Kenenisa Bekele: how soon will he totally annihilate the distance WR's?

Already threatening to eclipse his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie, generally acclaimed as the premier track distance runner in history, Bekele said he would like to run the 5,000 in Helsinki, in a climate much kinder to distance runners than Athens.

"I would love to race Hicham and Shaheen," he said."

Have anyone else heard that K. Bekele want the Ethiopian national record for the 1500m held by the Wondimu. He supposedly will be shooting for sub 3:30 in 2005. If he does that he could be a 1500m runner and forget the 5000m and 10000m! I hope Daniel Komen come back to his top form I would love to see Daniel, Hicham, Sileshi, Eliud, Shaheen, and Kenny go at in the 1500m, 3000m and 5000m.

Hicham announces he will retire after 2005 and have a farwell tour in 2006, but wants the 5000m World Record before he retires. Hicham most forgot that the record is 11 seconds faster than he have run and that the young World Record Holder-Kenenisa Bekele will no doubt lower that again in 2005. Will Hicham beat Kenenisa in another Championship 5000m-probably but in my opinion I don't think so! Kenenisa and the Ethopian federation no doubt learned from the double at the 2003 World Championship and start of the 5000m to fast, double at the 2004 Olympics and start of the 5000m to slow, and I think Kenenisa will only run one race the next time they have Kenenisa face Hicham in a Championship race. A 10000m is much harder to recover from than 1500m and then run 5000m.

VIPAM

Vipam, in reading your other posts I must say your bias for Bekele is frightening.

Dare anyone else suggest another can break the record and you attempt to shoot them down.

I remember a few months back you attempted to convince everyone that Bekele winning the 10 and losing to El Guerrouj made him better than El Guerrouj's 3:27, double gold, and outkicking Bekele--FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW.

It is the same nonsense above in your devaluation of Shaheen. Shaheen beat El G in a 5K, who has always beaten Bekele when they have raced.

Renato himself said Shaheen can run 7:19 and 12:35 with the right pacemakers. It is hideously foolish to suggest you know more than Shaheen's own coach who also knows Bekele's coach.

Quote:

I remember a few months back you attempted to convince everyone that Bekele winning the 10 and losing to El Guerrouj made him better than El Guerrouj's 3:27, double gold, and outkicking Bekele--FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW

I recall this argument too.

However, the case was that Bekele's 10k gold, 10k world record, 5k world record, indoor 5k world record, and 2 world cross wins were better than 3:27 and double gold. A good case can be made here, it really comes down to personal perspective.

In these matchups nothing is certain, look at it, you have Cherono who decisively outkicked El G in 2003 in the last 100m but hasn't faced anyone else, then you have Kipchoge who beat El G and Bekele at World Championships, El G beat Bekele then but was beaten himself by Kipchoge, then you have the olympics where El G beat Bekele and also Kipchoge. Bekele has the world record and has run much faster than the others, but has not shown that dominance after the 10k. Bekele is awesomely fast, faster than Geb, but Geb always won he was just really scrappy like that.

Its unlikely we'll see all of them head to head outside of a major championship gunning for a world record. Shaheen will race anyone, rabbits or no and run fast but he will race not just run steady, watch some of his steeples, sometimes the final time is slower because of it, but great to watch though. Bekele and El G are the ones that worry me, I could see both of them not wanting to have anyone interfere with their world record aspirations, and there is too much to lose in stature getting beat by getting beat in the process. Kipchoge gets screwed, he is a tremendous runner, but doesn't seem to have the pull the others have, he got stuck running a 1500m when Bekele made his WR attempt. You know he wanted a shot at that.

Racer1

Let me set the facts straight. In comparison to Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj 2004 season, Bekele's season which includes indoor and outdoors is slightly better than Hicham. Those are the two factors in deciding Athlete of The Year-in which Kenenisa already won by IAAF-for track and field. The fact that Kenenisa also defended both his titles in World X-Country just adds a little more distinction to his ENTIRE year. Yes Hicham won two Olympic Golds and at 2 or 3 races to Kenenisa one Gold and one Silver, 3 world records, and 1 lost. Kenenisa overall season (January to October 2004) was still better than Hicham and that the comparison I made previously.

