Greatest Runner of All Time?

Marita Koch ran 47.60 in 1985. For comparison, the best time in the world for women last year was 49.65 by Allyson Felix. This is like the best time in the world last year for the 1500 being 3:34.5 (instead of 3:28.80). A 17 year old Norwegian kid just ran 3:31.18. Marita's WR was the equivalent of a 3:22 1500m for men. It might not be beaten for decades, whereas El G's likely will in the next few years. Her dominance at the top was as long as El G's, and even greater when you consider El G did get beat a few times, including twice in Olympic finals.

Unless you're both racist (to East Europeans) and sexist (to women), then objectively Marita Koch was a greater runner than El G.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXPYtdcviO0

Coevett wrote:

Why is Marita Koch's performances any less impressive than El G's? Her WR is by far the greatest of any runner, male or female in athletics history. She set her first WR in 1977 and her last in 1985. She certainly would have won Gold at two olympics if it wasn't for the boycott in 84, and perhaps also in 1976 as a 19 year old where she was injured after beating the woman who won gold in her heat.

10.49 and 21.34 are definitely superiour than 47.60. She finished third in the quarter final in Montreal and has had a seasons PB of 50.19. She would not have won Gold.

Coevett wrote:

Unless you're both racist (to East Europeans) and sexist (to women), then objectively Marita Koch was a greater runner than El G.

You don't have to be "racist" and/or "sexist" to call El Guerrouj the greater runner than Koch. It's open for some discussion.

I'm pretty good at ranking all-time runners for an event, but it's difficult to rank across different events.

If it was this easy to objectively determine the greatest of all time, discussions like this one would not exist because every reasonable person would reach the same conclusion. You act as if we're comparing Usain Bolt and a random high school sprinter rather than two world-class athletes. Your final statement is pure delusion. Boiled down to it's core, your argument is simply: "If you disagree with me, you're evil." Clearly you're quite the intellectual titan.

I'm glad someone mentioned Ed Whitlock - I was musing over whether I would include him in my rankings. Definitely merits consideration.

Leaving aside the distance runners for a moment.......

Had Bolt ever competed in the 400m, I suspect he would've made a strong case for himself.

I'd suggest Michael Johnson, thanks to the length of era (# of races) that he dominated even while dialing it back at the end of his 400s. (Yes, Wayde van Niekerk could be in this conversation, surpassing MJ, if WvN can have a long, successful career.)

Can we include CombinedEventers? Jim Thorpe, and Ashton Eaton. Ashton's excellence at 100m, 110H, 400m, and even 400H is pretty impressive, and can still throw down a decent 1500. Thorpe's time in the 1500 (with mismatched thrown-away shoes, no less) was not matched by another combined eventer for several decades. And that 1500m was like his 16th event of that Olympics.

Still, my vote goes to K.Bekele. With Michael Johnson 2nd place. Ashton Eaton in 3rd.

Ron Clarke is the CLEAN GOAT.

I never said El G was the greatest. Although, because of his accomplishments, I do rank him above Koch. My choice for the greatest overall is Bolt.

But anyway if you read the OP it says distance runners. And neither Bolt nor Koch were distance runners. And in that case my choice for the greatest is Bekele.

And yes, I would rank Bekele above Kratochvilova.

How would you differentiate between greatest and best? Presumably the best runner will be the fastest, but what more does he need to be the greatest? For me, at least, the greatest runner should also be the best.

Very easy answer and only two choices, one for male and female GOAT. ONLY one correct answer. Heres why and yhe yhe coreect answers:

1.) IIn the history of athletics there have been numerous,runners who dominated one, two, or three events.

2.) Before 1970s it was simple if you were alittle more talented and/or trained better and harder than your competition.

3.) Specialized on a specific surface: indoors, outdoors, xcountry, or roads.

4.) Was far stronger ie WR than your opponents, incredible closing from far out, or had a blazing kick.

Now since tgecage of technology improving athletcs there has only been two athletes who fut every criteria above and all four surfaces.

***Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba***

Both former 2000m( indoor) wr holders all tge way to top 3 all time in the marathon (roads), countless major championship gold medals. Alltime,winningest xcross runners, forget it ENUFF SAID

Umm... ever heard of Steve MF Prefontaine?

El G.

I assume he was on EPO, but so were his peers. Look at his '04 Olympic 1500, with the 53 on the third lap. Smooth as milk flowing out of a pitcher. Insane. Lagat passes him on the home stretch, and El G simply holds form and wins gold. Plus, he did some other good runs too...

Soft spot for Jim Ryun, of course, the hero of my youth, just untouchable for those two magic years '66 - '67.

The question was greatest if all-time, not your favorite! Only logical answers:

Kenenisa BEKELE and Tirunesh DIBABA. Noone dominated cross country, indoors, and outdoors like them in the modern era of technology and epo. Competition now is as advanced and difficult to dominate since the 1980s til present. Set numerous world records in the modern era that noone have broken over a decade later. Now they moved up to the roads with stellar top 2 and 3 fastest performances ever all-time.

Anyone from the untested EPO era (roughly 1990-2004) should automatically be ineligible for consideration, IMHO.

That said, my nominations (not including sprinters, I presume) include, in no particular order:

Paavo Nurmi

Emil Zatopek

Ron Clark

Henry Rono

Abebe Bikila

Herb Elliott

Kip Keino

Steve Ovett

Rod Dixon

Sebastian Coe

John Walker

I'm sure there are others. Need to think about who I'd put on the women's list or sprint lists. Edwin Moses belongs in there somewhere.

Zat0pek wrote:

Anyone from the untested EPO era (roughly 1990-2004) should automatically be ineligible for consideration, IMHO.

That said, my nominations (not including sprinters, I presume) include, in no particular order:

Paavo Nurmi

Emil Zatopek

Ron Clark

Henry Rono

Abebe Bikila

Herb Elliott

Kip Keino

Steve Ovett

Rod Dixon

Sebastian Coe

John Walker

I'm sure there are others. Need to think about who I'd put on the women's list or sprint lists. Edwin Moses belongs in there somewhere.

Only post-1964 had drug testing. IMHO, if you’re taking out 1990-2004, you should also kick out the likes of Nurmi and Zátopek.

Forrest Gump

lets finnish it wrote:

Paavo Nurmi for his total domination of the opposition : 9 Olympic golds, 22 world records and a 121 race winning streak. Perhaps most impressive of all, he was never beaten in his 14 year career at either XC or 10000m.

I can't believe no one else has said/seconded this. I know, he was a long time ago & those were different times, but, seriously, look at his record and try to make a case that anyone was better.

Topic wrote:

Title says it all. Who is your pick for greatest distance runner of all time and why? I think there is a strong argument to be made for Bekele, Komen, and El G (with Geb and Kipchoge as honorable mentions), but ultimately El G is the GOAT due to his untouchable world records and dominance. It's possible that this topic has already been beaten to death, but I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

Every "greatest" has a minorly blemished record in major championships. El G's 4 consecutive Golds in the IAAF WC 1500m is "all-time" impressive, but Haile Geb won four consecutive 10ks in the same era. Like El G, he has a silver in 1993 (in the 5k) that makes his record imperfect. He however, won many more lasser medals after hios peak in 2001 and 2003. He also won 4 WIC races to El G's three.

I am sure his outdoor WRs are equal or surpass EL G's in number (Haile's in the 5k/10k and EL G's in the 1500m/Mile/2000m). But it doesn't matter because Bekele's CV surpasses them both. In an objective way that is not worth arguing about.

Haile and it is not close me for. He did it on every level from the track to the road. I can't say the same about Bekele.

Bekele is hands down the greatest XC and track runner of all time. HE went undefeated in XC , and and went undefeated at 10000m for six years. But that is where it ends for him. His lack of road success has really hurt his legacy.

Haile took it to the next level on the road. dominated half marathons and set the WR, and then dominated the marathon breaking the WR twice. All he did was run fast and attack the WR, and that was after attacking WRs and running fast on the track.

Haile excelled on every level.