I s Eamonn Coghlan one of the most underrated runners of all-time?

Deep Impact wrote:

Running on Empathy wrote:

One thing always mystified me when watching Coghlan in outdoor championship races such as the '76 Munich 1500 final and the '80 Moscow 5k final. He always seemed to be in perfect position at the bell and around the penultimate curve, yet somehow would manage to get himself into bad position before the home straightway. The guy had probably the best last 100 finishing speed (better than Coe's IMHO),yet that finishing speed would be spent fruitlessly trying to get back into medal position after losing it on the backstretch and the last curve.

Are you serious? Lol

Coghlan wasn't in the same stratosphere to Coe. They raced many times and Coghlan never came close to beating him. As for a faster sprint finish! ROFL

Coghlan said as much in Pat Butcher's book, "The Perfect Distance" .

Perhaps you should read it and educate yourself.

I was going to say the same thing. He was no where close to the kicker of Coe, Ovett, Scott, Walker or Cram.

I wonder if he lost a lot outdoors by peaking too much indoors. While some of the others ran a few indoor meets while maintaining their mileage, he must have sacrificed a lot of winter mileage for fast times. He was one of the few who had better times indoors than outdoors.

When he was not chasing the clock, when he did he ran 3:48.

Off his indoor mark you would expect Coghan to run faster mile/1500m but despite beingin numerous pace WR attempts he never got close

Coghlan was a great runner esp the mile indoor V40 record, mile indoors and 5,000m WC, but Coe Ovett and Cram were in a different class. A reporter asked his if he wished Coe or Ovett had raced his indoors expecting him to say yeah I could have beat them there. His reply 'no way, I didn't want them on my patch'

800 Coach wrote:

Deep Impact wrote:

Are you serious? Lol

Coghlan wasn't in the same stratosphere to Coe. They raced many times and Coghlan never came close to beating him. As for a faster sprint finish! ROFL

Coghlan said as much in Pat Butcher's book, "The Perfect Distance" .

Perhaps you should read it and educate yourself.

I was going to say the same thing. He was no where close to the kicker of Coe, Ovett, Scott, Walker or Cram.

I wonder if he lost a lot outdoors by peaking too much indoors. While some of the others ran a few indoor meets while maintaining their mileage, he must have sacrificed a lot of winter mileage for fast times. He was one of the few who had better times indoors than outdoors.

Reading comprehension is apparently not in vogue with either of you two.

I never said Coghlan could kick like Coe or Ovett. I said that his speed in the last 100 was probably better than Coe's last 100. The problem is that Coghlan never seemed to win any of those races - he had the best home straightway finish at the '78 European Champs 1500, but of course only came in second because of the issues I pointed out. Watch the video, then get back to us.

Watched him run a WR 2000 in LA indoors. My buddy and I were going crazy, people around didn't have a clue. The announcer didn't even know until the last lap. Amazing performance solo effort no rabbits.

Clearly you have a writing problem, "The guy had probably the best last 100 finishing speed (better than Coe's IMHO),yet that finishing speed would be spent fruitlessly trying to get back into medal position after losing it on the backstretch and the last curve".

No he didn't have close to the finishing speed of Coe. That is like saying that kid in last who was 200m behind the winner had the best kick. There were numerous times in big races where Coghlan was not up with Coe and also didn't finish as well as him.

ROFL. Utter nonsense. It's embarrassing that you are still trying to justify a ridiculous comment.

Please find me the fastest last 100m from Coghlan in a race! Did he manage an 11.3 last 100 in an 800 or a 12.1 in a championship 1500, as Coe did?

He may have finished the fastest in the 78 European 1500, but that's only because Ovett put 10m between him and Coghlan in the previous 100 and eased down in the straight because he was so far infront. Coghlan never broke 49 sec for 400m either. He ran against Coe over 4 miles in 1978, so certainly in Coghlan's area of distance, compared to Coe the 800m runner, and Coe outs printed him by 1 sec in the last 100m!

Coghlan never beat Coe or Ovett in their peak years, not even close.

This is what Coghlan said to Pat Butcher in his book, "The Perfect Distance",

"My coach Gerry Farnham tried to instil in me that I was the only person in the world who could beat Ovett, ....... Seb Coe, on the other hand, was a different kettle of fish. It was almost like, "Erm, you ain't gonna beat Coe."

Because of that grace and elegance that he had, and the speed that he brought to it, it was JUST BEYOND MY LEG SPEED TO HANDLE HIM."

P. 220

Eamonn and John Treacy were great runners with long careers.

Both were favorites of mine growing up.

EC was a personality and I think one of the reasons for track's diminishing popularity is the there aren't enough guys like him.