Bekele can only supersede Geb if he breaks the marathon record. Until then Geb remains the all time king of distance running.
Maybe he will maybe he won't. personally think that beside being the fittest man on the planet you stil have to be in the right race on the right time. So there is a fair amount of luck to it.
my top list
1. El G
2. Geb
3. Bekele
Bekele has the potential of being the king of distance running but only time can tel if he has the genes strenght and the luck.
toro wrote:
One thing about Bekele is that he hasn't set a personal record in years.
He didn't put up a 10,000 time in 2006 or 2010.
Hasn't come within 10 seconds of his 5,000 PR but once.
He's just been running to the level of his competition once he got the records so he never pushed himself to see how good he could be.
A lot of his greatness relies on the fact that he doesn't have the same level of competition that Geb had.
All of the credit for beating Geb in 2003 race and getting his records in 2004 and 2005.
And his 2008 and 2009 doubles were fantastic. Plus the XC resume.
Oustide of Championships he stopped chasing the clock.
It may be nit picking but to be greatest of all time you have to look at everything.
He needs more duration - more than 10 years of high level performances.
He is on his way.
I agree with toro on the fact that Geb is still greater but you also have to realize the competition that Geb had FORCED him to run faster. Geb just didn't just run fast all on his own. The likes of Daniel Koman, Salah Hissou, Paul Tergat, Morceli made him run faster because they were all either attempting to break or breaking his wrs. This allowed extra motivation for him to take those wrs back. Bekele wrs on the other hand hasn't really been attempted or attacked by anyone in this decade, therefore allowing less motivation for him to go out and go for it.
said88 wrote:
A Skeptic wrote:Also, consider that when Geb started his senior career in 1993, the world records for 5000, 10000, and marathon stood at 12:58, 26:58, and 2:06:50. He took them down to 12:39, 26:22 and 2:03:59. That has to count for something.
The 10000m record stood at 27:08 at the beginning of the 1993 season...
Even more impressive!