So if he had retired last month he would be the goat but lining up at almost 39 and running 209 diminshes the other (18?) marathons he has done? How idiotic. He won both olympics in the heat and has taken on all comers for 15 years. Take a logic course.
Tokyo Olympics is a real course and didn' t have pacemakers.
He won Tokyo against some guys that would be also rans at my local 5k charity run. Stop with this nonsense.
you're not wrong. Kipchoge had his marathon streak during a drought of good distance runners. Freaking Galen Rupp got a bronze during this time. Matt Centrowitz a gold in the 1500. Mo Farah was DOMINATING and racking up medals while holding a 5k PR that literally put him #25 of all time.
Kipchoge is lucky that Bekele stayed injured and Wanjiru was murdered
I’m sorry, but based on his career up to now, he’s the greatest. World record holder, a stupid number of wins, two Olympic titles and absolute dominance over a decade. How does this one poor performance diminish all of that?
He won some marathon track races. How can we call him the best of all time when he never won a marathon on a real course? A real course destroys Kipchoge.
He’s a double Olympic Gold medallist in the marathon and has won 12 of his last 14 marathons, along with breaking his own world record multiple times. He’s shown an astonishing level of consistency in an event that is very hard to master.
It's difficult to talk about the GOAT. Maybe it's because I come from that era, but it's hard for younger people to understand the differences between the late 70's/early 80's and now.
Remember, Rogers ran 2:09 in Boston and look at his shoes- yes that matters.
He used to talk about waking up in the middle of the night and eating mayonnaise by the spoonful just to get full. They (we) ate ANYTHING just to get calories- hot dogs and food like that just to fill up.
I'm sure Kipchoge, et al are refueling with much healthier food and legal (hopefully) supplements. Even the drinks during the race- used to be just water or maybe defizzed cola.
They raced much more often to make money (under then over the table).
But you need criteria- what makes the GOAT?
Olympic medals? Kipchoge, Bikila, Shorter (we all know won in 72 and 76).
Times? Kipchoge but the what would Rogers, DeCastella, Lopes run in super shoes?
Titles? Winning NY, Boston, London, Fukuoka (back in the day), even Chicago in the 1980's/90's, multiple times?
Up to Eliud it was widely accepted that Bikila was the best. Now, it's just too tough to decide.
Even if Kipchoge completely poops the bed in his next 5 marathons, he still has 10 marathon major wins, 2 marathon Olympic gold medals, and the world record, to his name. No one else can touch that for the marathon event.
That doesn't even include an entire career before that, with multiple international medals in the 5000.
It's difficult to talk about the GOAT. Maybe it's because I come from that era, but it's hard for younger people to understand the differences between the late 70's/early 80's and now.
Remember, Rogers ran 2:09 in Boston and look at his shoes- yes that matters.
He used to talk about waking up in the middle of the night and eating mayonnaise by the spoonful just to get full. They (we) ate ANYTHING just to get calories- hot dogs and food like that just to fill up.
I'm sure Kipchoge, et al are refueling with much healthier food and legal (hopefully) supplements. Even the drinks during the race- used to be just water or maybe defizzed cola.
They raced much more often to make money (under then over the table).
But you need criteria- what makes the GOAT?
Olympic medals? Kipchoge, Bikila, Shorter (we all know won in 72 and 76).
Times? Kipchoge but the what would Rogers, DeCastella, Lopes run in super shoes?
Titles? Winning NY, Boston, London, Fukuoka (back in the day), even Chicago in the 1980's/90's, multiple times?
Up to Eliud it was widely accepted that Bikila was the best. Now, it's just too tough to decide.
Rodgers DNF'd his first Boston. 2:19 for 14th in his second.
Kipchoge is first or tied for first in every category you listed and then you say its too close to call?
No, no, you youngsters don't get it! If we had the super shoez back in our day everyone would have been running 1:57!!
2:09 in super shoes would be 2:02. Today's shoes not only make racing faster but also allow for more quality and quantity training. Shorter, Rogers et al from the '70s were on par with today's times.
No, no, you youngsters don't get it! If we had the super shoez back in our day everyone would have been running 1:57!!
2:09 in super shoes would be 2:02. Today's shoes not only make racing faster but also allow for more quality and quantity training. Shorter, Rogers et al from the '70s were on par with today's times.
Fastest non-east African ever is 2:04:51. Fastest American born is 2:06:07, and that's from a guy who ran a 26:44 pre-super shoes. Rodgers would finish a few minutes back of Kipchoge 9 times out of 10.
He is still the GOAT, this crap that he wasnt suited to the hills is crap he runs hills every day in Kenya. He had an off day issues with left leg. Get over it move on. He will win the next one!
This is a perfect response to my post. Well reasoned and intelligent. Kipchoge is an amazing runner. It is disappointing though that he never tested himself in his prime on a hilly course like Boston or NYC. He is now this media phenomenon, where we are all supposed to worship him, much like Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods before. He is very carefully curated. If you question anything about him, if you exercise free speech, you get slandered, called a Troll. There are so many amazing marathon runners, so many challenging courses, so much difference in technology and training one cannot be called a GOAT. The GOAT is the distance, and anybody who has the guts to line up at the starting line with good traing and challenge yourself. I, for one, don't need the media to tell me who my heroes are. My marathon heroes are the ones that took on a tough course and all challenges, not chased some phone artificial time.
I’m sorry, but based on his career up to now, he’s the greatest. World record holder, a stupid number of wins, two Olympic titles and absolute dominance over a decade. How does this one poor performance diminish all of that?
I mean he did finish 8th (2:06:49) in London in 2020.
He won some marathon track races. How can we call him the best of all time when he never won a marathon on a real course? A real course destroys Kipchoge.