Anyone around in 80s see this as Coe-Ovett?

Close, but not quite. The 2000m is an officially recognized world record event, not a world best. So Jakob does have an outdoor world record to his name.

Oh really? What was the first A then?

Even though it was sometimes still unofficial or even underhand, track was so much more popular back then that I'm sure they were earning way more than Kerr or Ingebrigtsen.

Kerr has 75K followers on Instagram and Ingebrigtsen has over 500K. If there had been the Internet and Instagram in the 80's, Coe and Ovett would have had millions of followers each. They were as famous and as idol worshipped as the top soccer players of the time, such as George Best. Earling Haaland has nearly 40 million Instagram followers. Ronaldo has nearly 650 million - that's almost 1,000 times as many as Josh Kerr.

They were holding out for the best deal. They signed a contract to race each other over a variety of distances in 1982, but both got injured or ill. Not sure how much the contract was worth, but I'd expect it would have been over a million dollars each, at least in today's money.

George Best competed in the 80s?

And 8,700 is almost 1,000 to you? Maybe you are really not that big of a liar anybody thinks you are.

You honestly need psychiatric help. What does it matter if Best played a few years before Coe and Ovett were at their peak? He was still the most famous soccer player by far in the UK in the 80's. OK, so Ronaldo has 8,700 times as many followers as Kerr, not 870 times. Thanks for pointing that out and making my point even more emphatic.

You know, I've got a couple of doping related things about two Kenyan legends that I've withheld, and probably will continue to do so, because I'm not a nasty person. But if you continue to stalk and make threats against me, that might change soon.

Oooh, pleeeeease don't change that, I'm so afraid now. But - are you serious with this? New alltime low level for you.

Btw, which threads are you talking about? Again, Best famous in the 80s? For drinking?

Glad I could help you. But the main point is to expose your stupidity.

The first A stood for ignorance -- yours. Mostly willful ignorance.

By the time that Coe and Ovett came around amatuerism was a memory. Prize money, appearance money, and endorsement money was already dominating the economics of athletics, and Monaco controlled it. Amatuerism was a farce.

Still, the first A stood for Amateur. You're welcome.

Does not read. There was nothing amatuer about the IAAF.

The IAAF was headquartered in London at the time of Coe/Ovett.

Kerr and Jakob don’t avoid each other. Ovett and Coe would never have races each other before the Olympics like Kerr and Jakob did. Never.

According to Ovett's autobio, it was more Coe avoiding him than the reverse. Or rather Coe's Dad.

The 1500/mile right now is as compelling to watch as I've seen in decades. But it's not yet the same or at the level of the Coe-Ovett-Cram era. I was an impressionable teen when they were at their peak.

Coe and Ovett didn't race often, which was a loss. Credit to the current guys for not avoiding each other. But they were also more distinctive than their peers. Both Coe and Ovett had a devastating change of pace in the last 100-250m, which their competitors lacked. So, the drama was less in whether they would win, more in watching them stamp their authority. They were also setting a lot of records, with those being more exciting in the pre-wavelight era.

Ovett was a child prodigy who also liked to engage in showboating, waving to the crowd after kicking away from the opposition. Some loved that, some were turned off by it. Ovett seemed to be really enjoying himself. Coe seemed more smug and restrained. This all played into the dynamics.

In the current group, Kerr and Ingebritsen aren't so different than each other. Nuguse and Wightman are more distinctive. Nuguse especially is super chill. He'll appeal to some fans that JK and JI don't appeal to.

As others have said, I didn't get much sense that there was any personal animosity between Coe & Ovett; the press did that, for its own reasons. And I think ducking each other had more to do with promoters paying more for each of them with (virtually) unbeaten records than they would have if they'd raced each more more but had more mixed results. It's hard for Gen Zers to realize how different the money situation was then.

I agree. I was in Jr. High in 1980, during the Moscow Olympics. Even though the US boycotted, the matchup between Coe and Ovett was big news in the general media. The next year, 81, was magical year, Coe and Ovett broke the mile in a span of 10 days, but they didn’t face each head to head.

I don't recall Coe or Ovett being scared of each other. I believe as I recall they didn't like one another. Coe was a bit more focused on the 800m at least 1981 and prior. Although Summer of 81 they traded world records in the mile. Not many head to head races. Too many would take the excitement out of it. The Ingebrigtsen Kerr rivalry is still building. I wouldn't say it's at the same level as Coe Ovett but it's close. Two or 3 match ups per year would be ideal

I was in high school and college for their prime years of 77-82. Neither Coe nor Ovett were scared of anyone, and that included each other. They played their parts well, similar to Jakob and Josh. But they were the most famous athletes in the UK, and the most famous runners in the track and field world. They mesmerized people with their races and dominance, and they made theater out of not racing head to head but rather trying to one up each other in different races that usually were not far apart in time. They were injured a lot unfortunately. But they also were more subtle in how they acted their parts in the rivalry, and they kept the disrespect to a minimum in terms of mouthing off to each other. They went on the track and ran. Watch several documentaries on their rivalry and you will see they wanted to be the best, but each had enormous respect for the other. Not sure these two do.

They called it Shamateur- there was money it was just under the table. There was a great interview with Guy Drut in Runners World after the 76 Olympics- he retired and talked about how much money they made.

I remember his saying that a double Gold medal winning distance runner who he wouldn't name got a 50K appearance fee.