BEST KICKERS OF ALL TIME

Add Lagat to this list

JIM SPIVEY

>When a 10000m man runs a (27:45 or faster) decent world class time and run his last 3000m in 7:45<

Forget 27:45; Kenenisa Bekele's 26:49.57 had a last 3km of 7:44.43.

Mr Evil:

I agree -- Coghlan was devastating -- even (especially) when he moved up to 5,000 meters. His pull away burst was unmatched by any of the milers of his day. It was freakish. If he was close, it was over.

yup wrote:One guy that hasnt appeared at all is Dieter Baumann. Anyone that saw that race in Barcelona (close to the best Olympic 5000m in terms of time, and also the way the race unfolded) and has seen Dieter run when he was at his prime, will tell you that guy had some serious gas when he needed it.

11.3 for the last 100m - truly amazing.

by the way, is Morceli still training in the US for the Olympic Games?

There have indeed been many great kickers, Cacho, Haile, etc. but.....There has only been one runner with the nickname "Shifter" indeed. Yifter was the man. He ran 50sec last lap at the olympics!!! Yifter is my hero he was the man. Front running is great to see but there is something to be said for a tactical race with a big burn up at the end. It can be anyones game and bring up some suprise results. Just see what happened at world indoors. The best races are those that are fast all the way and have great sprints, like Tergat and Haile in Sydney.

BOB KENNEDY

JUST KIDDING.

Micheal East thought he could out kick me.

I dont think that he is a great kicker.. but he was respectable. Deter Baumann wasted him and Paul Bitok ...

Thanks for the account on bayeissa. never seen or heard it before. its before my fanatic days. in sydney bayissa... (in his late 30's maybe even 40) tried to follow Wolde, sief, lahlaffi and there was a kenyan. his sprint from 300 to 200 (down the back straight) looked like he was being chased by the KGB...he was loosing control and i think he liked..ha ha

I mean he was hauling ass... then he calmed down.. and never caught lahlafi...

but he wasted all the young guys behind him. he was not to far of lahlafi..

Yifter Fan wrote:

There have indeed been many great kickers, Cacho, Haile, etc. but.....There has only been one runner with the nickname "Shifter" indeed. Yifter was the man. He ran 50sec last lap at the olympics!!! Yifter is my hero he was the man. Front running is great to see but there is something to be said for a tactical race with a big burn up at the end. It can be anyones game and bring up some suprise results. Just see what happened at world indoors. The best races are those that are fast all the way and have great sprints, like Tergat and Haile in Sydney.

Yifer didn't run 50. He ran just under 54 at the Oly's, and had been outkicked by other runners like Viren. He was a great kicker, looking very good against kickless runners like Virgin, then not so good against others.

Morceli was awesome. Ryun was awesome, considering he ran in crummy conditions. How many guys can finish in 36.4 in a 3:38 1500 today? On dirt? Not many if any.

adam vinatieri the guy is perfect. making the biggest play in the biggest game on the biggest stage is what it is all about.

only guy who match that is lasse viren. the guy brought it at the olympics. best kicks aren't neccesarily about #'s. but bringing more about bringing it, in the big races ! zatopek closed like an animal !

My boy Morton Andersen.

how can you say el g has no kick, he hold the wr in the mile

This past weekend I watched (or re-watched for xxx times) Yifter 10K/5k and few of Haile Gebresellasie's powerful races, Man! this dude can kick at any distance. Just take a re-look again on his amazing performaces over the past 9 yrs and the way he won all of them - is simply a pwoerhouse display of kicking talent. Except his 2000 Sidney Olympics challenge with Paul Tergat, Haile proved time and again that he could outkick anyone of his time - I realize, in the rise of another star Bekele K, his kick seemed to be weakened lately. So in my mind I have no doubt that Haile is the best of our time. Kenenisa and the rest are yet to be seen.

Jack Lovelock

Miruts Yifter ofcourse!

Hot dog,

add Haile and Limo richard.

Best kicker = George Blanda