Bannister. Duh.
Bannister. Duh.
Leroy Burrell broke the 100m world record in 1991 and 1994 and did compete in the Olympics in 1992 in the 100m and has no individual Olympic medals.
There was no boycott or injury. He finished 5th.
He was 6th in the 1996 US Trials.
Ridgemonter wrote:
SprintTriathlon wrote:
For some strange reason Prefontaine is an American legend. Neither his times or his results running in Europe suggests something special.
He clearly is not the best runner to never win a medal.
Still, he's an American legend because he set an American record in every event from 2k to 10k. He won NCAA XC 3 straight years, and 3m/5k 4 straight years. He's an American legend because he's an American legend. On the world stage, he was not so huge. Nor should he have been. Maybe if he'd lived longer.
If Viren didn't dope, Pre probably wouldn't have surged so often the last 800m, and would not have sprinted as fast on the backstretch .
In a dope-free race, Pre would have won the 5k in Munich Olympics. Bowerman thought if Pre waited longer, then kicked, Pre wins (anyway). The slower first 3200m race strategy was devised because of Dellinger in the '64 Olympics, but Dellinger was not Pre.
Pre sided more with Ron Clarke's attitude, as is recorded, and had the mile speed and guts to win in the Olympics his way. He had no real competition when setting the American record for 10k, only 5 seconds behind Viren's WR. If Pre lives, despite the extra drinking that resulted from his '72 Olympic disappointment, Pre beats Viren in '76 even though Viren doped.
As to Viren claiming he didn't dope (reindeer milk, then said it was 30-mile runs in the snow), I heard about Viren doping a year or so before the '76 Olympics. After Finland Olympians were caught and the system exposed, Viren refused to admit, even though it was not illegal.
As to Pre's performances in European races, Pre was forced by the AAU to run races that clearly undermined his ability to compete against Europeans and this was well known at the time. The AAU officials set up the races, and got to stay in luxurious accommodations and enjoyed fine dining all at the expense of the taxpayers, but those perks for the officials required the athletes competing in events that the hosts wanted, so that crowds would attend. .
Pre was an outspoke opponent of the AAU, and was a catalyst for pro track, but he died before the circuit really gained traction in the USA. As to officials benefiting at the expense of athletes, this was also true when coercing tennis players to compete in Davis Cup matches, so that the tennis officials for those countries could be subsidized in wonderful hotels and dining. The tennis players eventually revolted, and I don't know the current status of that system.
As to Pre, I don't agree with Bowerman's race strategies for Pre.
After '72 Olympics and before his death, I heard that Pre was training to race his old way. However, I don't know that for sure.
Gerry Lindgren, if cutting back a bit on his extreme mileage, maybe doesn't hurt his ankle training. Uninjured, he wins the 10k in the Olympics just out of HS.
Rudolf Harbig used to be one of my favorite track stories because he blew away the world record, but lost his chance for a medal in 1940 because of WWII. However, further research revealed that Harbig was supposedly one of the athletes that the Nazis' had on programs of experimental drugs to improve performance.
Watched Nehemiah win 120y HH at IPI meet for HS seniors. Hard to believe a runner that short could excel over HH, but he was so smooth and just barely cleared each one. One of the most talented athletes ever to compete, and I agree that he wins gold in HH If USA goes to '80 Olympics.
I'm not a big fan of Rono because he was one of the runners who took advantage of NCAA loophole to compete when in his mid-to-late 20s, rather than face runners when he was 18-22. African countries put their athletes in the military for pay purposes, but it is not the military service exception that was intended by NCAA when the provision was put in place. For example, Rono's 5k world record 13:08 was set in April 1978 during a triangular meet at Berkeley with WSU and ASU.
Therefore, nothing posted in this thread changes my opinion that Pre was the best.
ShilohDoesntCare wrote:
Still Like the Celtics better wrote:
Ingrid Kristiansen gets my vote for this category. Held world records in the 5,000 (first to break 15:00), 10,000 (first to break 31:00) and marathon, and no Olympic medal. Oh so close in 1984, though.
I like this answer. No one has mentioned Gerry Lindgren. He was favored to win Olympic gold as a teenager so pretty shocking to not win anything at the Olympics in his career.
Last I checked Ingrid was not a man......
Still Like the Celtics better wrote:
One could easily argue Steve Scott. Had the PR credentials, and ran against and occasionally beat some of the best of his era. Definitely hurt by the boycott, but for as long as he was around, kind of surprising he didn't nab at least a bronze at some point in his career.
