Official: Eliud Kipchoge Appreciation and GOAT Thread

you can re-watch the race here... Bekele looked awesome... no hitch in his stride wejo/rojo,

http://stream.nbcsports.com/nbc/?pid=21493

at least not early in the race, full of run. his extension of his legs is phenomenal.

Some great insight from Kevin Sully on Elius's development:

"Putting time aside, does Kipchoge have the longevity to keep winning that escaped Patrick Makau, Geoffrey Mutai, Dennis Kimetto and Wilson Kipsang? All were great, but their string of major victories didn’t last more than two years. Interestingly, Kipchoge might end up being the best of an era that was supposed to be characterized by runners who skipped the track and jumped to the marathon when they were still young. In that sense, Kipchoge is a throwback. He starred on the track from 2003-2011. His decision to the run marathons looked like the tradition pattern of an aging star running out the string of their career on the roads. Paul Tergat and Haile Gebrselassie were very effective post-track, though runners in that mold were supplanted by the 20-year-olds running 2:05s out of the gate. I think there was a common sentiment that to be great in the post-Gebrselassie marathon world you needed to run marathons as soon as possible. Doing anything else would mean wasting your best years competing in 10,000m races. Kipchoge is showing the other side of that argument. He is a better marathoner than he was in the 5000m or 10,000m on the track. His consistency and experience look to have given him the staying power missing in the others."

http://dailyrelay.com/kipchoge-bucks-marathon-trend-sumgongs-fall-dibabas-scratch-monday-morning-run/

wejo wrote:

Eliud Kipchoge is the best marathoner in the world right now and the best marathoner the world has ever seen in my opinion.

There is no debating the 1st point, debate the second one if you want.

Kipchoge's greatness deserves its own thread.

He's now run 7 marathons and won 6 of them, none slower than 2:05:30.

The one marathon he lost was his second one and Wilson Kipsang set the world record in it to beat him.

Spring 2013 Hamburg 2:05:30 1st

Fall 2013 Berlin 2:04:00 2nd

Spring 2014 Rotterdam 2:05:00 1st

Fall 2014 Chicago 2:04:11 1st (CR)

Spring 2015 London 2:04:42 1st

Fall 2015 Berlin 2:04:00 1st

Spring 2016 London 2:03:05 1st (CR)

He's the greatest of all time, ever. I have arbitrarily decided what the rules are for this. Greatness isn't measured by numbers, but by intangible stuff I can't justify.

NativeDad wrote:

NativeSon wrote:

So, that makes Stephen Kiprotich the greatest of all time. Right?

I am only going by your logic.

Apologies to all for stating the obvious but it's not obvious to NativeSon.

"He's gotta win the gold in Rio to be GOAT"

messinat was replying to Wejo, so win gold in Rio in addition to:

"Spring 2013 Hamburg 2:05:30 1st

Fall 2013 Berlin 2:04:00 2nd

Spring 2014 Rotterdam 2:05:00 1st

Fall 2014 Chicago 2:04:11 1st (CR)

Spring 2015 London 2:04:42 1st

Fall 2015 Berlin 2:04:00 1st

Spring 2016 London 2:03:05 1st (CR)"

"to be GOAT".

Thank you dad.

You've always been there for me.

messinat wrote:

He's gotta win the gold in Rio to be GOAT, in my opinion.

The greatest of all-time.

But the winning of the Olympic marathon is much less impressive this time, unlike Beijing's and London's, which were run in the heat. The Rio marathon is just like another major marathon, nothing special, so I think it doesn't add to his GOAT status. To be the GOAT, he needs to break 2:02 or an Olympic gold run under hot weather.

That's just asinine. There is no argument anymore; he is clearly the GOAT.

............. wrote:

But the winning of the Olympic marathon is much less impressive this time, unlike Beijing's and London's, which were run in the heat. The Rio marathon is just like another major marathon, nothing special, so I think it doesn't add to his GOAT status. To be the GOAT, he needs to break 2:02 or an Olympic gold run under hot weather.

wut

nothing special, just another world class field.