Are there any distance runners that are well-known among the average person?

Define "well known by the average person"

In the UK they celebrated the anniversary of Roger Bannisters sub 4 minute mile on a 50p coin. I thought as an athletics fan everyone was aware of this feat and who he was. But when I asked non running fans about the 50p coin they had no idea who Roger Bannister was or the significance of the four minute mile.

People do know Mo Farah as he is a household name. A friend sent me a video on Galen Rupp a few days ago asking me “Have you heard of this guy before?” So distance runners are not famous. I believe years ago they used to be but now they run in obscurity unless they dominate for years.

In the UK, everyone knows Mo Farah, probably excluding very young and very old people as well as those in the bottom 5% of intelligence (you know, the sort of people who think Africa is in France). But I bet if you picked 10 people at random, 9 would know him.

Paula Radcliffe is very well-known too. Easily more than half know her.

Roger Bannister & Seb Coe are well known amongst older folks, but people under 30 would likely struggle to name them.

Probably fewer than 1% would have heard of Kipchoge or Bekele.

My parents only knew Mo Farah, Kenenisa Bekele, Matt Centrowitz, and Hicham El Guerrouj before I got seriously into distance running.

Everyone in Norway knows about Ingebrigtsen. But that may be due to the reality show.

david45 wrote:

you must enter a username wrote:

Everyone in the UK knows Mo Farah.

Most people into sports/athletics know Kipchoge since 1:59.

Everyone in the UK knows Paula Radcliffe.

Why is Mo Farah so well-known? Nobody has ever heard of Rupp in the US outside those deeply interested in running.

Because you are literally REQUIRED to know who Mo Farah is in order to be British. I am an American living in the UK and I just took my “Life in the UK” test in order to get my UK citizenship. Although I didn’t get this question on my test itself, one of the questions in the study guide (and in many questions in the practice tests) was about who is Mo Farah. He’s one of the most decorated OG and WC athletes in distance running history (from any country), and so Queen Elizabeth knighted him...

Could you imagine if the test for US Citizenship required people to know who Galen Rupp is???

It may be that people know less and less outside their personal bubble. There was a time when we all knew most of what was going on because we relied on the same sources of information. We listened to the same radio stations, watched the same tv programmes and read the same newspapers, but in the age of the internet that is no longer so. You follow your personal algorithms.

Sage Canaday is well-known among the average person for his constant battle against pollution and animal cruelty

MidFootStriker wrote:

People are seriously underestimated how famous Mo Farah is

Everybody in England knows who Mo Farrow is

In America most people who follow Sports know who Mo Farah is is

Also Katelyn to is probably one of the most famous American distance runners. If you go buy YouTube views or Google searches I'm sure Tuohy is probably the most famous American distance Runner currently running. That is in America other American Runners are probably more famous in other parts of the world. But honestly Tuohy might even be the most famous runner in America

And pretty much nobody in the US knows who Mo Farah is. Seriously if you went into a sports bar and started asking people who Mo Farah was, I doubt more than 5 or 10% would have a clue. Sure a couple will have watched the olympics and remember the name but as a track fan you are way overestimating the popularity of distance running.

Same thing with just about any american runner. Nobody has a clue who Tuohy is. Or Centro. Or Emma. Think about how limited your knowledge is of other sports. How many olympic wrestlers can you come up with off the top of your head? Who are the boxing contenders? Who is on the rowing team?

I predict Alexi Pappas will be well known worldwide within the next few years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexi_Pappas

Like it or not, I think the average person knows more about famous ultrarunners like David Goggins than conventional runners. Ultrarunning is godlike in the eyes of the average joe who can barely run down the block without wheezing.

I think that Prefontaine is the only name that is well known among distance runners. If someone doesn't known that one, they aren't going to know any others. I would guess that 4-5 out of 10 people would know of Pre.

Next is probably actually Alexi Pappas. I knew that name somehow. I didn't know that she was a distance runner or anything about her, but somehow I recognized the name. 2 out of 10 people may have heard of her.

The names Mo Farrah, Katelyn Touhy, and Roger Bannister are honorable mentions, but at least 9 out of 10 people wouldn't know who they were.

People know about what they are interested in. If they don't follow the sport they won't know anyone - unless that name has found reason to enter their bubble. Usain Bolt maybe. How many runners know key figures in any other sport - or any activity they are not involved in, like the sciences, arts and culture?

Piano_Man87 wrote:

Like it or not, I think the average person knows more about famous ultrarunners like David Goggins than conventional runners. Ultrarunning is godlike in the eyes of the average joe who can barely run down the block without wheezing.

99% of people have never even heard of ultrarunning. Heck I follow running and never heard of David Goggins. It is hard when your inside a bubble to realize how few people outside care about your interest.

Probably about 10 to 15 million people in the US know who Mo Farah is

Probably about 500,000 to 2 million people know who various Runners are like Katelyn Tuohy centrowitz Sydney McLaughlin

Just for example Katelyn Tuohy has probably about 5 million views on YouTube in the last 2 years

she has a 100,000 Instagram followers

She was also on the cover of Sports Illustrated and New York Times article and a lot of other press

I agree she's nowhere near a household name. But there's probably half a million people in the US who know who she is and probably another half million to have heard the name. Granted that's only a third of a percent of the u.s.

Many Americans are completely oblivious about things. In March 2019 a name recognition poll amongst likely Democratic caucusgoers, 67% new who Kamala Harris was 64% knew who Beta O;Rourke, 58% were familiar with Amy Klobuchar. These are engaged voters and only a little over half even recognized the names of relatively major political candidate getting national coverage.

So yeah, you can make the argument that maybe a few percent of Americans know a particular distance runner, but that's about it. If an American can win a medal in the marathon in LA olympics in 8 years they would probably clear the 15% barrier for at least a little while, definitely if it was a gold.

Actually I wonder if Jim Ryun actually has the highest name recognition? And maybe Pre second? Though maybe outside of the bounds of the question.

Bekele is a household name in every nation. Same goes for big Haile. Everyone knows the name of the two greatest runners of all time. Coaching-wise I would say Salazar, with JS as a honourable mention.

Ezrun wrote:

Probably about 10 to 15 million people in the US know who Mo Farah is

Probably about 500,000 to 2 million people know who various Runners are like Katelyn Tuohy centrowitz Sydney McLaughlin

Just for example Katelyn Tuohy has probably about 5 million views on YouTube in the last 2 years

she has a 100,000 Instagram followers

She was also on the cover of Sports Illustrated and New York Times article and a lot of other press

I agree she's nowhere near a household name. But there's probably half a million people in the US who know who she is and probably another half million to have heard the name. Granted that's only a third of a percent of the u.s.

Most niches have people who are famous inside those niches. I am sure there is some Dressage star with 100k youtube followers. But outside the niche nobody knows or cares about them. That is the place where runners are right now. Track has pretty much zero visibility to the average person.

Wowzers wrote:

Actually I wonder if Jim Ryun actually has the highest name recognition? And maybe Pre second? Though maybe outside of the bounds of the question.

I would guess Frank Shorter or Bill Rodgers. Pre has those couple movies and a track meet but neither of those gave out a ton fo visibility. Ryun has that congressional career but he was always sort of a generic guy. 25 years ago I definitely would have bet on Frank and Bill but both have dropped off substantially with age....