bekele not on SI's top 20 athletes of the decade.

It is really very simple; "joke" sport magazines like Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News do not include Track and Field athletes where they belong on the lists. The easy way to hurt them (millions of track and field fans) is to not subscribe (I am dropping my subscription) and that may be all that they understand; give me a break; Derek Jeter; Serena Williams; Mariana Rivera??????????

you had me wrote:

you had me until that statement. Surely, Bekele has been much more dominant (and for much longer) and has won much across a wider range of distances. Bolt's got 100m-200m. Bekele has 1500m-15k.

Bekele is not dominant in the 1500 at all. I don't think he's ever won a big one.

Something is very very wrong when you have a top 20 list with 3 members of the New York Yankees, and Haile Gebrsellasie, Kenenisa Bekele, Hicham ElGuerrouj, Jeremy Wariner are no where to be found.

They seem to have included Usain Bolt as a form of tokenism. It appears that to make the top 20 list as a track man, you have to be absolutely the best that has ever been.

The probability of a weightlifter, cross country skier, rower, handball player, etc. making the list is ZERO.

ameematt wrote:

but bolt is.

That's because Bolt could probably be a decent football player if he wanted to. Bekele couldn't.

RealSportsIllustrated: That's because Bolt could probably be a decent football player if he wanted to. Bekele couldn't.

Well, Bekele has a hell of a kick...

Stop crying about what they do and post your own list. It's not easy to come up with these things. Obviously SI is biased to the sports they cover. I understand Bekele kicked the daylights out of everybody and probably deserves to be on the list. That being said there are still many athletes that could be considered.

This list serves the same purpose of the NFL pregame show, shows like PTI on ESPN, and lately even the news.

They say what they say ONLY to cause controversy. People who care bitch about this or that on internet forums and the site gets more traffic. That's all.

If you know who Bekele is than you know what he has done this decade.

running is a pussy sport and si knows it. not a real sport. stop whining like little bitches.

SI ceased being journalism decades ago. The real name should be "Sports Brochure" since all they do is serve as advertisement for the pro sports leagues.

SI focuses on american sports! i.e. football basketball hockey and baseball... I am sure that an international sports magazine.. will recognize kenenisa.

In the US Nascar is considered a sport.. but to me driving a car is not a sport and neither is golf... on espn we see cards.. next they will have poker as a sport...

I also don't understand this obsession with lists///

Best video...best song...

hate_SI wrote:

despite the fact that cycling has had so, so, so many more doping cases.

Not true.

the whole drug/epo thing has rightfully turned off anyone who had in interest in track, marathons, etc.... can't blame them, dude like Bekele is an enormous drug fraud, many track fans continue to support him and his ilk...

Qoutas, you have no f*cking idea what you are talking about. Do you alwlays make up sh*t or pull it out of thin air?

Some backup proof?

because no one gives a shit about track?

Cael Sanderson went undefeated in the NCAA and won the olympics in wrestling. I'm sure there is a wrestling board somewhere that is up in arms.

I found it amazing that anyone is amazed that Bekele is not on the SI list. Again, at least 97% of their readership has no idea who he is. Like it or not, the media impact(and yeah, personality counts, too) of what Bolt did in just a few minutes was far greater than what Bekele has accomplished in a career.

The "World's Fastest Human" tag still means a lot to the average dolt. Try explaining to a person obsessed by college football and basketball what running a 10k in 26 and change even means.

joltin joe wrote:

the whole drug/epo thing has rightfully turned off anyone who had in interest in track, marathons, etc.... can't blame them, dude like Bekele is an enormous drug fraud, many track fans continue to support him and his ilk...

And cycling, football and MLB isn't? They have Lance Armstrong on the list you f***ing retard. Tell me he's not on any drugs.

(And cycling, football and MLB isn't? They have Lance Armstrong on the list you f***ing retard. Tell me he's not on any drugs.[/quote])

The differance is, and it's a big one, is that the aforementioned cycling football and MLB try to catch and do suspend the drug user....The Tour de France will let no drug scumbag ride, and super star Manny Ramirez was in fact suspended.... Bekele uses, no one tests, the shoe companies throw millions at them...morons like you follow a sport more phoney than pro wrestling....

joltin joe wrote:

(And cycling, football and MLB isn't? They have Lance Armstrong on the list you f***ing retard. Tell me he's not on any drugs.

)

The differance is, and it's a big one, is that the aforementioned cycling football and MLB try to catch and do suspend the drug user....The Tour de France will let no drug scumbag ride, and super star Manny Ramirez was in fact suspended.... Bekele uses, no one tests, the shoe companies throw millions at them...morons like you follow a sport more phoney than pro wrestling....[/quote]

Well using that dumbass logic, the iaaf suspended rashid ramzi not to long ago for doping but yet you still say they don't try. So there goes your "no one tests" bullshit theory. I know their testing could be "a lot" better but lets not get ahead of ourselves and say that they don't test at all. Besides if he was dirty since you "think" you know everything, how fast do you think he he'll be able to run if he was clean? Slower than you? It's impossible for him and ritz, geb, webb and tergat to be just talented?