Why is Mo Farah so disrespected here?

big daddy wrote:

Mo's ultimate winning times don't necessarily prove it was a weak era. There were a number of guys perfectly capable of running in the 12:40s back in early-mid 2010s, as demonstrated by the Paris 2012 5k with *six* going under 12:50 in that single freakish race. Mo was definitely not alone in not wanting to endure that level of suffering, though, and things really do have to line up just the right way for a 5k to end up super hot like that. As others have said, anyone else was free to crank up the pace any time they wanted in Mo's championship races, they just never did.

Mo can close in 51, 52.........

There is just no one else that can do that as consistently as Mo. Rupp closed in 53 to take silver in 2012.

Lots of people can click off 62's............(hello Grant Fisher).

well,, wrote:

xcrunner22765 wrote:

Its because he never chased fast times and turned the diamond league into a 13:05 snooze fest everytime he raced. One of the greatest championship racers in history, but I think people dislike how he tried to slow down every single race he ran.

Nobody stopped the others from turning the races into fast races. I was furious because every time Farah was in a race the Ethiopians and Kenyans ran like a bunch of complete idiots.

Lasse Viren never helped with the pace and his 2 5000m wins were tactical. However, I believe he was in 13:10/27:20 fitness for both Olympics and would have won in any scenario, including leading wire-to-wire.

Again, with his ability to run 3:28 and 2:05, Mo was not going to be dropped by a fast pace. For the previous poster, how did Mo slow down the pace? Did he take the lead and zigzag so no one could pass him?

CarlyRaeJepsensMalort wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

His competitors are not entirely blameless. There were at least a dozen East African contemporaries who were faster and could easily have beaten him in a time trial, but never took the race to him and always, to our frustration, fell for his tactic of slowing down races,

agreed, i remember getting super pissed off watching those races yelling at the rest of the pack to pick it up and run the kick out of mo's legs. but they just sat there like lambs to be slaughtered. fool me once, shame on you, etc. by 2013 or so they had no excuse for letting that happen. so glad that sit-and-kick championship racing seems to have fallen out of favor somewhat in 2019 and 2021.

This is such an embarrassing opinion to have. Have you even looked at his race results as a whole? There is no “running the kick out of mom’s legs”. Especially when it comes to the 10k he’s closed fast races with a ridiculously fast lap. You can’t wear out someone with range from 3:28 (15) - 2:05 marathon.

Again, Mo's championship winning times over 10,000 were comparable to other championship winning times. Farah won WCs and Olympics in 26:49, 27:01, and 27:05, that's entirely in keeping with Geb and Bekele. In fact, Farah's average winning time in championship finals is faster than Geb's.

Championship winning times:

Geb

1993 27:46

1995 27:12

1996 27:07

1997 27:24

1999 27:57

2000 27:18

Bekele

2003 26:49

2005 27:08

2007 27:05

2008 27:01

2009 26:46

Farah

2012 27:30

2013 27:21

2015 27:01

2016 27:05

2017 26:49

In summary: Farah did not produce notably "slower" 10,000m finals than we had seen before. He just didn't chase times between championships like Geb and Bekele.

because he is not an American.....

big daddy wrote:

Mo's ultimate winning times don't necessarily prove it was a weak era. There were a number of guys perfectly capable of running in the 12:40s back in early-mid 2010s, as demonstrated by the Paris 2012 5k with *six* going under 12:50 in that single freakish race. Mo was definitely not alone in not wanting to endure that level of suffering, though, and things really do have to line up just the right way for a 5k to end up super hot like that. As others have said, anyone else was free to crank up the pace any time they wanted in Mo's championship races, they just never did.

Yeah, and the fact that they never did is why that era is being designated as the G League of distance running.

Sledge_Hammer wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

His competitors are not entirely blameless. There were at least a dozen East African contemporaries who were faster and could easily have beaten him in a time trial, but never took the race to him and always, to our frustration, fell for his tactic of slowing down races,

Give me a break. He closed a sub-26:50 race in 54 in 2017 WC. No one could have easily beaten him, not even a prime Bekele. In fact, no one beside a prime Bekele could've beaten Mo in a 10k when he's at the top of his game. Dude is obnoxious, no doubt about it, but he's also one of the greatest track runners. You have to give him that.

no chance he beats haile chep or kamworor if they’re all healthy

CarlyRaeJepsensMalort wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

His competitors are not entirely blameless. There were at least a dozen East African contemporaries who were faster and could easily have beaten him in a time trial, but never took the race to him and always, to our frustration, fell for his tactic of slowing down races,

agreed, i remember getting super pissed off watching those races yelling at the rest of the pack to pick it up and run the kick out of mo's legs. but they just sat there like lambs to be slaughtered. fool me once, shame on you, etc. by 2013 or so they had no excuse for letting that happen. so glad that sit-and-kick championship racing seems to have fallen out of favor somewhat in 2019 and 2021.

