Are there any distance runners that are well-known among the average person?

not Joe Lemay wrote:

Grassrunner wrote:

Add to the top group the guy who wrote "the book on running and died of a heart attack" (Fixx)

BTW, whats the story behind your handle? He was my teammate, training partner and friend in H.S. (he got A LOT faster than me).

Haha you're right about Jim Fixx. That's also one of the top excuses for why people don't run.

Someone on here years ago asked me if I was Joe Lemay because I mentioned I studied engineering at Penn State (grad school) like he did. No, it wasn't me but I thought it made a funny handle.

I know he at least used to be on these boards. I wonder if he's seen your handle as well. I'm sure he'd be curious who's behind it as well. He's a good guy with a quirky sense of humor.

not Joe Lemay wrote:

In the USA I don't think 98% of the population could name a current distance runner. However, here are some of the responses you would probably get

Oprah

Lance Armstrong

Forrest Gump

I think 10% of the population could name a past distance runner. Here are the responses you might get

That guy that died in the car accident (Pre), the guy from the credit card commercials (Meb), the woman that fell down in the Olympics (Mary Slaney), the guy that broke the 4-minute mile (Bannister), and the African who ran barefoot (Abebe Bikila)

Correct answer:. Bolt and Forrest Gump are the only runners that most would be able to name.

Mostly I'd say no, there are none. Pre would probably be the most likely because there were a couple of movies about him, maybe Bannister back in the day, maybe Kipchoge because of Nike sub-2 hype.

Or a hockey player. Gretzky is it. I know I would recognize others but I can't say any of them off the top of my head.

My point of reference is my mom. She doesn't watch any sports at all but can name maybe 3 basketball players. LeBron, MJ, and Shaq. She never knew who Kobe was as an example. I asked her to name a runner and she said Bolt. I asked for literally anyone else of any distance and she couldn't name one.

It is not very popular.

When you say almost everyone, I’m assuming you are talking about people in the running circle. I live in SoCal and most of my friends/family/coworkers are non runners and I can guarantee they have no idea who any of those people are. Anyone I know here who recognizes Meb or Deena is a runner.

I’m fairly certain the average American could not name a distance runner. Any runner they could even potentially name would maybe be Bolt but that’s it.

ddddaaaaaaaaaaa wrote:

So Cal is alot different than the rest of the world.

Here in So Cal everyone does some sport regularly. \

In the rest of the world, sports is for TV viewing at home with a beer.

Almost everyone knows who So Cal natives Meb, Desi, Deena are.

Plus of course thousands of So Cal T&F Olympic medalists Lashinda Demus, Bryan Clay, John Carlos, Tommie Smith, Rafer Johnson, Allyson Felix, Johnnie Gray, ....

Previous post was in reference to this

I conducted an unofficial poll of non running friends and family members:

Jim Ryun and Bill Rodgers were the only famous distance runners they could name off the top of their head.

Of course everyone names Usain Bolt and refer to him as a "runner".

They also name Lance Armstrong.

The later two are the most famous "runners" in the average non-runners' minds.

There you have it.

I am sure some old people on the East Coast would name Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit and Grete Waitz, surely the latter.

It all depends on interest. You are into it or not.

In Norway a lot knows a lot about sports, but it is a main thing in may peoples lives, from proper football to skiing to biathlon, skijumping and athletics.

All know Grete W and Ingrid Kristiansen, a lot knows about Are Nakkim, the Kvalheim brothers, certainly the Ingebrigtsen' and Vebjørn Rodal (albeit those are not really about distance running) and many have heard of Sondre Nordstad Moen.

Some also knows Said Aouita that is kind of Norwegian (but not by nation), but everyone knows he was on the juice, so,,

I think kara goucher and shalane flanagan each got to a point of popularity in their careers that rose above the usual running game. Nowhere near bolt or Carl lewis (or mo in the UK). But kara achieved a level of fame with women athletes beyond the running game, and shalane won NY and was the sports worlds darling for a brief moment. But even they are nothing compared to actors or pro athletes of other kids.

Anecdote is not the singular of data, but most of the Muggles I know are vaguely familiar with Des and Kipchoge; that is, they couldn't volunteer their names, but they do recognize the runners as "the woman who won Boston" and "the Breaking 2 guy".

DanM wrote:

Eric Arthur Blair wrote:

Ackley and Grassrunner nailed it. Media coverage much better late 60s to early 80s getting general public involved and interested in the sport. Helps to have a few stand-out personas, too.

Exactly. As famous as Boston is for the marathon, Bill Rodgers is probably the only recognizable name to the average person in the Greater Boston area. People in Marblehead/Swampscott may be able to name Shalene Flanagan.

Just so. Running is a niche fandom in this country. In February, when driving downtown to start a shift as a volunteer at the Marathon Trials, I was excited to hear a broadcast team from one of the local sports-talk stations that was near the start area. Until I realized they were there for a frickin' car show, and only had the vaguest idea why downtown Atlanta was full of skinny people in shorts and singlets. They solemnly informed their listeners that "the fastest runners in the world" were running through the streets of Atlanta "as we speak". Three hours before the start of the race.

Americans only pay attention to running (and swimming and gymnastics) every four years. And even then, it's the sprinters and hurdlers who get the coverage, since those are the events Americans historically medal in.

Hey, I'm an average person and the only runner I've heard of is that Wes Holman guy. He won some kind of trail race and also hooked up with Pam Grier.

AJ Acosta probably thinks he is mainstream popular.

In the 70s most Americans knew Rodgers, shorter, bruce Jenner, and Edwin Moses. Runners on my high school team knew about pre.

In the 80s they knew Joanie, Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses,, Jackie Joyner Kersey and ben johnson.

In the 90s they knew Carl Lewis and michael johnson.

In the 2000s Americans knew Bolt.

Probably A list Hollywood movie star Alexi Pappas. Most know her as a movie star who nearly won an Oscar, but few realize she's also a Greek Olympian who came close to a gold medal.

david45 wrote:

For sprinting, most people can name a couple of well-known sprinters. Yet for distance running, I am willing to bet the average person has never heard of a single person. I personally didn't until recently. Are there any distance runners that are well-known among the average person? Is someone like Mo Farah well-known among most people in the UK?

As a side note, someone name one cricket player.

Most people where I live know Tennis player Camila Giorgi

https://tennistonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Camila-Giorgi-7.jpg

Cold hard truth wrote:

Kipchoge is a household name. I would say most people would know the name Shalane Flanagan.

I would venture to guess a lot of non-runners might know Sir Mo Farah and Galen Rupp, especially around olympic time . And people actually like Mary Cain (and would know the name), you know back when she was good... which is funny because Katelyn Tuohy is better but doesn't have NYTimes articles written about her.

Tuohy had a New York Times article written about her

She was also on the cover of Sports Illustrated has gotten a lot of press from Gatorade

And she has like tens of millions of views on YouTube

I wouldn't say she is famous or well-known with average people but certainly in the running community and probably somewhat with high school and college athletes