Worst runner with an Olympic gold medal?

agip wrote:

tons of one marathon winners you've barely heard of:

Stefano Baldini

Gezahegne Abera

Josia Thugwane

Young-cho Hwang

Gelindo Bordin

Constantina Tomescu

Mizuki Noguchi,

Naoko Takahashi

Valentina Yegorova

Naoko Takahashi was the first woman to break 2,20.

Carl Lewis

It was the opinion of Tom Tellez that Carl was the worst distance runner he had ever seen.

K5 wrote:

But how about 1980 sprint winners in Moscow as the US boycotted? Alan Wells and Viktor Markin?

This same argument could be made for 1984. Would Evelyn Ashford have won the 100 if not for the boycott? Valerie Brisco-Hooks in the 400, the women's sprint relays, etc...

Allan wells actually had a pretty good record against some of the fastest from that period. Keep in mind that sprinting was pretty slow comparatively back then.

sbeefyk1 wrote:

Based on zero historical research and his PRs compared to the current WR, I would say Mo Farah is the worst distance runner with a gold medal. Or perhaps the guy that won the 2004 Olympic marathon.

You're not close on either of those guesses. I can think of several "worse" runners the top of my head based on that metric.

Baldini was about as close to the WR as Sammy Wanjiru.

For a different kind of worse see Khalid Skah vs Chelimo in the 10000m final.

Way way way back wrote:

Really obscure, but Allen Woodring. Won the 1920 200m Gold. Finished 5th at the trials and was sent because the 4th place guy couldn't go.

Goes to Belgium, destroys his spikes. Has to borrow from another sprinter. Here is the kicker. The weather in Belgium was a downpour and the track was in sub optimal conditions. The spikes he borrowed were extra long, giving him a slight advantage over the unprepared competitors.

Thank you for that.

well.,. wrote:

agip wrote:

tons of one marathon winners you've barely heard of:

Stefano Baldini

Gezahegne Abera

Josia Thugwane

Young-cho Hwang

Gelindo Bordin

Constantina Tomescu

Mizuki Noguchi,

Naoko Takahashi

Valentina Yegorova

Naoko Takahashi was the first woman to break 2,20.

Then Noguchi ran faster to take the Japanese and Asian records from Takahashi, put her 3rd on the all time list. At the time, only Paula and Catherine Ndereba had run faster.

pick-em

in the first olympics, an ok grade 8 student could have metaled.

12.0 for the 100?

3 hours for the marathon.

how about a 453 mile?

it was just brutal beyond description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1896_Summer_Olympics

agip wrote:

tons of one marathon winners you've barely heard of:

Stefano Baldini

Gezahegne Abera

Josia Thugwane

Young-cho Hwang

Gelindo Bordin

Constantina Tomescu

Mizuki Noguchi,

Naoko Takahashi

Valentina Yegorova

Ummm...no. Most of those names were competitive for years.

I'll grant you Thugwane and Hwang.

longjack wrote:

pick-em

in the first olympics, an ok grade 8 student could have metaled.

12.0 for the 100?

3 hours for the marathon.

how about a 453 mile?

it was just brutal beyond description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1896_Summer_Olympics

haha this is awesome! Thanks for posting. What do you think people even wore during competition back then?

I won't even look up her name, but if that younger Turkish runner who came in second gets the gold now that Alptekin was DQed from the London women's 1500, she's the worst. Did nothing before 2012 and won't do anything again.

Um hello? Ever heard of Galen Rupp?

Viren IMHO. If he were to race today he would be destroyed, prolly would not even crack the top 10.

Guestsafddsiofjdsi wrote:

agip wrote:

tons of one marathon winners you've barely heard of:

Stefano Baldini

Gezahegne Abera

Josia Thugwane

Young-cho Hwang

Gelindo Bordin

Constantina Tomescu

Mizuki Noguchi,

Naoko Takahashi

Valentina Yegorova

Ummm...no. Most of those names were competitive for years.

I'll grant you Thugwane and Hwang.

ok - I did 5 minutes of research on these oly marathon winners. Besides the OG, here is how many major marathons each won:

Baldini: 0

Thugwane: 0

Hwang: 0

Bordin: 1

Tomescu/Dita: 1

Yegorova: 1

Noguchi: 2

Takahashi: 2

I am excluding Fukuoka - that race has gone up and down in quality. I am excluding the european champs too - cause who cares - 3rd tier race.

so really - if your view is that an olympic champion should be a legend, long lasting, consistent champion...you don't have that proof here. three never won a major, 6 only won one other major.

point is that the OG marathon is a crapshoot and luck means more in that race than any other.

left out Abera - he won 2 other major marathons

agip, you know less about the subject in this thread than others, and that's really saying something.

Just shut up already.

enough already wrote:

agip, you know less about the subject in this thread than others, and that's really saying something.

Just shut up already.

why didn't you respond on the merits?

Bryan Clay - 4:38 1500m PR