Hicham is the best 1500m runner ever and a Olympic Champion in the 5000m but just because he says he can break the 5000m world record doesn't make it his. Hicham tried to break the indoor 2 mile record and failed, while it doesn't take away from his minboggling accomplishments it does show that he can't break records at will. In the last 12 months 3 athletes said they were going to break world records: Hicham (indoor 2 mile), Shaheen (steeple), and Bekele (5000m indoors & outdoors, 10000m) and four of the five records did fall in 2004-the only person to fail in his record attempt Hicham.

Kenenisa, Shaheen, and Hicham are all SUPERSTAR among the elite runners and all three are considered the best in their primary event(s). Maybe Hicham will break the 5000m record and even if he does, Kenenisa will take it back.

I think there are several athletes capable of approaching the 5000m world record in the next year or two:

Augustine Choge

Hillary Chenonge

Sileshi Sihine

little Geb

Wondimu M.

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threaten the mark or break it:

Saif Shaheen

Hicham El Guerrouj

Eluid Kipchoge

Kenenisa Bekele

and of those four in my opinion Kenenisa can take it down the farthest-possibly as much as 3-4 seconds next year. If Kenenisa breaks it again it will be out of reach of the others BUT thats just my opinion.

VIPAM

Correction:

Yes Hicham won two Olympic Golds and lost 2 or 3 races which is a factor in choosing Athlete Of The Year. Kenenisa 1 Gold and 1 Silver, 3 world records, and 1 lost.

Rephrase that. It should read: "The facts ACCORDING TO VIPAM" which in most worlds is biased opinion.

What a ridiculous argument. El Guerrouj (notice I am not on a first name basis with him as you apparently are with Bekele) ran 8:06 for the 2 mile and so he is not as good as Bekele who broke another record at a different distance.

Makes sense (if you think illogically). Just for the record, The day before El G ran that 2 mile, Gebrselassie broke it with a 8:04. Again for the record, the day after Bekele ran 7:30 indoors, Gebrselassie ran 7:29. Should I now bow down and give praise to Gebrselassie because he ran faster?

I bet you if someone ran 12:44 the day before Bekele was slotted to run the 5K (as Mekkonen's record went down 5 seconds to Gebrselassie before El Guerrouj ran it, the equivalent of about 6-7 in the 5K) Bekele would also have had some excuse about not being prepared for such a big drop.

Exactly the absurdly nonsensical stupidity I am talking about.

This unflagging confidence in Bekele-who you do not know anything about besides his race results (no training info, a short 2 years on the top of the outdoor track elite level, and little else)--is ridiculous.

"Ah, others may break it, but Bekele will take it back!" Give me a break! El Guerrouj is a 3:43 miler. Anything Bekele runs can be surpassed by El Guerrouj, simply because he has so much more speed.

If Lagat or a healthy Ngeny ever worked up enough strength, they would also blow away anything Bekele runs. It is only because El G is an especially strong miler that he happens to be the one able to do it.

So please, reexamine your idol worship of this athlete. Any other poster who has read your stuff (reference this very thread, started TWO YEARS AGO) will say exactly the same.

Moving hot threads back to the top.

what spikes does Bekele wear?

eldo 2s with zoom shift bottom i think

I think EL G seemed ready to capitalize in his Olympics victory and translate that to XC. I am not sure if El G is accostomed to running on a mud while rain pouring. or better yet if had run any serious XC and won anything. But if history is any eveidence, last year Shaheen, among other, was touted to challenge Kenenisa Bekele. Needles to say that the podioum once again was taken up by anyone but Kenenisa and his countrymen. Well March is just around the corner and let us all wait and see if double-quadruple.

Oh, as to Bekele's "I am not going to run both courses ..." story, forget about it! We will see the guy running upfront, like a little child with a new bike in a X-mas morning!

he, El Guerrouj, Sihine, and Lagat were all wearing the same spike plate -- a plate I've never seen before

Honestly I don't think Kenenisa is planning on running both courses as he did in the years past. His upcoming training is geared toward different goals and at the current time of this post he really is planning on picking only one race at the World X-Country Championships.

