Who was the greatest runner never to set a world record?

The greatest marathoner with 9 major marathon wins never set a WR or did he ever win an Olympic or IAAF Outdoor gold.

Lots of great nominees. Brendan Foster comes to mind, but Mutola was very dominant for a very long time, and the WR in her event could well be the most obviously tainted WR going with the possible exceptions of the Chinese WRs in women's distances.

Here is one that I'm suprised didnt get a mention. Felix Sanchez

2 WC golds, one Silver

1 OG Gold

Golden League Winner 2002

3 year unbeaten streak stretching 43 races including 2 WC finals

'Lots of great nominees. Brendan Foster comes to mind'

World record 3,000m:

7:35.2 Brendan Foster (GBR) 1974-08-03[1] Gateshead, England

Fermin cacho. Phoenomenal career. Very consistent. Very underrated aswell!!! Never spoken in the same breath as Morceli, Lagat, etc despite coming close to matching/matching their achievements. Also ran 3.28!

Olympics

Gold 1992 Barcelona 1500 m

Silver 1996 Atlanta 1500 m

World Championships

Silver 1993 Stuttgart 1500 m

Silver 1997 Athens 1500 m

World Indoor Championships

Silver 1991 Seville 1500 m

European Championships

Gold 1994 Helsinki 1500 m

Bronze 1998 Budapest 1500 m

European Indoor Championships

Silver 1990 Glasgow 1500 m

Her......

http://mb.trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=27970&start=0

http://www.pr9.net/home/family/9250march.html

Marty Liquori.

Ranked number one in the world three times over a long career (1969, 1971, and 1977), despite missing out on two Olympics due to injuries.

Bill

Jason Rahm

[quote]Seventies wrote:

Marty Liquori.

Sounds like he was a bit unlucky good over both 1500 and 5,000

Just read (the usual - wiki) about him playing the guitar in some jazz club. Anyone been there, I bet that would be some night

Cova, Boulmerka, Dorovskikh

u r missing some1 wrote:

the answer is Roland

I concur...Steve Roland Prefontaine

STEVE SCOTT

just missed it a few times

Alain Mimoun was a good answer, but I would give it to another North Afican, Mohamed Gammoudi:

3-time Olympian/4 Olympic medals (including gold): silver 10,000m (1964); gold 5,000m (over favorite Kip Keino at high altitude Mexico City), bronze 10,000m (1968); silver 5,000m (1972) (over Pre);

International Cross-Country Championships: bronze (1965), gold (1968)

Ever hear of Jordan Hasay...

Juha The Cruel - there but for injury.

Toshihiko Seko (unless you count non-standard distances like 25k, 30k).

Honorable mentions:

Bill Rodgers (again, unless you count 25k).

Steve Scott

Joaquiem Cruz

Hili Gebrselassie Clearly

The Cruel definitely had sisu, but he falls more into the category of "one hit wonder"

stomefin in the way he moves wrote:

Juha The Cruel - there but for injury.

Galen Rupp