Rating Scott over Pre?
Scott could not beat Coe or Ovett in the 1500m, and so doubtful he medals in '80. Maybe 4th?
'84 it is not close.
'88: Ran about 10th fastest 2000m at that time during training shortly before games 3:57. Did it by himself, one of the greatest TT's I've ever seen. However, Scott knew he didn't have the speed to stay with some of the favorites in the final straightaway. Maybe the medalists were doping but didn't get caught, I don't know.
Still Like the Celtics better wrote:
One could easily argue Steve Scott. Had the PR credentials, and ran against and occasionally beat some of the best of his era. Definitely hurt by the boycott, but for as long as he was around, kind of surprising he didn't nab at least a bronze at some point in his career.
Scott was normally the 3rd or 4th best miler out there (Coe, Ovett, Cram, Walker,...) so I am not overly surprised he came up short. At that level there is a bit of luck involved (i.e. a lot of these guys have WC medals) on things working out on the right day.
Jim Ryun: Long career, world record holder in the 880, 1500, and mile (indoors and out).
76chine wrote:
Still Like the Celtics better wrote:
One could easily argue Steve Scott. Had the PR credentials, and ran against and occasionally beat some of the best of his era. Definitely hurt by the boycott, but for as long as he was around, kind of surprising he didn't nab at least a bronze at some point in his career.
Rating Scott over Pre?
Scott could not beat Coe or Ovett in the 1500m, and so doubtful he medals in '80. Maybe 4th?
'84 it is not close.
'88: Ran about 10th fastest 2000m at that time during training shortly before games 3:57. Did it by himself, one of the greatest TT's I've ever seen. However, Scott knew he didn't have the speed to stay with some of the favorites in the final straightaway. Maybe the medalists were doping but didn't get caught, I don't know.
Correction..4:57 for 2k.
Wilson Kipketer
And Grete Waitz in place of Paula
correctamundo wrote:
Wilson Kipketer
And Grete Waitz in place of Paula
Grete won a medal.
Chris Derrick
runnersweb wrote:
Ron Clarke hands down.
Yes, except that he does have an Olympic medal. This has already come up on this thread.
Zamperini - certainly the toughest.
consider this wrote:
correctamundo wrote:
Wilson Kipketer
And Grete Waitz in place of Paula
Grete won a medal.
Oops. Yeah, I was thinking gold.
I'm gonna go with Rob DeCastella. Other runners like Komen or Rono may have been better, but their windows of dominance were fairly narrow, and their careers fairly short. Komen had four or five years of dominance. Rono arguably one (1978). They set records but this didn't translate into much success at the championship level. Komen a single World gold, Rono a few commonwealths. Granted, Rono was prevented from competing in the Olympics, but it's questionable whether he would've been able to defeat someone like Yifter in 80.
I like DeCastella because he did just about everything EXCEPT win an Olympic gold. 1 World gold, two Commonwealths, and wins at Fukuoka, Rotterdam and Boston. He beat the best marathoners of his day - Lopes and Salazar to name a few - and set a world record at the distance. He was consistently good for more than a decade, and had four Olympic appearances, including three top ten finishes, which is an accomplishment I'd put on part with a single gold. Winning gold in a marathon is as much about the luck of all the factors aligning properly, and all it really proves is you were the best on that day. DeCastella had the bad luck of never quite finding that sweet spot on Olympic race day, but neither did he sandbag it, and his three top tens is a remarkable achievement that highlights his consistency in that most unpredictable and punishing of distances.
Jim Ryun has an Olympic Silver medal in the 1500m from the 1968 games, but thanks for posting.
Chris Derrick!
None of those guys were as fast as Cheptegei. The question was not regarding the best in their era. Cheptegei is faster than all of them. This isn't an opinion. It is fact.
Thorvaldson is the New FastTuohy wrote:
None of those guys were as fast as Cheptegei. The question was not regarding the best in their era. Cheptegei is faster than all of them. This isn't an opinion. It is fact.
Sure, this might be a technically correct answer, but only temporarily because he's likely to win an olympic medal at some point. Kind of need to exclude current athletes in their prime from this one.
Thorvaldson is the New FastTuohy wrote:
None of those guys were as fast as Cheptegei. The question was not regarding the best in their era. Cheptegei is faster than all of them. This isn't an opinion. It is fact.
But being fastest does not necessarily mean being best.