Yeah, the sit and kick strategy is a blight on our sport. How anyone could derive enjoyment from watching people hobbyjog the majority of the race is beyond me. I blame the Americans for that one.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

well,, wrote:

Nobody stopped the others from turning the races into fast races. I was furious because every time Farah was in a race the Ethiopians and Kenyans ran like a bunch of complete idiots.

Lasse Viren never helped with the pace and his 2 5000m wins were tactical. However, I believe he was in 13:10/27:20 fitness for both Olympics and would have won in any scenario, including leading wire-to-wire.

Again, with his ability to run 3:28 and 2:05, Mo was not going to be dropped by a fast pace. For the previous poster, how did Mo slow down the pace? Did he take the lead and zigzag so no one could pass him?

In the Montreal 5000, Viren took the lead and kept it with nearly 1100 meters to go. He also led for a short time about midway through the race.

freekiprop wrote:

Sledge_Hammer wrote:

Give me a break. He closed a sub-26:50 race in 54 in 2017 WC. No one could have easily beaten him, not even a prime Bekele. In fact, no one beside a prime Bekele could've beaten Mo in a 10k when he's at the top of his game. Dude is obnoxious, no doubt about it, but he's also one of the greatest track runners. You have to give him that.

no chance he beats haile chep or kamworor if they’re all healthy

I doubt Haile could've closed a 26:49 race in 54, as he's never closed in sub-55, Chep would definitely give Mo a run for his money though, as he almost beat him in 2017 WC.

big daddy wrote:

Mo's ultimate winning times don't necessarily prove it was a weak era. There were a number of guys perfectly capable of running in the 12:40s back in early-mid 2010s, as demonstrated by the Paris 2012 5k with *six* going under 12:50 in that single freakish race. Mo was definitely not alone in not wanting to endure that level of suffering, though, and things really do have to line up just the right way for a 5k to end up super hot like that. As others have said, anyone else was free to crank up the pace any time they wanted in Mo's championship races, they just never did.

There's a reason why that didn't happen. Someone trying to burn off Mo would almost certainly be passed by him during the last lap and would be risking the humiliation of being passed by another half dozen runners as well.

freekiprop wrote:

Sledge_Hammer wrote:

Give me a break. He closed a sub-26:50 race in 54 in 2017 WC. No one could have easily beaten him, not even a prime Bekele. In fact, no one beside a prime Bekele could've beaten Mo in a 10k when he's at the top of his game. Dude is obnoxious, no doubt about it, but he's also one of the greatest track runners. You have to give him that.

no chance he beats haile chep or kamworor if they’re all healthy

Mo Fraud's not beating Kiplimo at ANY distance either.

Curious_Cat wrote:

freekiprop wrote:

no chance he beats haile chep or kamworor if they’re all healthy

I doubt Haile could've closed a 26:49 race in 54, as he's never closed in sub-55, Chep would definitely give Mo a run for his money though, as he almost beat him in 2017 WC.

who cares he ran 26:20

OozmaKappa wrote:

freekiprop wrote:

no chance he beats haile chep or kamworor if they’re all healthy

Mo Fraud's not beating Kiplimo at ANY distance either.

I was going to mention kiplimos 26:33 as well. kiplimo would have him at anything over 10k, 3-10k is a tossup (for now, kiplimo is 21) imo. mo takes the 1500.

For the 3000, unlike what one person in this thread has said, no, farah could not beat komen over 3000m.

OozmaKappa wrote:

freekiprop wrote:

no chance he beats haile chep or kamworor if they’re all healthy

Mo Fraud's not beating Kiplimo at ANY distance either.

yes! and no way he beats mo ahmed or paul chelimo either!

but could he beat Barega?

Could he even beat Oscar Chelimo?