HGS for distance an road racing. Too many world records. Carl Lewis for overall with Bolt as a close second.
HGS for distance an road racing. Too many world records. Carl Lewis for overall with Bolt as a close second.
Hola Hola wrote:
HGS for distance an road racing. Too many world records. Carl Lewis for overall with Bolt as a close second.
exactly.
Scorpion_runner wrote:
Haile and it is not close me for. He did it on every level from the track to the road. I can't say the same about Bekele.
Bekele is hands down the greatest XC and track runner of all time. HE went undefeated in XC , and and went undefeated at 10000m for six years. But that is where it ends for him. His lack of road success has really hurt his legacy.
Haile took it to the next level on the road. dominated half marathons and set the WR, and then dominated the marathon breaking the WR twice. All he did was run fast and attack the WR, and that was after attacking WRs and running fast on the track.
Haile excelled on every level.
I wouldn't say he dominated the road, He dodged the Olympic because of Wanjiru, and his Half WR didn't stand long and was broken by Wanjiru as well.
I am very surprised nobody mentioned Mike Rossi. We know he didn't dope. He has been able to be so fast at times running in his car.
And above all: he probably has the longest post on Letsrun a runner ever had. Nobody comes close to it.
Everybody knows him.
He s not the fastest, did (and will) not medal, isn't fit, but he sure is the greatest and at the very least has the greatest post in here (and one of the shortest marathon).
From the shadows wrote:
I am very surprised nobody mentioned Mike Rossi.
He was, back on page 2, but not by name as the mods feel a need to protect him. After all, his Via marathon effort can only be explained as a superhuman effort, no mere mortal could ever even dream of such a feat.
Your post will probably be deleted by the mods who worship Our Hero. His name cannot be named by the vulgar masses.
too juiced to lose wrote:
Bekele. 5k/10k WRs and ORs. Second fastest marathon ever. Loads of golds from Olympics and World Champs. He was probably doped as f*ck but so was everyone else.
Just consider runners from 1986 on back. At least you'll be able to skip the EPO crowd. lol
Steve Pre...
Snells Area record gets beat after 56 years wrote:
said aquita got to be up there . Olympic gold 5000, 4 years later Olympic bronze in 800 ( ran 800 final injured so pulled out of 1500- hot favorite to win 15 ) . second man to break 3.30 and first man to break 13 . 10000 debut 27.22 and looked more than capable breaking world record that day which was low 27 at the time . could run 45 point for 400 . A rediculous range of speed and endurance
Aouita could not run a 45 sec 400m, otherwise he would have been capable of easily breaking the 800 WR in 1988!
He has a reputed 46.9 time trial pb, but the location and date have never been given.
I would suspect at his peak years of 84/85, he would probably have been capable of 47 low in a competitive environment after a few attempts at it.
Said88, what say you, as you are probably the expert on this one?
kmaclam wrote:
rfmaioral wrote:
the question is "Greatest" and not "Best" which implies more than world records and medals. My answer is Emil Zatopek, and am very surprised he was not cited before.
He was.
Nope.
kmaclam wrote:
1955 wrote:
I can't believe no one else has said/seconded this. I know, he was a long time ago & those were different times, but, seriously, look at his record and try to make a case that anyone was better.
We have.
Wrong.
Topic wrote:
Title says it all. Who is your pick for greatest distance runner of all time and why? I think there is a strong argument to be made for Bekele, Komen, and El G (with Geb and Kipchoge as honorable mentions), but ultimately El G is the GOAT due to his untouchable world records and dominance. It's possible that this topic has already been beaten to death, but I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts.
Untouchable world records? Kiprop has run within 1 second of El G’s 3:26:00. Bekele is the clear goat, those 10k and 5k WR’s no one has come close to, I can’t even remember the last time someone ran under 12:50, let alone 12:37. And 26:17? No one close to that either.
Talking about Aouita, why did he let Cram run away from him approaching the bell, in Steve's world 1500m record race?
Did Said suffer a sudden lack of confidence in his ability to go with the pace that Steve set? Or did he think that Crammy would blow up.
It seemed strange at the time, particularly when Said found the strength to almost catch Cram at the finish
Topic wrote:
Who is your pick for greatest distance runner of all time and why?
Five pages and nobody has mentioned Pheidippides. The guy held the WR for almost 2,500 years, and he's not even in the conversation?
Shameful.
It's all about # 2 wrote:
Topic wrote:
Who is your pick for greatest distance runner of all time and why?
Five pages and nobody has mentioned Pheidippides. The guy held the WR for almost 2,500 years, and he's not even in the conversation?
Shameful.
I think Plato mentioned that Pheidippides was on performance enhancing goats milk.
portsea57 wrote:[/b
I think Plato mentioned that Pheidippides was on performance enhancing goats milk.
Oh! Maybe I misread. I thought Plato said Pheidippides was the G.O.A.T.
Haters Gonna Hate wrote:
portsea57 wrote:[/b
I think Plato mentioned that Pheidippides was on performance enhancing goats milk.
Oh! Maybe I misread. I thought Plato said Pheidippides was the G.O.A.T.
Excellent! I should have seen that coming!
Kenenisa Bekele is undoubtedly the GOAT. He set insane WRs for the 5k and 10k and even far past his prime he is still a top-level marathon runner
Kiprop is one of only three men to break 3:27 and got busted for doping anyway, so he's finished. Timothy Cheruiyot is the 3rd fastest man since 2004 with his 3:28.41, behind Kiprop and Kiplagat, both of whom are now irrelevant. Furthermore, five of the seven sub 3:27 performances belong to El G. I don't think it's unfair to suggest his 3:26.00 is basically untouchable. As for the mile, Alan Webb's 3:46.91 is the fastest time since 2001 (almost 4 seconds slower than El G's record). Only two people have come close to El G's 1500, just like two people have come close to Bekele's 5k.
It's all about # 2 wrote:
Topic wrote:
Who is your pick for greatest distance runner of all time and why?
Five pages and nobody has mentioned Pheidippides. The guy held the WR for almost 2,500 years, and he's not even in the conversation?
Shameful.
The course was never ratified though
Topic wrote:
Title says it all. Who is your pick for greatest distance runner of all time and why? I think there is a strong argument to be made for Bekele, Komen, and El G (with Geb and Kipchoge as honorable mentions), but ultimately El G is the GOAT due to his untouchable world records and dominance. It's possible that this topic has already been beaten to death, but I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts.
Geb has probably done the most over the longest career. Bekele was faster and also dominant at cross country. Before him, Tergat was dominant at cross country and he was second only to Geb on the track.
El G was great, but not a great tactical runner and didn't have a great range compared to some others.
Perhaps the greatest of all time should be someone who had success on track, road and cross country, who set records and won championships.
If distance means 800m and up, Wilson Kipketer is another contender.