Said Aouita's record as an athlete

Mr Aouita was of course a complete disaster as Australia's National Coach. Athletes accused him of trying to push them into doping. Most athletes' performance dropped away significantly and some gave the sport away. He was despised by pretty much everyone in the sport over here.

Aouita's credentials are better for any distance from 800 to 10000 than Choge's. Choge has a good but not spectacular HM PB, but this clearly can't outwigh Aouita's close to WR performance over 10000 while beating the best of the best.

Choge has shown great range, but obviously isn't in any GOAT discussion.

1:05:38, would be current No 28 on the womens list, quite impressive.

It's like mentioning a 8.50m long jumper has tripel jumped 14.98m to justify his "range".

You really don't do Ovett any favor with your silly numbers, Coevett.

It was much weaker than the 800m or 1500m!

There were only 2 decent Kenyan 800m runners aroud at the time of the Moscow Olympics - Boit and Maina. Ovett had beaten both of them over 1000m in 79. He also beat Boit shortly after the 76 Olympics over 800m, where Boit had been expected to be a medalist and the main rival to Juantorena.

Ovett wasn't going to be beaten by Boit or Maina in 1980 over 800m. His 800m victory had the fastest 2nd lap of any Olympic or World final (before or since) 800m - 50.5 after a 54.9 first lap.

I don't consider the Montreal 800m final to be hollow just because there were no Kenyans participating. Of course a peak Boit would have been a threat and may have pushed the time faster, but it is wrong to suggest an 800m final isn't a proper race because there are no Kenyans in it!

And if you know anything about middle distance running in this period then you wouldn't have made a cheap shot at Ovett losing to Straub, who was part of the GDR national doping programme and who ran a complete level above anything he'd ever done before or was to do after. Indeed, he was never seen on the International scene again after that Moscow final. If you look at the breakdown of stats from the race then it would be clear that in that form he's have beaten Walker in 76 and Vassala in 72 as well.

It's a shame we don't have any reliable evidence of what he was capable of in a 400m or even a relay split. I seem to recall a list of somewhat 'questionable' times he achieved over a range of distances in training before he became world class.

Having said (pardon the pun) that, he tended to run wide on the bends in some of his 800m, and I find it difficult to believe he didn't have at least the same 400m ability of Peter Elliott, whose official 400m pb was 48.2, but allegedly ran 47.5/47.6 in training. If Elliott could run 1:43.0 (1:42.97) flat out then I suspect Aouita must have been capable of matching that. I also suspect that Ovett (given a paced race effort at peak) would also be in that 1:42 high range. Of course Coe should have rin 1:41.5 that night in Firenze had he not run much of the 3rd bend wide to pass Konchellah, which puts their times into context.

Ovett later admitted that he had partied out of his mind after winning the 800m and wasn't sharp for the 1500m as a result.

Ovett with 21/3:30 and sub-25 closes was surely worth 1:42 but never came close. It hurt that he was much in demand for the 1500 and mile, of course, and so had fewer fast 800m opportunities outside of champs. Of course, he had the asthma in LA.

REALLY! Did you actually use that as some sort of defence!? 1 positive drug test in most people's eyes puts a great big question mark over ALL their performances and times. Anyone who is shown to have taken a PED should have all their medals and any times that appear on 'All time' lists, revoked. It is people like you with this blase attitude towards drugs that is killing the sport. It is a fact that Morocco, as an athletic nation, has a very poor record with drugs. You need to accept it and not try to make excuses or pathetic deflection techniques to somehow make it acceptable.

1:41.5 was possible had Konchellah stepped out or off like a pacemaker, as he did lose a bit going around him but it does not look like he went beyond lane two as he dipped just outside of Konchellah and back inside immediately, although the video is so grainy who could tell? With a pacer through 500-600m, he might have been still faster. He was in superb form at the time.

insidethegames.biz

Morocco and Nigeria added to list of countries most at risk of doping by AIU

@insidethegames

Morocco and Nigeria have been added to a list of countries considered to have the highest doping risk to athletics, the Athletics Integrity Unit has a...

Link:www.insidethegames.biz/articles/109148...

"“Despite significant efforts from the Royal Moroccan Athletics Federation to put in place an appropriate national anti-doping programme, a number of national level issues have not been addressed.
“The doping threat in Morocco remains acute and the AIU considers that more needs to be done to address the threat, where applicable, with the support of the relevant Moroccan authorities.”
A total of 33 Moroccan athletes are currently serving doping bans, according to the AIU website.

I see now that Deanouk said the third bend, not the third lane.

But Aouita WON races and medals. What did Choge ever win of significance? A solitary Commonwealth title.

Aouita was certainly a much better 800 and 1500m runner than Choge and was capable of 3:28 for 1500m (considering how wide he ran in Nice 85). Over 3000m there was a second difference, and Aouita competed in a different era. He was the World and Olympic champion over 5000m, not to mention a world record breaker twice! He was a much better 5000m runner than Choge, who was running 20 years later on faster tracks.

Aouita also has faster pbs than Choge over 1 mile, 2000m and 10k.

Choge was clearly an incredible athlete with fantastic range, but between 800 and 10k, he wasn't as great as Aouita.

Which is patently nonsense as well. He got a bit drunk the night of the 800m (which is his own stupidity) and then had 4 days to recover before the 1500m heats. You don't close an Olympic final in 25.4/12.6 (faster than his last 100m in the 800 final - 12.7) if you are not 'sharp' or fully fit. He should have edged past a doped up Straub (25.7/12.5) but eased off when he knew he couldn't catch Coe.

My goodness! Thanks for the link.

Play another game

Keep the moral for your selves ... you are the biggest usurper and exploiter in the world.

33 anonymous runners caught will not move from an inch

What are you smoking, Aouita's PR is 27:26 not within 10s of the WR even then.

to the "oh yeah choge doper" poster, you challenge the boundaries of irony and fail utterly.

I haven't even had to mention how many sub 7:30's Choge has, and won't need to. There has been no valid counter-argument just a bunch of empty fanboy rhetoric

An "dirty" East Africain, Muslim (and Arab) humiliated you in your home.
Dropping to the ground all your theories of doping.

Image:images.beinsports.com/qLkqNmvcgou1QG_x...

If you are so queen to be clean why you accepted "dirtiness" in your home?