Yes Hicham is one of the greatest runners of all-time but I still don't think he can beat Kenenisa in the 5000m if both of them only ran one event at the Olympics or World Championships and in the 2005 Outdoor World Championships we SHOULD see such a scenerio and its outcome. Kenenisa and Hicham won't be the only two athletes making noise in 2005-it will be the year that all-time top ten list are rearranged regularly.

VIPAM

With out going into much discussion on this point, I agree that both Kenenisa and Hicham were to run only the 5K, the outcome would definitely favors the young Kenenisa.

Would Kenenisa enter to only one of the races is a matter yet to be seen. I say this because of the entry of Hicham, Kenenisa have every reason to change his mind and run the shorter course. It is my impression that as Sihine, Gebremariam and now Birhanu get their acts together; Kenenisa might focus on the shorter distance and show off his staggering talent despite the entry of another famous name.

Vipam, why do you keep bumping this thread? It began 2 years ago. It has said all it was meant to say.

Bekele is a great runner. What more do you need to post about it and beat it to a protracted death?

I just like to see how good I can make myself look. I really like myself.

Vipam

Vipam wrote:

Yes Hicham is one of the greatest runners of all-time but I still don't think he can beat Kenenisa in the 5000m if both of them only ran one event at the Olympics or World Championships

VIPAM

HE'S(Vipam) and IT'S( 'the thread') BACK!!!!

Vipam, this has been debated before. Many of us think that El G running 3 heats in the 1500, and especially a grueling, emotional final, just a day before 5000 heats began is equally fatiguing as Kenny B running a single 10,000 final SEVERAL days( a week?) before the 5000 heats began. Especially this last time, where Kenny B waited until the last lap in the 10,000 and then showed he had a ton left with his final blazing 400.

But either way, I think the analysis of which was a more fatiguing schedule prior to the 5000 final (El G's or Bekele's) is a moot point. THE POINT REALLY IS: if Bekele continues to wait until the last lap in the 5k (ESPECIALLY like he did in the Olympics this year), and turn the race into a miler's dream-come-true, he will CONTINUE to lose to El G, whether or not they are both fresh or both tired. And it is equally true, that if he runs a SMARTER TACTICAL race in the 5k, going out from the gun, pushing the pace the whole way with teammates, I think he can beat El G in the 5k, again, regardless of who ran what before the 5k.

In short, Bekele losing twice to El G in 5k's in the last 2 years had a LOT LESS to do with him running a supposedly harder double, and a LOT MORE to do with his poor tactics in BOTH races (but especially in the 2004 Olympic final where he apparently believe what many of the LetsRun crowd were saying: that he could outkick El G even off a slow pace. I thought it was ludicrous to think so then, and of course still think it is ludicrous).

Don't blame "your boy's" losses on tough doubles, BLAME THEM ON TACTICS.

For all the credit that Vipam has received for his great predictions on Bekele destroying the 5k and 10k world records (and he has gotten credit, and it is WELL deserved!), I do think we should point out that in this very first post of his on this thread, he made the following comment:

Vipam wrote:

In 2002 many may not remember however as a teenager Kenenisa outkicked many kickers on the European circuit; therefore, he have a great kick. I don't think Hicham have a chance in the 5000m at all now! Kenenisa will force the pace and break Hicham before 3500m if Hicham even runs the World 5000m.

Vipam

If one is going to give credit for great predictions, one must also point out wrong predictions.

Vipam, Bekele is 0 for 2 against EL G in 5k finals. And the reason for that is because he, as I already pointed out, did not take your (and many others) advice and "force the pace" (well at least not enough. In 2003, he did for awhile, but then decided to wait for the kick. And then he got caught by surprise, and ran extra steps to get back in the mix....but it was too late. In 2004, he barely "forced the pace" at all). These tactics cost him 2 golds.

So you have always been correct about Bekele's unparalled talent, but did not consider possible poor tactical decisions that young runners sometimes make......especially the ultra-talented ones.