Worst runner with an Olympic gold medal?

lol lol lol lol wrote:

He ran a great, great race

True. He was always there, positioning himself according to each and every move, very tactically aware and with a great finish.

agip wrote:

cnzs wrote:

agip is really pretty amazing. No matter how many times he gets proven to be ignorant, he keeps at it waiting for the chance that someone as obtuse as him finally agrees with something he said.

just spell my name right

Your list of barely known Olympic Champions includes someone who ran 2:07 back when the WR was 2:06, won the Half Marathon WC and was second at London TWICE (plus two times European Champion, two times third at the WC, third at the NY and Paris Marathons and victories at the Rome and Madrid Marathons.

Rothlin and Fiz are both accomplished runners, google them and you will learn something about european marathoning

Mo Farah.

This is not even a debate.

Worst runner with a silver is equally as obvious.

trirunner96 wrote:

Mahkloufi

That'd mine too. He never does anything and then pulls a gold out with a pretty good field in the Olympics. Are they done testing for 2012?

ITT: People disrespecting random white/non-african runners.

Kenteris had multiple global titles and huge head-to-head victories.

Same with Wells and he beat the Americans after the Olympics anyway.

Cierpinski wasn't doing anything the others weren't already doing.

Billy Mills. Cmon now, this is just getting old.

probably shaq, he's got to be the worst runner of any able-bodied person to win an olympic gold

rupp-certified saladbar wrote:

Mo Farah.

This is not even a debate.

Worst runner with a silver is equally as obvious.

That silver guy is like the undisputed worst runner to ever medal.

Steve Prefontaine won Gold. He should have lost that race.

i live under a bridge wrote:

Waldemar Cierpinski - drugged to the gills in 76 and 80

Absolutely, this man lives a life of lies every moment he continues to breath.

The evidence was uncovered and he doesn't have the class to return his medals.

Unfortunately the IOC and IAAF etc., don't have the balls to clean up the past.

Does anyone believe Juantorena and Bubka were clean?

Please. --And they hold IAAF positions.

ok. But put a list of winners of the 5000 and 10000 next to a list of winners of the marathon and the difference in quality is clear. although part of that is the nature of the marathon - fewer races, more luck involved.

I'll agree that the OG marathon used to be more important - back in amateur days. But since 1988 or so, all the money at big city marathons has drained the OG marathon of quality and meaning.

I'll also agree with you that Abera, Noguchi and Takahashi are first tier - but many on the list of recent marathon gold medalists are decidedly not top of the first tier. But you won't find anything but the absolute top tier of runner winning the 5000 or 10000.

agip wrote:

But since 1988 or so, all the money at big city marathons has drained the OG marathon of quality and meaning.

Although there are more opportunities for world-class marathoners than there were in earlier times, I don't see much, if any, evidence that the money at big city marathons has drained the Olympic marathon of quality. The biggest limitation on the quality of the Olympic marathon is that each country is limited to three runners. It's now much tougher to make the Kenyan or Ethiopian Olympic marathon team than it is to get a top-three finish in a so-called "World Marathon Major," and some of the best marathoners in the world (e.g., G. Mutai, Kebede (in 2012), Makau) simply haven't been able to make their country's Olympic team, despite their strong desire to do so.

I'm not sure how old you are, or how long you've been following the sport, but the 1988 Olympic marathon was hardly "drained" of "quality and meaning" by any big-city races. Here are the top finishers in the 1988 Olympic marathon, in order: Bordin, Wakiihuri, Salah, Nakayama, Monaghetti, Spedding, Ikangaa, de Castella, Seko. Other finishers included Nijboer, Pizzolato, and Poli. Drop-outs included Hussein and Treacy. Very few marathons have ever come close to that quality and depth of competition. (The 1984 Olympic marathon was probably comparable.) And there was nothing random about the outcome -- the top three finishers in that race had also been the top three finishers in the previous year's world championship marathon. These were the very best marathoners in the world, beating the rest of the best.

