Bekele says he's the GOAT: "For those competitions, of course I am the best."

Tergat won five gold medals in the XC long race. Bekele won 6, and an additional five in the short race. Surely that would make him the XC GOAT?

i think bekele has the best genetics for a distance runner that we know of.

unfortunately, bekele's hindsight isn't 20/20 and i think bekele would've had a better running career and more money if he had moved up to the marathon in 2005/2006 after breaking the 10000m WR. he could've stole haile geb's marathon dominance and his prize money. i don't think even wanjiru could've stopped bekele in the 2008 olympics. after breaking every WR from 5000m to the marathon, he should've retired in 2016 and made everybody in the letsrun community question if bekele could break 2 hours if he had the carbon fiber shoes during his time.

Did anyone ask him what he really thinks of EK's record?

Staying on the track to win double gold in 08 and 09 was clearly the right move for him... After that would have been the time to hit the roads. Good chance he would have put the half marathon WR out of Tadese's reach very quickly

He knows how to win races, always managed to find ways to win in any race he’s been in. My personal favourite is him getting chased down by an absolutely on fire Mo Farrah in a road race and still finding another gear to win. Bekele was an absolute warrior on the track and it sucks that he got beat by el guerrouj in an oly 5000m final. But there’s really not too much shame in that considering el g is the overwhelming goat in that wheel house as well, 5000 and under. To top it all off he goes and runs the 2nd fastest marathon. If he dedicated more time to the marathon and put in the same amount of base as kipchoge it wouldn’t surprise me to seem him run sub 2:01 in super shoes. Kipchoge is absolutely the king at the marathon. But he’s half the runner bekele ever was on the track.

Kipchigoe? More like Kip Slow Gee, amirite?

the reason why i picked 05/06 was to distance himself away from the dreaded 2010 as much as possible. if the 2010 calf injury was partly due to overuse, then running in 08/09 may have been major contributing factors. the marathon was also where the money was at and i think money > 5k/10k gold medals.

Bekele is 32 seconds slower in a competition marathon than Kipchoge, and 2:41 slower in a time trial than Kipchoge. It's a joke that Bekele thinks he's even close to Kipchoge's talent in the marathon.

bekele's dominating career ended in 2010. after returning from injury, he was very inconsistent and despite running the second fastest marathon in history, he was second fiddle to kipchoge. i still think bekele has more natural talent than kipchoge if it comes to that, but kipchoge played his cards right and ultimately won the gold and the nike money, but deep down inside, kipchoge knows that the 2010 bekele injury is what gave him all the glory.

with that said, bekele should cave into the what-ifs and go do the 400m sprint. i want to know, damn it!

Tergat was good but can’t compare his XC accomplishments to Bekele who dominated in a much greater fashion than him

I’d also say you can easily argue Bekele is better than Geb on the track but a closer level

Bekele is the GOAT. He is the best distance runner on the track and in cross. It’s not even a competition. America forget so quickly the dominance. Kipchoge is 1 minute plus in the marathon. BFD. Bekele is still number 2 in the 26.2 mile range. JC.

At one point the marathon difference was only 2 seconds. Because of the sub-2 exhibition, I think there was this perception that Kipchoge was so far ahead. Sure, maybe in consistency but the fact that Bekele can pull off such a time without the consistency and monastic training shows how talented he is.

After he was surpassed in Grand Slam wins, Federer was still considered the goat of tennis by many because of his form and beauty, all his natural gifts. Sometimes the conversation is about what everyone is at their peak and their recognized inherent talent. Neither would be in the conversation without their multiple championship wins and records, but tally of numbers is not everything in the scheme of history. Bekele is it.

Zero doubt. Bekele is the greatest distance runner period. Haile comes close the the rest far distant.

So, for everyone downvoting my post, Bekele just ran 2:05:53 at London. Bekele is only 2 years and 7 months older than Kipchoge. Not even close to Kipchoge's talent in the marathon, which will become very evident after Kipchoge's focus shifts and he demolishes the marathon records in NYC and Boston.

I love his running style. Beautiful powerful stride.

downvotes are due to the willful ignorance in your post(s). Bekele has been within 6 seconds of the world record marathon twice. It's injuries and age that clearly hold him back not talent. Plus he still has a winning record against Kipchoge

Well he does have a Olympic silver and a bronze in the 5000m so I'd say that's top 5.

Really? A winning record against Kipchoge? Remind me in which Olympics that was? That's the worst argument when one is clearly better. That's like saying Eli Manning is a better quarterback than Tom Brady because his head to head record is better, while conveniently leaving out both total record and total Superbowl wins. Bekele has lost far more marathons (at least 12) than Kipchoge (2 ever). He has also DNF'd a significant portion (about 30% if you don't count his DNS) of his marathons, which Kipchoge has never done. Think about that for a second. He's quit in 1 out of every 3 to 4 marathons he run, compared to Kipchoge who has never quit or DNS a major marathon and he run in more than Bekele.

...and the fact that Bekele admitted he under achieved in the marathon got you my down vote just then