Come on, Seko in '83 Fukuoka was not impressive. Have you seen Tergat/Ramaala from NYC or any Martin Lel finish... what about Wanjiru? The list goes on of greater finishes.
By the way, guys, Geb used to close in 52's with the last 200m in 24-25 sec.
Come on, Seko in '83 Fukuoka was not impressive. Have you seen Tergat/Ramaala from NYC or any Martin Lel finish... what about Wanjiru? The list goes on of greater finishes.
By the way, guys, Geb used to close in 52's with the last 200m in 24-25 sec.
WTF,clearly Al Sal is either out of his mind or was drinking during that interview. This year's Olympic 5 and 10 were the weakest in the past few years. In fact the 5 and the 10 the last couple of years in general have been weak. I think the better talent has been going straight up to the marathon at a much younger age. Which also explains the times being weaker in the 5 and 10 and much better in the marathon. But to take it a step further and proclaim Mo's double to be the greatest achievement in distance running ever is comical to say the least. He might as well say he is also the greatest distance coach of all time and that Arthur Lydiard was a smuck.
I feel like we digress from the topic at hand.
First of all, I feel like it is disrespectful for Salazar to ignore the achievements of other 5k/10k doublers in history. Bekele is the first one to come to mind.
There seems to be consensus that Bekeles 2008 10k and Farah's 2012 10k win are roughly equally impressive.
But when you look at their respective 5k wins, there's no comparison. Bekele showed true mastery of the 5k distance. He not only won, but utterly decimated the field. Kipchoge, one of the greatest 5k racers of all time, and the fourth fastest of all time, trailed a distance second place, a full 5 seconds behind Bekele. Edwin Soi, who placed third, nearly 10 seconds after Bekele. Bekele stretched out the field so much that about 30 seconds separated the top 10 finishers. Essentially, Bekele showed physical domination.
Farah on the other hand, showed mental and tactical domination. He made the right moves at the right time, he was patient, and struck at exactly the right time.
But Farah's performances will happen again surely. We've seen a sit and kick style race a thousand times before, and we'll see it countless times more in the future. But Bekele's 5k performance will only be matched or surpassed by a very, very special athlete. Heck, the last person to run a race like he did was Daniel Komen in the 1997 5k final, where he ran the last 3k in like 7:35. And we all know how good Komen was.
So basically, no, Farah did not "surpass all 5k/10k doubles by far". It was good, don't get me wrong, but it was not the best. And this is just one example.
On a side note, if rojo or Salazar are trolling us right now I give them a 9/10.
hey y'all, a previous letsrunner put together some info about 5ks and 10ks from 2004 onwards, it's
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4658372
and I think we can review and say that indeed, Bekele's 2008 5k is the greatest 5k ever run. Here's what letsrun had to say about it at the time: "Bekele had a 53.87... That's right! A 53.87 last lap which produced a 2:25.30 last 1k. Yes, the last kilometer was 2:25.30. The last 1,600m? 3:57.01. That's a sub-3:59 last mile, folks. The last 2k of 4:56.97 and last 3k of 7:35.53 are each world class performances themselves. Absolutely unbelievable; the crowning not just of a great - the crowning of the greatest ever in perhaps his greatest-ever race."
I also agree with Ventolin here: "the double was a superb achievement & probably best to leave it at that." And this polite, evenly measured comment was extremely welcome, good sir.
El G's 1500/5000 double...Farah beat old Lagat and old Bekele in the 5000 and 10,000, El G beat 3:27 Lagat and 12:37 Bekele.
Best 5k-10k doubles victories in history
1. Kenenisa Bekele 2009 WC Berlin 26:43 (with 13:05 last 5k) and
13:17.09 (over Lagat leading wire to wire with last 1000m in 2:24.87)
2. Mo Farrah 27:30 (53 last lap, 1:55 last 800),
13:41 (52.9 last lap 2:25 last 1000/ 4:59 last 2000 ).
However it should be noted that perhaps Bekele's finest double resulted in a loss in the 5k
2003
1st place over Geb 26:49 (Last 5k was run in 12:57!!! including a 54.8 last lap)
3rd place behind El G and Kipchoge 12:53 (led practically the whole race and dropped a 2:24.3 last 1000 and 53.6 last lap but it wasn't enough against El G and Kipchoge)
certainly a 2012 Farah would have been no match for 2003 Bekele. Bekele is just simply stronger than Farah.
the rocket. wrote:
2003
1st place over Geb 26:49 (Last 5k was run in 12:57!!! including a 54.8 last lap)
3rd place behind El G and Kipchoge 12:53 (led practically the whole race and dropped a 2:24.3 last 1000 and 53.6 last lap but it wasn't enough against El G and Kipchoge)
holy shit did this literally happen
the rocket. wrote:
Best 5k-10k doubles victories in history
1. Kenenisa Bekele 2009 WC Berlin 26:43 (with 13:05 last 5k) and
13:17.09 (over Lagat leading wire to wire with last 1000m in 2:24.87)
2. Mo Farrah 27:30 (53 last lap, 1:55 last 800),
13:41 (52.9 last lap 2:25 last 1000/ 4:59 last 2000 ).
However it should be noted that perhaps Bekele's finest double resulted in a loss in the 5k
2003
1st place over Geb 26:49 (Last 5k was run in 12:57!!! including a 54.8 last lap)
3rd place behind El G and Kipchoge 12:53 (led practically the whole race and dropped a 2:24.3 last 1000 and 53.6 last lap but it wasn't enough against El G and Kipchoge)
certainly a 2012 Farah would have been no match for 2003 Bekele. Bekele is just simply stronger than Farah.