I will give credit to the London marathon, which has put together some astonishing fields during the past dozen years or so. But I don't think that it has "drained" the Olympic marathon of quality. In 2012, for example, most of the top runners at London were trying to distinguish themselves to get selected to their country's Olympic team. For them, London was a stepping-stone to the Olympics.

As I said earlier, the winners of the track races in the Olympics are generally more predictable (and usually more familiar), at least to those of us who don't have any special inside information. But I wouldn't say that predictability and familiarity reflect higher quality.

Avocado's Number wrote:

[quote]agip wrote:

But I wouldn't say that predictability and familiarity reflect higher quality.

hmmm...well there's the hinge,right? great runners become familiar...by winning big races and proving themselves over time to be great champions. So I would the opposite of your assertion - familiarity does in fact reflect higher quality. Kleos. Gloria.

a few OG marathon winners...never won a major marathon, before or after their gold medal. You'll never be able to say that for an OG 5k or 10k.

and also, you are arguing my point when you say the OG fields are diluted by the 3 athletes per country rule. obviously london and nyc don't have that problem.

A Duck wrote:

i live under a bridge wrote:

Waldemar Cierpinski - drugged to the gills in 76 and 80

Absolutely, this man lives a life of lies every moment he continues to breath.

The evidence was uncovered and he doesn't have the class to return his medals.

Unfortunately the IOC and IAAF etc., don't have the balls to clean up the past.

Does anyone believe Juantorena and Bubka were clean?

Please. --And they hold IAAF positions.

I don't understand or support the notion of putting forth Waldemar Cierpinski as the "worst runner with an Olympic gold medal". Yes, he was a doper, as I believe Alberto Juantorena and Sergey Bubka were. And as were/are, certainly, Flo-Jo, Haile Gebrselassie, Michael Johnson, Usain Bolt, Kenenisa Bekele, Kevin Young, Tatyana Kazankina, Marita Koch, Noureddine Morceli, etc.

But 2:09:55, in 1976, in a race that was--IIRC correctly--relatively tactical--was a great performance and a fast time by the standards of the day. Clearly, however he got there, Cierpinski was certainly didn't fall short of the standard of the day.

Gensing wrote:

Rono sucked. It still makes me sick he won. However, it's the field's fault for showing him too much respect. Putrid racing.

Yes, Rono is one of the most unaccomplished runners to win a OG gold. I still don't see how it happen? We're talking about the 1500! But luck does count.

agip wrote:

a few OG marathon winners...never won a major marathon, before or after their gold medal. You'll never be able to say that for an OG 5k or 10k.

Really? Which "major" 5Ks did Venuste Niyongabo, Million Wolde, and Dieter Baumann win? (European championships don't count by your standards remember)

gopre5k wrote:

Noah Ngeny.

This is absurd. For the mile Ngeny is still number 2 all time behind only el Guerrouj.

David Brent wrote:

Valerie Adams

/thread

possibly not

“I'm now back in full training again and we are gradually progressing up to the heavier weights. I've also done a lot of cardio on the bike and the treadmill, which can cause a few odd glances from fellow gym goers who perhaps wouldn't view me as a runner. I do a lot of interval training for 30 minutes on the treadmill.

First of all, I only meant the euro champs MARATHON didn't count as a first tier race. the track races are first tier.

Niyangabo's PRs - these are absolutely first rate:

1500 Metres 3:29.18 Bruxelles 22 AUG 1997

One Mile 3:46.70 Berlin 26 AUG 1997

2000 Metres 4:48.69 Nice 12 JUL 1995

3000 Metres 7:34.03 Köln 16 AUG 1996

5000 Metres 13:03.29 Saint-Denis 03 JUN 1996

he does seem to lack some actual race wins tho. But 3:29 and 3:46 put him top first tier even without the wins.

you have a point on Million.

Baumann won a silver in one OG and a gold in another, and won the euro champs 5000. You make no point with him.