Who is the most disliked runner of all time?

I sense a lot of recency bias, so I'll add Ben Johnson to the list. That guy got a lot of hate.

Honestly, I always felt kinda bad for Johnson. Dude clearly wasn't a brainiac. I felt like he was taken advantage of a lot. I know that doesn't absolve him of cheating and he almost certainly knew he was cheating. He just ended up being the fall guy for a whole generation of elite sprinters.

I disagree that this is a big deal. History is full of defending gold medalists who did not appear in the final four years later for one reason or another.

Most disliked can mean two things. One, the athlete with the most people disliking them (irrespective of positive feelings, really this is mostly about fame/infamy). Or two, the athlete with the highest percentage of people disliking them (still requires people to know them, as opposed to apathy, but also requires very few positive sentiments).

For the first, I will go with Noah Lyles, because despite all of his fans, he is one of the only track athletes to go mainstream famous, and he went mainstream famous for negative comments against the NBA, so he has A LOT of NBA fans that hate on him (just look at the social media reactions after he lost the Paris 200m). Lots of fans, lots of haters, and the poster child for "no such thing as bad publicity".

The second is a bit harder. It needs to be someone who was good enough for people to develop an opinion on them, but not so good that their ability alone biases people against them, and they need to have high-profile negative press against them (doping mostly, but can be other things, like The Fall). Mo Katir sort of fits the bill, but I imagine there is still a lot of apathy about him. Once upon a time this would've been Gatlin, but he got a redemption arc. Honestly, I think I'm going to go with Kratochvilova, her name is synonymous with doping, she owns by far the dirtiest record on the books. I don't think track is popular in the Czech Republic, and even if it was I'm not sure they would look favorably on a reminder of Soviet occupation. Genuinely don't know who would view her positively. Ben Johnson maybe a close second, but these days there is a lot of apathy (since he has no records).

Carl Lewis or Flo Jo?

Good response. I almost wrote down Gatlin too. I remember him being booed a fair amount. Shelby's definitely in that zone now too.

A third perspective on this is more like, "Who is most hated from the insider world of the sport?" Like, of all serious/competitive runners, who is disliked the most? I've heard a few bigger name coaches trash talk Salazar a good bit. I almost forgot about the indoor USAs Gabe Grunewald DQ—that made me rage. Although that dislike wasn't all there when he was a runner, more so when he was a coach, but he did catch flack during his competitive years.

Rosie Ruiz

I have a distaste for any runner who doped and retained medals and records from before their positive tests. That list is long.

Alberto Salazar and his friend Nick Johnson are also good candidates for obvious reasons.

Neither one of those guys had a positive test

Correct. I meant that they are good candidates for most disliked runners of all time, not candidates for the list of convicted dopers who retained medals.

Oscar Pistorius.

mo farah

AlSal ?

I think this has to be it.

This.

And since someone already mentioned Rosie Ruiz, I will submit Roberta Gibb.

wvtm13.com

Bobbi Gibb hid in the bushes to run the Boston Marathon in 1966

https://www.facebook.com/

In 1966, Bobbi Gibb was told women couldn’t run the Boston Marathon. So she hid in bushes near the starting line and ran it anyway.

Open link

Not at all the same?

I don't think it's right, deserved, or fair, but Semenya has probably faced more vitriol and harassment than any runner of at least the 21st century.