Is Catherine Ndereba The Greatest Female Marathoner in History? Rank Your Top 10 Here

Rojo, Who would you rank as the greatest male 800 M runner of all time?

I was thinking Kipketer is along the line of Catherine Ndereba who doesnt have a gold but has the credentials to be ranked #1 on that list

so before the OG you would rank PR ahead of CN - meaning PR would have been your number one? But after the OG, PR is only the 8th best ever?

You, sir, are nuts.

Yes, you know why? Because Radcliffe had beat her head-to-head, but to place 23rd at the Olympic Marathon is something Ndereba has never come close to doing.. not even in an open marathon.

You do know that Paula was injured don't you?

Catherine Ndereba shows a remarkable level of consistency at global champs level but, unless she wins the Olympics or breaks the WR I think her name will be forgotten in 10 years time by all but a few.

The names of Grete Waitz,Paula Radcliffe, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Ingrid Kristiansen and Naoko Takahashi will live on and one of these must be the current number 1.

According to your comment on Ndereba, than what will make the names of Waitz, Radcliffe, and Kristiansen live on if they have not won Olympic Gold?

El Dorado wrote:

Catherine Ndereba shows a remarkable level of consistency at global champs level but, unless she wins the Olympics or breaks the WR I think her name will be forgotten in 10 years time by all but a few.

The names of Grete Waitz,Paula Radcliffe, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Ingrid Kristiansen and Naoko Takahashi will live on and one of these must be the current number 1.

You're not the first on this thread to screw this up, but Catherine did set a WR - which she held for a little over a year. She missed by a week being the first woman under 2:20, by the way too.

I think women's marathoning must be divided into two eras: pre-LA OG and post-. Before 84 the greatest was Waitz, hands down. And, although JBS is one of my all-time favorite runners, I believe Catherine deserves to be number 1. If Paula somehow wins a medal in London, I'd move her up to number one. Until then she's most similar to another British great - Jim Peters.

Nderaba is great, but not the greatest. That title must go to Paula.

2002

1st London 2:18:56

1st Chicago 2:17:18

2003

1st London 2:15:25

2004

DNF Olympics, Athens

1st New York 2:23:10

2005

1st London 2:17:42

1st World Champs 2:20:57

2007

1st New York 2:23:09

2008

23rd Olympics, Beijing 2:32:38

1st New York 2:23.55

10 marathons, eight victories.

despite the disappointment in the OG I still dont' see anyone with a better overall record that Paula.

Paula IS the greatest. End thread.

After today's race it is clear that Kara Goucher should be on that list. 7 or 8th place all time.

I think the top 4 (Ndereba, Benoit-Samuelson, Waitz, Radcliffe)are pretty clear, it would be extremely difficult to say who is number one. In spite of the fact that Puala is the world record holder, she only made my top-4 because of her NYC victory today. In the marathon, victories are far more important than times.

dogg45 wrote:

After today's race it is clear that Kara Goucher should be on that list. 7 or 8th place all time.

Funny stuff.

agreed.

all that matters is wins and times.

the olympics are f***ing hysterical showbiz.

It's always amusing to watch the ways in which otherwise intelligent people try to find ways to keep Radcliffe out of the top spot when this question arises. Imagine if the question were "Who is the best QB in 49ers history?" and watching someone try to claim it was Steve Young or Jeff Garcia for some arcane reason.