The 12 Greatest African Athletes in Order

Hey damn there are more icons you left out! how about the 1988 olympic champ. Paul Ereng?????????,just to name one

Khalid Khannouchi should be no. 13, only because he owns so many of the world' fastetst 26.2's, in addition to being one time WR.

Oh, he's an American citizen now? Whatever....

Get Kip Keino off that list. Being first doesn't mean being great.

Tergat is too highly ranked in most of your lists.

I am missing Said Aouita and Kipkiter in my list:-) That makes it 12

Was Kip Keino better than Mohamed Gammoudi of Tunisia? Let's compare:

In the 1964 Olympics, Gammoudi earned a silver medal in the 10,000 ahead of Ron Clarke. Keino finished fifth in the 5,000 and failed to qualify for the final of the 1,500.

In the 1968 Olympics, Gammoudi outkicked Keino to win the 5,000 even though Keino had the advantage of having been born at altitude. Gammoudi won a silver medal in the 10,000 behind another Kenyan, Naftali Temu. Keino, of course, won the gold medal in the 1,500, but Jim Ryun was still suffering from mononucleosis and had to overcome Keino's altitude advantage.

In 1972, Gammoudi won the silver behind Viren in the 5,000, but he tripped and didn't finish in the 10,000. I doubt that he would have beaten Viren in the 10,000, but he was a real threat to Puttemans and Yifter. Keino won the steeplechase gold medal in 1972 and the silver in the 1,500.

Gammoudi was world cross country champion in 1968.

It's a close call as to whose career was more stellar. Keino had two golds and one silver. Gammoudi had one gold and three silvers. Any list that includes Keino at the top and omits Gammoudi seems flawed to me. It's true that later runners had superior times, but how many of them won three or four Olympic medals?

Also, recall that African runners didn't have the benefit of modern coaching until after these guys had hit the scene. To my knowledge, they were both more or less self-coached and didn't have the benefit of a track in their hometowns.

Actually, I should have said that Keino won two golds and two silvers, which is better than Gammoudi's one gold and three silvers. But since Gammoudi beat Keino in their only big-race match up, one in which Keino had the advantage of altitude in the Mexico City 5,000, it's still a fairly close call as to who was the better runner.

Only one person has mentioned Filbert Bayi.He was denied Gold because of African boycotts.I do not know where he should be placed in these lists,but more consideration of his Talent, achievements and his courage always runnig from the front should be given.

Missing a lot of guys ( Denasamo, Nygugi, Bayi,Morcelli, Abbe Bikilia and the list goes on.

Seems to me your mostly only including current today athletes. If your going to make a list make it a honest one. I m betting your younger then age 25 as there were a lot of runners you missed back in the 60s,70s,80s not included.

I agree Densamo should be on this list as well. Holding a world record for 10 years deserves a mention.

Ngugi was an honourable mention plus Yobes Ondieki, Densano Ngeny.

Were is Henry Rono on the list. The guy was awesome. One summer he ran 4 world records. This list has some good names, but surely lacks a few.

Tergat had two Olympic silvers, one WC bronze, two WC silvers, a WR, a 12:49 5K, a 7:28 3K, multiple world half marathon records and titles (including a sick 58:51 on a course 49m short that amounts to 4:29 mile pace for 13.1 miles) and the WR in the marathon, 4:45 pace for 26.2 miles.

If you don't have him on your top list, you are under the influence of some particularly strong mind altering substances or you are dead.

How about Mirtus Yifter as he has to have been one of the best kickers ever. Could run sub 54 for the last lap of the 10,000m way back when. These youngsters today forget the days of the past. Another name missing is Ben Jipcho. We forgot some good top talent here.

....and number 479 on our list:

Hobbled and half-footed Kunta Kinte

"yer name is Toby, what is yer name?"

What a stupid idiot you are. Have some respect for some of the greats. Your 10k PR I bet is like 45 minutes. Asshole.

All these guys like Yifter, Keino, Bayi, Rono, and Densimo are great. Make no mistake about that. It is important that you read that first so you don't misinterpret what follows.

As good as those guys are, being a pioneer in the sport does not compare to being simply fast and dominant. Take the case of Bannister. As awesome as he was, being the first to go sub-4:00, do you think he is better than Sebastian Coe, another British miler who ran 3:47.33?

Because that is how some of you are ranking this. You are taking a Keino, Rono, or Yifter and for posterity's sake ranking their 3:33 1500, 27:40 10K, or 13:10 5,000 (which ARE great times) ahead of a Komen or Tergat, protesting that "the youngsters don't realize how good those guys were."

They WERE good, but Yifter was more than ONE MINUTE behind the best of today. Bekele, Geb, and others are better. Coe is better than Bannister. Komen is better than Rono, even though Rono ran in an era where times were slower. Running is an objective sport. The competition changes but the stopwatch is the objective criterion, and a world record holder always takes precedent over an older athlete endeared to former fans.

Was Mohamed Gammoudi the ONLY African athlete to win a medal in three Olympics?

Miruts Yifter would have also done it if Ethiopia hadn't boycotted the Olympics in 1976.

Good points. However I must say that you really can't make an honest comparison. Different times, running surfaces, scientific knowledge of today and the list goes on. Who know's what a guy for example like Henry Rono could run today. You mentioned Densamo who ran 2:06 back in 1986 and today almost 20 years later they have not gone much faster. To make this list in a fair way we must take into consideration the era.

Regardless we have some great names on this list and who is better then who. Matter of opinion.

It's true that track performances are objective and that Coe's time was faster than Bannister's. In that sense, Coe is better than Bannister. But in another sense, Coe stood on Bannister's shoulders. Bannister discovered the advantage of hard/easy training days. When he took days off to go climbing or to pursue his studies, he expected to have lose fitness. He was surprised that he actually ran faster after a break in intense training. Coe came along at a time when schoolboys were better trained than Bannister. Every generation of runners has an advantage over previous generations, since there's more knowledge of training techniques, better running surfaces, better equipment, faster records to aspire to, etc. And do you think any world class runner today succeeds without the benefit of performance-enhancing drugs?