as his main rival - and Cram (I guess he assumed like everybody else that Aouita would remain too chicken to face the Brits over 1500).
Maybe if Ovett had stuck with the 5000m he would have at least made another Olympic Games in Seoul, which would have been his fourth in row - quite a remarkable feat.
As it is, (and this is what perhaps makes the Saidipede so jealous) Ovett's run from 1974 European 800 silver medalist to 1986 Commonwealth gold medalist over 5000 (and 1987 World finalist) is unmatched at those distances. Aouita - five years at the top in major championships, starting with the 1500m in 83 and finishing with the 800 bronze in 88. Ovett, 13 years at the top in major finals, starting with the 800 Euros in 74 (as an 18 year old 400/800 runner) and finishing as a 30 year old gold medalist at 5000m and then world finalist as a 31 year old. Ovett did it clean and despite two major setbacks (the railings and LA) that would no doubt have finished Aouita completely.