The 12 Greatest African Athletes in Order

Wheres Dikembe?? (mutumbo)

Using your original guys, here is how I would rank them and why.

1. Haile Gebrsilassie - The man was/is unbeatable and pressed world records into previously unknown territory, also able to race over decent range of distances.

2. Said Aouita - He would have been as dominant as Geb but became bored with dominating the 5000m. After breaking all of Rono's "unbreakable" records, he moved down to the 800m and ranked #1 in the world there too. On a better day he would have pulled 800m gold in the Olympics. Name any other runner (including 1500m specialists Morceli and ElG) who could rank #1 in the 800m. Aouita also had numerous near misses at WRs...

3. Paul Tergat - Without Geb, Tergat would be #1. He dominates on all surfaces (greatest XC runner, multiple silvers in the 10k, former WR in 10k, WR in Marathon, etc). The only flaw in his record are that the silvers were not gold.

4. Daniel Komen - The singular greatest potential talent yet. Komen was as fast as Geb at 5k, ran 3:46 for the mile, and has arguably the greatest distance performance of all time (7:20 3k). None of the other greats were within 3 seconds of that time...

5. Henry Rono - The man set a WR of 13:06 at a dual meet, and a WR of 8:04 by himself in the steeple in a small invite in Seattle. Had track been more professionalized during his time, he would most likely have been the first under 8:00 and the first under 13:00.

6. Kenenisa Bekele - He will probably be #1 when it is all said and done.

7. Hicham El Gerroudj - Dominant, but only in 1500m. And he blew it twice in his best event at the Olympics. Redeemed by his 15/5k double but he can't be higher than #7.

8. Moses Kiptanui - Great range and multiple WR but at times he could be beat.

9. Noureddine Morceli - An earlier version of El G without the 15/5k double to boost his standing.

10. Wilson Kipketer - The greatest 800m runner ever...but he never gave the 1500m a go...

11. Kipchoge Keino - He could either be #1 or off the list depending on what is important to you. He led the revolution but was not the greatest performer of all time.

12. Abebe Bikila - Another leader of the revolution but he was strictly a marathoner...unfortunately being a marathoner makes it difficult to display range across events.

Gosh Damn, Dashen!What the fpck you got in that head of yours?!Just because Bekila is the African marathon vanguard does not make him the greatest ever, for the same reason Bannister or Prefontaine will never be the greatest ever. Even though 2 of these guys broke new territory, neither dominated in terms of range, raw time, world records, world championships, or length of career as would be the case for Geb, El G, Morceli, Tergat, Komen, and when it's all said and done, Bekele.Fpcks sake man, perspective please.

Dashen wrote:

Abebe Bekila was the first and cannot be replaced on the top.

1. Haile Gebrsellasie ETH

2. Hicham El Guerrouj MOR

3. Henry Rono KEN

4. Said Aoutia MOR

5. Paul Tergat KEN

6. Kenenisa Bekele ETH

7. Nourredine Morceli ALG

8. Wilson Kipketer KEN

9. Miruts Yifter ETH

10. Kip Keino KEN

11. Abebe Bikila ETH

12. John Ngugi - KEN

Agreed with your post 100%

There's actually a white guy that deserves to be on the list. Bruce Fordyce won Comrades 9 times! Also won London to Brighton 3 years in a row.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Khannouchi. He performed most of his feats as a Morroccan didn't he?

Two marathon world records and 3 of the top 10 fastest times ever (all in 2:05) should be worth something.

Question: Does Alain Mimoun qualify as an African? He was Algerian but ran when Algeria was occupied by France. He & Zatopek had roughly the same competitive relationship that Geb & Tergat had (constant Olympic/Euro runner-up, 4x world XC champ). I'm not sure he belongs in the top 12, but he should at least get an honorable mention.

Mohamed Gammoudi of Tunisia won a silver medal in the 10K Olympics in 1964, behind Billy Mills.

He was the ONLY sea level runner to win a gold medal in a distance event at the 1968 Olympics, where he beat Kip Keino in the 5K with a 54.8 last lap. He also won a bronze medal in the 10K in 1968.

In 1972 he won a silver medal in the 5K, but he tripped in the 10K and got a DNF.

He was also World Cross Country champion in 1968.

here's what i think

Rank First Name Last Name Country

1.Wilson Kipketer - KEN (DEN)

2.Kipchoge Keino - KEN

3.Kenenesia Bekele - ETH

4.Haile Gebraiselaise - ETH

5.Said Aouita - MOR

6.Abebe Bekila - ETH

7.Paul Tergat - KEN

8.Henry Rono - KEN

9.Hicham El Guerroudj - MOR

10.Noureddine Morceli - ALG

11.Daniel Komen - KEN

12.Moses Kiptanui - KEN

dhow wrote:

Maria Mutola - the first African woman to dominate on the track

After Zola Budd?

You came closest ot my prediction.

I also think Haile is the greatest. Bekele, after probably 5 more years, and assuming he continues his form, will obviously be the greatest.

Good stuff Mr. Donut.

Filbert Bayi he broke the world recored in the 1500 meters at the 1974 commonwealth games with no rabbit.

Two issues that haven't been stated outright, but have been tip-toed around:

One, the competitiveness of the times make current athletes somewhat more impressive.

Two, although running may be more competitive now than it once was, training methods have also improved. Therefore, it makes sense to compare them to their contemporaries, and to how much they improved previous world records.

For example, let us say that Geb has taught Bekele everything he knows about running, and that by the end of his career Bekele achieves dominance the same way Geb did, but doesn't break as many records. I might still put Geb as the greatest ever, because you have to expect some improvement from generation to generation. But it's hard to decide how much improvement you should expect.

As for lists, I'm too young. I never saw anyone run before roughly 1992.

1. Haile Gebrselassie

2. Hicham El Guerrouj

3. Kenenisa Bekele

4. Daniel Komen

5. Paul Tergat

6. Wilson Kipketer

7. Said Aouita

8. Bernard Lagat

9. Noah Ngeny

10. Moses Kiptanui

The first 3 are no contest.

Komen's records are out of this world. Tergat, likewise.

Kipketer was the man at 800 for a long time

Aouita, 3:29, 3:46, 7:29, 12:58. Enough said.

Lagat, only other ever to run 3:26, Olympic silver and bronze, 3:47 miler.

Ngeny, Olympic gold, world 1K record, #2 ever at the mile

Kiptanui, first under 8:00 in the steeple, WR at 5K and 3KSC, under 7:30 in the 3K, one of the legends.

and for the women when not if turinesh dibaba goes sub 14 for 5k and sub 29 for 10k, and werknesh kidane may she recover from her illness, she will shatter radcliffes record, those 2 will have to be included.

I think this thread, though a good one, is for the thrill of young wannabe distance runners/fans.

One of the greatest of African runners Filbert Bayi was left off the list.

Your missing one of the greatest runner's of all time on this list. Were is Belayneh Densamo of Ethiopia. First runner ever under 2:07 ( 2:06:51) at Rotterdam. A time that stood as a world record for almost 10 years. Shame on you for missing this runner to your list.

Where is John Nygugi 7 time world XC champion. If your going to make statements do some research on runners of the past not just present stars.