Wow! Bekele was out of this world in 2003!
El G's 1500/5000 Olympic double was far better than Mo Farah's 5/10 double. Opinions are like Albertos everyone has one!
Tosh's 9 major thon 1st places from 78-87 is simply the most dominant performance for a distance runner. Every runner swore, cursed and ... lost to Tosh. It was humiliating.
You should include bekele's 2008 5k/10k performances. He set both olympic records for christ sakes!!!
Some are posting as if there was an African contingent kept out track and field in Zatopek's time.
That was the state of developement at the time.
Long distance running had been popular world wide and even on a professional level at times since the early part of the century.
He was simply a freak of nature and discipline.
Will we discount Bekele's performances if, in the future, distance running becomes popular and dominating in China, Mongolia, and Indonesia?
This much I do know: If Salazar wasn't Farahs coach, I can guarantee you he would never have called this the greatest performance ever. FACT.
61.36
60.84
60.94
53.87 ! SICK 3:57 flat for 1600.. this was the first sub 4 minute mile in a 5,000 meter race
All hail the king Kenenisa Bekele.. maybe al sal can pull it over some fat british turds that know nothing about athletics.. but this was the most impressive 5 and 10k double..
3000-4000 2:31.67
4000-5000 2:25.30
mo ran
65.20
62.54
60.65
54.72
not as fast obviously.. but even under pressure he did not impress as much as kenenisa.
This is the most laughable comment i have heard in a long while.
eb55 wrote:
61.36
60.84
60.94
53.87 ! SICK 3:57 flat for 1600.. this was the first sub 4 minute mile in a 5,000 meter race
All hail the king Kenenisa Bekele.. maybe al sal can pull it over some fat british turds that know nothing about athletics.. but this was the most impressive 5 and 10k double..
3000-4000 2:31.67
4000-5000 2:25.30
mo ran
65.20
62.54
60.65
54.72
not as fast obviously.. but even under pressure he did not impress as much as kenenisa.
This is the most laughable comment i have heard in a long while.
Actually Mo ran 4:58 for the last 2km with a 52.9 last lap. With that being said bekele's 5000m performance was still better. He ran his last 3000m in 7:35 and his last 4000m in 10:13!!! Mo's last 3k was in 7:44 and his last 4k was in 10:45 or somewhere around there. Pretty good but not out of this world.
A Duck wrote:
Baron Von Von wrote:Alberto has always done and said things which manifested a tremendous amount of vanity. When Alberto opens his mouth, expect comments which will make him look good, and as he praises his god, as he praises Mo Farah, it is nothing but an exercise in narcissism.
Alberto touts Farah's London double as being the greatest in history because he feels it reflects well upon himself. The truth is that Farah's London double was symptomatic of a drop in quality in distance track racing. ElG or Lagat in their primes would have beaten Farah in the 5000m, and Kenenisa in his prime would have toyed with Farah in the 10,000m.
God this is so stupid a statement. As someone who, again, has broken bread and spent a lot of time with Salazar, this is not how he is at all.
When he was younger, he was confident to the point of sounding brash. Part of that was immaturity/naivete, and part was being competitive, part was being really knowledgeable about his training.
Older Salazar is a truly religious man (almost creep for my taste) and it has made him a humble and kind person.
Don't mistake that for him not being an incredible focused and competitive guy.
Salazar looks at track history...the way a fantasy baseball geek would have. He knows what he is talking about.
There were tons of great talents in that race who all had 4 years to get ready.
Salazar's team out prepared the rest of the world, and the key to that was...keeping his guys healthy...while developing them as more well rounded athletes.
You likely are Salazar unless this sycophantic nature of yours is due to a man crush which is almost unparalleled in history.
Let me repeat and add on from earlier...
In 2003 Bekele ran his second 5k of a 10k (which was run under 27) in under 12:57. That was not only the fastest 5k ever run during a 10k, it would have also been the World Championship 5k record if it was run in the 5000m instead of the 10000m!
Not only that but he closed in 54.
Came back a few days later and dropped a 12:53 leading wire to wire with a 2:24 last 1000m
fwiw, here are prelim lines of fit i get for peak geb, mo & kennster
geb
51.0 / 1'47.2 ->
3'29.9
7'19.2
12'36.0
26'16.9
kennster
51.3 / 1'47.6 ->
3'30.3
7'19.3
12'35.2
26'12.8
mo
51.1 / 1'47.7 ->
3'31.3
7'23.2
12'44.1
26'36.8
the main point is that geb possibly had fractionally better 400 speed than mo & both had a possibly more significant speed advantage over kennster
the only relevance is that in piss-poor slow 5 or 10ks, this woud be order i'd expect if they were together at the bell ( but drafting on last lap woud probably overturn this )
At first I thought it was classless and cowardly that Al Sal would brag about his athlete like that but then I was told that no big endorsements have come to Farah or Rupp (and 10% for Al Sal) so I understand now. That's what happens when you live in an out of the way place that nobody cares about like Oregon. Few notables ever come out of the State of Oregon as we know. Al Sal is from Boston, Farah from UK, 2/3rds of OSU & UO T&F/XC football are California preps. Al Sal and Farah simply have to move to a major urban media center if he wants to cash in like everyone else has done.