Most influential runners before 1980...

on the womens side:

Fanny Blankers-Koen was a Dutch athlete known as "The Flying Housewife" (and also "Amazing Fanny") after winning four gold medals in the 1948 Olympics whilst already the mother of two. Mrs Blankers-Koen won four gold medals, the 100 meters, 200 meters, 80 meters hurdles and 4 x 100 relay. She also held the world high jump and long jump records at the time, but didn't compete in those events in the Olympics. The two winners were both well behind Amazing Fanny's world records, so she would likely have won them as well had she taken part. She was also Dutch shot put champion, and would have walked the pentathlon, except that there wasn't one at the 1948 games.

Could a woman of 30 with two kids win all these events today? I doubt it.

A couple of bits of Fanny trivia. After her Olympic triumph, she was instrumental in having a rival sprinter with the unlikely name of Foekje Dilemma thrown off the Dutch team. She alleged that Dilemma was a man, but there appears to have been no obvious evidence for this. (Unlike the Polish/American sprinter Stella Walsh, who just was a man. When "she" died in 1980, doctors allowed journalists to view the body - which left the matter in little doubt.)

Oh, and a piece of Olympic trivia about that relay. The Dutch team that won it consisted of Xenia Stad-de Jong, Jeanette Witziers- Timmer, Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs and Fanny Blankers-Koen. It's the only time an Olympic relay race has been won by four married women.

http://www.qi.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=3051&start=6&sid=a7a6c8f9d5051c2ada175d2a71060c92

Perhaps runners who where around in the 70s could chime in on who was the most inspirational American during that era. Did Billy Mills and Bob Schul have any effect with their 1964 victories?

As for women, I would think that Babe Didrikson, Wilma Rudolph, Grete Waitz, and the already mentioned Joan Benoit and Mary Decker should all be considered.

I am not sure what list Jarmila Kratochvilova would be under though:D

ron clarke!!

IrunHard wrote:

"Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers spearheaded the US running boom."

No sorry. Bill Bowerman and his book Jogging did more for launching the US running boom than anything else coupled with Pre and his attention grabbing races/attitude

No sorry. Bowerman got the idea out there but it was Shorter and Rodgers that got Americans interested in marathoning.

Steve Prefontaine was one of the most influential runners to the U.S.

[quote]sdafsdf wrote:

Steve Prefontaine was one of the most influential runners to the U.S. high school runners.

Jesse Owens

Doris Brown Heritage

Miki Gorman

Jaquie Hansen

Francie Larrieu

Ted Corbitt, not only the first black USA Olympic marathoner but co-founder of the RRC of America and champion of correct course measurement and certification.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Corbitt

http://www.distancerunning.com/inductees/1998/ted.html

Nina Kuscsik gets a mention.

In on particular order:

Paavo Nurmi

Jim Ryun

Roger Bannister

Jesse Owens

Emil Zatopek

Frank Shorter

Bill Rodgers

Steve Prefontaine

Abebe Bikila

Ron Clarke

only 5 out of the 10 yanks - take out 3 of yr yanks and put in Snell, Keino, Waitz, Walker or Viren and you might have a reasonable list. Athletics is/was a lot more popular in Europe than it ever was in the US.

In researching about Nurmi, he was definitely ahead of his time in term of pacing and training. He broke indoor (29 unofficial) and outdoor records ranging from the 1500 meters to the hour run. He won 12 medals in the Olympics of which 9 were gold. He would have won possibly one more medal if he wasn't deemed a professional by the IAAF and banned from competing in the 1932 Olympics.

you right.

Even to those who did not like him Viren won 5000 and 1000 in two olympics i saw and in 1976 raced the marathon as well (5th)

How much more influential can you get?

issue: the Running/Athletics dichotomy.

A) is it a dichotomy?

B) After Stallone, the most influential pre-80s * Running * icon has got to be ... "A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin.... Better, Stronger, Faster...

I have no particular fondness for Kip Keino, but it seems crazy to me that he isn't on most of these lists. He is the closest thing to a god of running in the greatest running culture ever. Ask someone like Henry Rono about Keino's stature and influence among Kenyans. And, although he lost a number of races, his competitive accomplishments have been matched or exceeded by very few.

I'm a fan of Viren, and I think that he's been unfairly maligned in the U.S., but I think that his influence has not been as great as it might have been if he had been from a more influential country or had promoted himself more aggressively.

I might put Snell on the list, but primarily because his success brought attention to Lydiard's training principles and methods.

Waitz is probably the only female distance runner that I might put on the list. Her NYC marathon victories, beginning in 1978, brought world-class female runners into the marathon event, and really transformed women's marathoning into an event for serious and talented athletes.

Doris Brown

anEconomist wrote:

yes roadracing is so popular... i heard people had trouble getting tickets to see them back then

it is so much more popular than track, nobody cared when bannister broke 4 in the mile

front running sports fan wrote:

Pre did nothing for the running boom. Did he ever run a roadrace? The running boom was about the masses getting out and running road races. Track was and always will be a niche sport but there are roadraces in every little town all over the country. Roadraces brought the stars right to the people and the biggest star was Bill Rodgers and his 4 Boston and New York marathon wins. While some books were written that helped runners or joggers, they are written in response to the boom, not the cause of it.

Obviously you can´t read. The running boom was about the masses getting out and RUNNING road races, not watching them.

As I look through this list I see so many worthy names. I remember the runners back then being personalities that many people knew. I have to agree with Shorter and Rogers because of the running boom. But the others were tough athletes who were very inspiring.

obviously you can't thinkhow in the hell can the masses get out and run track races?there are none for them to run - if people watch pre on the track (as he had his following in Oregon) or someone in the olympics they go out and go for a run if they are inspiredjust because there was an uptick in road racing doesn't mean it was inspired by roac racers / watching road racing

bengt wrote:

anEconomist wrote:

yes roadracing is so popular... i heard people had trouble getting tickets to see them back then

it is so much more popular than track, nobody cared when bannister broke 4 in the mile

Obviously you can´t read. The running boom was about the masses getting out and RUNNING road races, not watching them.

and my point still stands... very few people get out and watch roadraces, it is a niche sport just like track

probably just as many people watched track as it was at least in the olympics

[quote]bengt wrote:

[quote]anEconomist wrote:

[quote]front running sports fan wrote:

Roadraces brought the stars right to the people and the biggest star was Bill Rodgers and his 4 Boston and New York marathon wins. quote]