Excluding doped to the gills gold medalists, though microdosing isn't exactly doing it clean. If Jim Ryun had won gold, he'd be on a level with Shorter and Joanie, a beloved and iconic hero. (He's still a legend, don't get me wrong.)
Same for Mary Slaney. And yet Centro doesn't rate with any of these names, seemingly. It's like his gold was a lark and few put any stock in it. Maybe it's just not as important to sports fans or the general public like it was in the '60s, '70s, or '80s. I suppose coming in the wake of Michael Phelps didn't help.
Centro: least deserving Olympic gold medalist of all time??
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A Gold Medal is a Gold Medal.
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Not really though
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yeah...yeah...yeah.... no.
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.......... wrote:
Not really though
Tell that to Steve Scott, Jim Ryun and Alan Webb. -
Jim Ryun is absolutely on any other American distance runners level. Just because he didn't win one race that was at elevation against a guy who lived at elevation or that he was tripped in the 1972 Olympics does nothing to change that.
As far as Centro's gold. If we set aside doping concerns, which is a big set aside I must acknowledge. Olympic Gold is Olympic Gold regardless of the tactics of the race. It is not like he is a one-hit wonder, he has 2 other WC medals. You can say his Gold was a fluke but at the end of the day with 3 global championship medals to his name, his place in American distance running history is set. -
Primo Numero Uno wrote:
Jim Ryun is absolutely on any other American distance runners level. Just because he didn't win one race that was at elevation against a guy who lived at elevation or that he was tripped in the 1972 Olympics does nothing to change that.
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Those sound like lousy excuses from Ryun's fanboy. -
Some of the gold medalists in 1980 and 1984 did not face the strongest competitions due to boycotts. (Or even 1976 and 1988 to an extent.)
I don't know which one is the least deserving, but the guy who won 400mH in Moscow would have had zero chance against Moses. -
Keino ran a great tactical race, Centro perhaps even better.
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In that final this man beat :
- Kiprop (Olympic gold, 3x WC gold)
- Makhloufi (Olympic gold, 2x Olympic silver, WC silver)
- Willis (2x Olympic medalist)
- Souleiman (1:42.9 800 / 3:29.6 1500)
- Iguider (3:28.8 1500)
He's a legend forever and always. -
Gabe Jennings's Teeth wrote:
Excluding doped to the gills gold medalists, though microdosing isn't exactly doing it clean. If Jim Ryun had won gold, he'd be on a level with Shorter and Joanie, a beloved and iconic hero. (He's still a legend, don't get me wrong.)
Same for Mary Slaney. And yet Centro doesn't rate with any of these names, seemingly. It's like his gold was a lark and few put any stock in it. Maybe it's just not as important to sports fans or the general public like it was in the '60s, '70s, or '80s. I suppose coming in the wake of Michael Phelps didn't help.
This is ridiculous. Centrowitz out-witted the entire field, and had the tools to back it up. He performed a master class in tactics that I will marvel at for years to come. What he did was legendary. He has the times to back up his performance, and how many US titles does he need to "rate"? He is an indoor world champion, a multiple time medalist, and has won a diamond league 1500. Remind me again which global titles Ryun has?
Maybe not everybody picked Centrowitz to win gold in 2016, but if you didn't think he was a medal threat you would have been crazy. You know, just because you experience more nostalgia to your favorite runners from the 70s and 80s doesn't mean the new wave of talent isn't worthy of winning. -
Primo Numero Uno wrote:
Jim Ryun is absolutely on any other American distance runners level. Just because he didn't win one race that was at elevation against a guy who lived at elevation or that he was tripped in the 1972 Olympics does nothing to change that.
As far as Centro's gold. If we set aside doping concerns, which is a big set aside I must acknowledge. Olympic Gold is Olympic Gold regardless of the tactics of the race. It is not like he is a one-hit wonder, he has 2 other WC medals. You can say his Gold was a fluke but at the end of the day with 3 global championship medals to his name, his place in American distance running history is set.
No, no it does
I know we love our stats in this sport but you can't award gold medals to athletes who didn't win them (bar doping scandals).
Every elite knows this, and even the general public appreciates the merit in the medal itself.
Elite sport is about hard work, being prepared at exactly the right time, executing tactics and delivering under pressure. That's what it takes to win the gold. That is severely underestimated in athletics whilst celebrated in team sports regularly.
Time trials are not what counts in athletics. That stuff is for the nerdy fans who cream over the tenths and post on Letsrun (like me).
Centro put together a masterful race. Although the final time was slow, he dictated the race when he needed to and knew he was prepared with a final lap in his locker that would beat anyone in the world.
He deserves that medal and all the credit with it. -
Centro was a top 3 runner in the word in championship finals essentially for 5 years.
You can revere Webb, Ryun, Scott et al, but fact of the matter is, he has a faster 1500m PR and likely would have owned all of them in finals. -
This thread is almost 4 years late
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lllllllll wrote:
In that final this man beat :
- Kiprop (Olympic gold, 3x WC gold)
- Makhloufi (Olympic gold, 2x Olympic silver, WC silver)
- Willis (2x Olympic medalist)
- Souleiman (1:42.9 800 / 3:29.6 1500)
- Iguider (3:28.8 1500)
He's a legend forever and always.
This. And only this. -
Gabe Jennings's Teeth wrote:
Maybe it's just not as important to sports fans or the general public like it was in the '60s, '70s, or '80s.
+1 -
Ghost of Igloi wrote:
Keino ran a great tactical race, Centro perhaps even better.
There was nothing tactical about Keino's race. It was a fast, even pace that no sea level based runner could possibly have matched. -
I don't particularly like Centro that much, but you can't take that gold medal away from them. As others have mentioned, I'm sure guys like Webb, Ryun, and Steve Scott would give up a lot to have an Olympic gold. Come up with excuses all you want, but they didn't win them. As others have said, Centro has multiple other medals on the global stage. And he beat some huge names to win that gold, as another poster listed. Give him crap for running a slow time all you want, but those behind him ran a slower time, so he won. That's on them--not him. He won that gold. I'd go as slow as I wanted if it won me a gold. That is the other runners' faults.
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I wonder what the OP thinks about Wottle's watered-down 800 win in Munich.
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Pretty sure he ran the race and won it and that there were no major names out due to boycott or injury.
How did he not deserve it?
