Where Does Bob Kennedy's Career Rank?

Sp (Dave Wottle)

add Johnny Gray to that list of superlatives..

[quote]sittin-on-a-ritz wrote:

Honorable Mention:

Salazar

Rodgers

Liquori

Scott

Salazar? A scant record in championship events. Nothing in World Cuo, World Champs or Olympics. A single 2nd place effort at World XC. 2 National Championships.

Californian wrote:

The Coach who Cares wrote:

Why should anyone have to document anything to you. You can't get a pretty well known fact, easily researched either online or in a book, correct.

Now you're going to demand proof?

You're a bigger dope than I thought.

Actually, you are wrong. Coe missed almost the entire '87 season with an injury and only did a few short races in May. He didn't do a 1500m race that year. The guy who closed the last 800m in 1:46 in '87 was Abdi Bile in the World Championships final, and that was a 3:36 race. Coe never closed a 1500m race that fast, though he was very impressive in Moscow and LA - 1:48 last 800m in a 3:38 race in Moscow, and a 1:50 last 800m in a 3:32 race in LA

I'm not wrong about anything. "Wrongo" wasn't aware that Coe won two Olympic titles over 1500m and ridiculed other posters for it. That's what he's a dope about. I have no idea whether Coe finished in 1:46 or not. "Wrongo" shouldn't be demanding documentation of anything if he can't get the simple stuff right.

Wrongo wrote:

The Coach who Cares wrote:

Why should anyone have to document anything to you. You can't get a pretty well known fact, easily researched either online or in a book, correct.

Now you're going to demand proof?

You're a bigger dope than I thought.

Hilarious.

You can't document it because it never happened.

I also knew very well who won which event; it was an instance of posting without thinking, something that most on here do not 5% of the time but ALL the time.

It seems they can include you in their numbers.

No nitwit. It's well thought out. You didn't 'post' without thinking, you ridiculed people with your 'knowledge' and had ample opportunity to correct it.

As to the finishing in 1:46, as I've said, I have no idea but you shouldn't be looking for documentation for it.

Hey Wrongo, how did Hissou run 27:24 with the splits you provided?

Wrongo wrote:

He's great, not sure of his rank though

Definetely a top American

Interesting how often he lost to other Americans in national meets on the track.

http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/Kennedy_Bob.asp

I would actually rate Cacho FAR above Coe (although they were both completely awsome) AS A 1500m runner.

These are my reasons:

1. He ran faster.

2. In the 92 OLYMPIC FINAL he DESTROYED a field WITH EASE in which there were runners who were faster than Coe over 1500m.

3. He won a European Championship in 94 plus a bronze in 98. The best Coe managed was a silver at 1500m in 86.

4. He went on to win an Olympic silver and a World Champ Silver after 92 plus a 4th place in 99. These were fields in which Coe would have struggled to make the final such was the increase level of competition during the 1990's. Coe never won a world championship meadal.

In summary in 1500m, Cacho has more global championship medals in a more competitive era including a huge win in a NON BOYCOTTED OLYMPICS plus he has run faster. I cannot see how anyone can reasonably argue that Coe was better than Cacho over 1500m.

If you want to say that Coe was a better combined 800m and 1500m runner then yes he was.

You really need to get off your "An olympic meadal is the sole way to grade someone's career in running" because its not fair to the athlete and its stupid. You can not grade someone's "entire" career solely on olympic medals.

manfred ewald wrote:

Interesting how often he lost to other Americans in national meets on the track.

http://www.usatf.org/athletes/bios/Kennedy_Bob.asp

Yep. He ran a lot of races. Can't win them all, and he won plenty. Interesting too how freaking awesome of a runner he was and how many people want to look at his career and say it was shit. He just set his 10,000 PR in 2004! Dude was very good right up until the end.

do you even pay attention to track? he set a 10000m PR because he rarely raced it.

Not only is Kennedy one of the greatest because he ran world class times at his peak, but he did it off of low mileage by today's standards. He wasn't a 20 mile per day guy.

And here we are 10 years later, with no American (who wasn't an African transplant) having approached his 3k and 5k PRs. Webb may get there, but Kennedy was way ahead of his peers.

He generally wasn't in peak form in the "national" class meets. He saved it for real racing in Europe, while others shot their wad just to get to the national champs.

Actually in '95 or '96 he said he started training Kim's group of Kenyans and started doing the mileage they were doing to try and take it to the next level.

Hey Jack

I didn't make the rules... That's the way it is and that's the way it will always will be... Cream always rises to the top..

History will show a 100 years from now who were our greatest runner...

And so far these are our greatest runners

Like it or lump it

Tell you what, why don't you ask Bob who are our grestest runners and hands-down his list will match mine.

Now why don't you suck on that for awhile

I completely disagree. Cacho was not FAR better than Coe. He wasn't even "better" than Coe in my books. Cacho ran in a different era, so saying he ran faster means nothing. Coe had the titles and the records. Cacho was a great, great runner, but Coe was better.

How is Dave Wottle a "giant"? In addition this thread is about that of runners over 1 mile.

I'm trying to think of what Craig Virgin and Steve Prefontaine would have had to do to get on this list. Any list which does not, at least, consider the two of them as the best of the best American distance runners of all time is a worthless list.

Add Coe's record in the mile, several world records, into the mix and you will see that Coe was far superior to Cacho.