Game On: Kenenisa Is Going Try To Defend His Title

Some crazy runner guy wrote:

I love halie but does his sucsess in the marathon make up the ground he has lost to kb in the 5000m and cross country? Haile will always be one of the all time greats but KB took his crown in 2009.

The fact that Geb has performed near the top of the world for 19 consecutive years while Bekele was there for 7 years before missing last year may make up for ground he lost to kb in XC and the two 5000m titles.

Now Geb destroyed records and led the way to take the 5000 record form 12:58 to 12:39 and the 10,000 record from 26:52 to 26:22.

Geb won Gold in as many Championship track meets as Bekele.

Does Bekele have 12 more years of world class running in him?

This is going to be a very exciting race!

I really hope Kenenisa is in shape and not just going to start the race to save face before a DNF.

toro wrote:

Geb won Gold in as many Championship track meets as Bekele.

That statement is false. Bekele has 8 major championship gold medals, Geb has 6. Bekele has 10 total medals at major championships, Geb has 7.

Let's not even start on cross country.

And the cross country titles are probably more impressive too. It may not get as many accolades as the Olympics and World Champs but everyone knows that the World XC champs are the toughest races on the planet. Each team has 6 guys which is more than you get in the WC's and Olympics and it's generally much more dog-eat-dog. XC doesn't really have tactics like a track race. Geb, as far as I'm aware, never won a World XC title in his life. Bekele doubled 5 years in a row....

Well, I think Jash Hermons is deliberately making an understatement. Kennunosi Bikali is back. Go KB!!

They both have Golds in 6 Championship track MEETS (years).

Geb has 9 medals by the way in 8 championship track meets and top 6 in two additional championship meets (Top 6 in 10 separate championship track meets).

6 10K Golds

1 10K Silver

1 10K Bronze

1 5K Silver

Cross country is a bit of a minor league league sport, like indoor track. But winning in 6 years is amazing.

By the way, Geb has 4 indoor World Championships Golds (including a 1500/3000 double) and Bekele has 1.

Major marathons are more of a big league sport. It certainly pays more.

So Geb has won 9 major marathons.

He has made some nice coin.

Cross country is way deeper than track. Countries can have more than 3 runners and so it is obviously more competitive.

please let's stick to reallity. after lay off for 1 year what do you expect. he start full training just a month ago. i doubt kenenisa will win but it will be a moral boost for ethiopian team. still i will say farah is the winner then tadese and merga

You can't honestly believe that Geb's 9 marathon wins, largely time trial based, are as impressive and against as deep a field as Bekele's 10 XC wins.

Some crazy runner guy wrote:

He already has a pretty good claim to greatest of all time.

He has won both the 5000m and 10000m in the same championships

He has both 5000m and 10000m WRs

He has by far more cross championships in both long and short course than anyone else

I love halie but does his sucsess in the marathon make up the ground he has lost to kb in the 5000m and cross country? Haile will always be one of the all time greats but KB took his crown in 2009.

Bekele is only a couple of seconds better than Haile was in the 5k and 10k. Haile realized he could no longer win at 5/10 and moved on to become one of the greatest Marathoner of all times.

For all we know, Bekele could run the Worlds and fail...get injured again and not even start London 2012. Dague will be the turning point of his career - in whichever way.

There is no doubt in my mind that he will never come close to his WRs again but the good news is that with improved EPO/blood tests, he doesn't have to in order to win.

We may need to drop the Greatest of All Time label. Athletes have only been getting faster. Geb was the man during his time. He's gotten older, taken it to the roads, and may or may not have much left in his career. KB came along and dominated, has now had some struggles, and may or may not have much left in his career. With KB's world records being somewhat recent, it's too soon to say it's for "all time." Time will tell. Until distance records stop getting routinely broken, we don't have much reason to think KB's times will last very long. Odds are good that the person who will break one of KB's world records is alive right now and it's just a matter of years.

As a young, optimistic and slightly unknowledgable high schooler, here is my prediction.

10K: KB and Mo Farah take the race into a league of their own and crush the field. KB manages to leave Farah in the dust running 26:21 to win. Farah comes in way behind in 26:34 with Merga trailing in 26:39.

The Gold in the 10,000 confirms KB's aspirations and he lines up for the 5K as well. Determined to redeem himself, Farah doubles as well. Running a race of their own, KB and Farah pull away from the field. Farah wins it in 12:44.59 with KB right behind in 12:45.11.

Thes are pretty much based on what I'd like to see happen and based very little off of facts, statistics or anything of the sort, lol.

All in all, KB remains unbeaten in the 10K and Farah still walks away with a gold and hero status back home.

I agree that it's hard to compare Geb and Bekele- they have diffferent strengths and neither of their careers is over (although if Geb produces anything truly world-class in the coming years I'd be surprised).

I think Bekele's 2009 season is underappreciated. Tadese was really going for the win in the WC 10k and Bekele just spanked him, and then a few days later outkicking Bernard MF Lagat in the 5k? And THEN going undefeated in the diamond league 5k? My gut is that he pushed himself too hard that summer, and that's the true cause of his injuries.

Looking at his whole career, I think only a fool bets against Bekele. But hey, this is track: anything can happen. I'm really excited for this race.

Gebreselassie has a better XC record than Bekele does at road racing.

I have do disagree with you. KB has not raced in over a year. He's rusty and won't have that same pop he's had in previous years. Farah is on fire this season. I dont see KB pulling away or even out kicking Farah in either the 5 or 10. If Farah stays as sharp as he's been with no injuries going into worlds, I see Nobody beating Farah. Just my opinion. Everybody has one. Can't wait to see

the way for KB to win this race is to have it go moderately slow for the first 2k, 5:30-5:20. Then, drop a 7:30 3k for the win. No one will be able to hang.

ScottEvil wrote:

I think Bekele's 2009 season is underappreciated. Tadese was really going for the win in the WC 10k and Bekele just spanked him, and then a few days later outkicking Bernard MF Lagat in the 5k? And THEN going undefeated in the diamond league 5k? My gut is that he pushed himself too hard that summer, and that's the true cause of his injuries.

It was actually the Golden League but you might right. He had the toughest route and he took on everyone. Plus the Zurich Weltklasse was just a few days after the

I have a feeling that Kenenisa will make his debut in the marathon in the winter or early spring and it would not surprise me if the guy went after a different double in London. The guy does not care about money or else he would have gone to the roads 5 years ago. He cares about global championships, medals and being number 1.

Farah is in fine form at the moment. Should be a good race

mesfin wrote:

please let's stick to reallity. after lay off for 1 year what do you expect. he start full training just a month ago. i doubt kenenisa will win but it will be a moral boost for ethiopian team. still i will say farah is the winner then tadese and merga

im surprised it took this long, for someone to bring him up....he's had some low key races, and looks as fit as ever heading into Daegu....people better watch out...

Mo Farah is on drugs- you don't go from being a middle of the pack guy to being a world beater. No way. Mr Salazar turned a guy that had moved up to the marathon D Rhitz... to PR in the 5000 by 20 seconds.

Mo farah was consistently running 13:08 and 09 for 4 years and then.. he is running 12:53 with a 60 second and 53 second last two laps.