Are there any distance runners that are well-known among the average person?

You must have never browsed 4chan back in the day! What of the myriad of other sites and platforms? This kind of flippant intolerance and ‘slamming the book closed’, so to speak, on what immediately ignites one’s sensibilities, is one of the things which is resulting in the current hellfire of political ostracism, censorship, and a drift away from due process

gm39 wrote:

Idk if anyone has said this but the Ingebrigtsens are easily the most famous people in Norway. It’s a small country but there are a few non runners I know who have heard of Jakob although they probably don’t know his name off the top of their head.

Therese Johaug, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, and Magnus Midtbø all have a lot more followers than Jakob.

Cecilie Skog hasn't done anything in almost a decade, and her Instagram followers is still 55% of Jakobs.

No the general public doesn't know any runners. The reason for this is that the ability to run long distancesIs of no value to this society. It is a useless athletic skill. It's much more important to be good at strength, speed, jumping ability, and the ability to skillfully manipulate objects. These skills are of utmost importance in evolutionary survival, not the ability to run a marathon.Some people say running is the most primal human ability. They are mistaken. Thinking is more important than running in human life. Therefore, the highest value athletic skills are the ones that support our ability to hunt, fight, etc.Picture two evolutionary people living very long time ago in the Stone Age is. One can run a marathon in two hours, and one has the physical skills equivalent to Lebron James or Connor McGregor. Who has sex more? There are evolutionary reasons why running is considered lame by the general public. Because it is.

Nick Symmonds is probably the most well known "runner". However, this is because he is more of a Youtube personality than a runner.

shootpost wrote:

I got a gatorade last weekend from 7-11 after my long run.

Sydney Mclaughlin was on the gatorade.

I have only ever seen two other athletes on gatorade- Tiger Wood and Usain Bolt.

That is big-time name recognition.

This is what’s wrong with sports nowadays. It should be about the best athletes who win, not win a popularity contest. Dalilah Muhammed is the greatest of all-time. Sydney is a prima donna.

In Australia deek and moneghetti were kinda well known last century by the average person and anyone over 30 probably still knows of them. Now no one really knows any of the current Aussie runners, more likely to only know Farah and Kipchoge if anyone.

No. The ONLY distance runner that the average person has heard of is Bannister and that's probably slim.

Most people into sports do not know kipchoge. There's no damn way. Hell I actually like track, more of the sprinting, and I'd never once heard of him until awhile back on here.

The sprinters are known. 400m and down if they're a special sprinter. That's it.

The women obviously have an easier time than the men because of their looks, if they have any.

Brazier might have a chance if he goes out wins USA a gold and breaks the world record and if he's marketed right but even then he'd probably need multiple Olympic appearances to really stick in the mind of the average sport fan.

Personally i don't know a single person who would know kipchoge or probably any USA sprinter that's current either. Jessie Owens, Edwin moses, Carl Lewis. Probably more so with the women tho.

The only current sprinter anyone knows is Bolt and he's retired. Maybe Felix.

Roger Bannister is the only distance running, at least in the us, that a random person may know. The movie helps.

Uncle Pervy wrote:

Cold hard truth wrote:

Kipchoge is a household name. I would say most people would know the name Shalane Flanagan.

I would venture to guess a lot of non-runners might know Sir Mo Farah and Galen Rupp, especially around olympic time . And people actually like Mary Cain (and would know the name), you know back when she was good... which is funny because Katelyn Tuohy is better but doesn't have NYTimes articles written about her.

I don't think the average person knows who any of these people are.

Exactly right lol. They don't. The fact I even know some of those names amazes me. I could literally spend years asking people if they've heard of any of those six people before I ever got a yes lol. That is in the US of course. No idea about elsewhere.

One day I was training here in my city and as I passed through 2 guys on the other side of the street, I could hear one of them saying something in the lines of:

Why does that guy runs so much? (it's a small town, so basically everyone sees me running everyday) Nobody knows who Marilson dos Santos is. (Marilson dos Santos was one of our greatest runners, Brazilian record holder for 5000 and 10000m)

So basically he was saying, why does that guy trains so much, for something that nobody appreciates?

Well, then explain this:

.

You clearly never heard of persistence hunting.

VroomVroom wrote:

The only current sprinter anyone knows is Bolt and he's retired. Maybe Felix.

I have a relative named after Felix. Her parents are not runners or sprinters, but they are SoCal people.

No way, unless they were born before 1945 would practically anyone know of him that's not into running history, which is basically just us. I'd wager that the vast majority of people born before 45 (no pun intended) wouldn't know who he is either (either due to lack of interest, dementia, etc.)

Cold hard truth wrote:

.... And people actually like Mary Cain (and would know the name), you know back when she was good... which is funny because Katelyn Tuohy is better but doesn't have NYTimes articles written about her.

Really?? A World Championships finalist at 17 versus someone who's still way off the times needed to even qualify for the World Championships.

truth be told. wrote:

shootpost wrote:

I got a gatorade last weekend from 7-11 after my long run.

Sydney Mclaughlin was on the gatorade.

I have only ever seen two other athletes on gatorade- Tiger Wood and Usain Bolt.

That is big-time name recognition.

This is what’s wrong with sports nowadays. It should be about the best athletes who win, not win a popularity contest. Dalilah Muhammed is the greatest of all-time. Sydney is a prima donna.

It is not a problem.

Sydney and her people are really good at marketing. She has a great image and personality and is able to monetize it. Good for her.

I have no idea who Dalilah Muhammed is.

It is a problem. Sports is about winning, not winning a popularity contest. All this social media marketing and influencer crap is taking away from what sports is and who the truly great athletes are.

You have to be kidding if you don’t know who Dalilah is- Olympic & World Champion and World Record holder. Sydney is nothing more than a prima donna.

Rosie Ruiz is one of the most famous and it is because she fraudulently posed as a distance runner.

An impostor more famous than just about anyone who is genuine. Think about it.

Guys it doesn't make sense to try to imagine some average person and what they would know

It's simply what percentage of the population would recognize someone's name and know a thing or two about them

Almost anybody that's a fan of sports in the United States would have heard of kipchoge and the two-hour Marathon

They might not be able to remember the name that well cuz it's uncommon name in the u.s. but still most sports people have heard of it

Again almost anyone in United States above a certain age and into sports has heard of Steve Prefontaine

Because of the Olympics, his tragic death, and the two movies made about him and the Nike relationship

Everyone or 90% of people in Britain know who Mo Farah is

Back in the 80s and 90s at least 65 percent of people in the US knew of Carl Lewis maybe more

If the United States had a distance Runner who did What mo Farah did, everyone would know about him

It's just the US has not had really epic Runners since Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis

Fame and name recognition is based on a combination of factors. Success, marketing, personality,

Anyway running is still a big sport in a lot of parts of the world, just like soccer is much bigger outside the US

Just so happens that sports like running and soccer aren't that big in the United States. But if someone becomes a sensational Runner they could still become well-known oh, just do what Carl Lewis

bump