El G was almost perfect. He had the ideal combination of endurance, raw speed and mental strength.

And the ideal inseam and weight.

Also ideal amount of EPO.

I do think he could've given the 3000 and 5000 WRs a scare with more exposure to those events.

He only started running 5,000m seriously late in his career. I think if he focused more on it and ran more miles he could have gone in the 12:42-12:45 range. As for his raw speed, he closed a 3:32 1500m race in 1:46 high in his prime, he surely was in 1:44 high shape for a flat-out 800m. His 1:47 PR is definitely not underscoring his true ability as it was done before his prime.

Getting paced by doped to the gills guys in workouts didn't hurt.

Also Bekele was more dominant if we're talking all of distance running. El G is obviously the most dominant 1500 runner of all time though.

Maybe he could have scared them, but, the fact he lost the Olympic title to Ngeny in 2000, made him continue to focus on 1500 instead of going for 3000-5000m fully if he won that race. As for Bekele, he never had the same percentages as El G, let alone 4 unbeaten years with at least 8-10 races in each of them.

2000m was his best event. 4:44 will never be touched.

As ridiculous as 7:20 is for 3000m, I think El G could have beaten it had he tried more than a single time. If you watch his 7:23, it's clear the pacing was off and it wasn't really one of his better days.

His OG wins in Athens are still some of my favorite races to watch.

MiddleStar wrote:

3:26/3:43/8:23/12:50. 4 times World Champ 2 times Olympic Champ(could have been more, messed up in Atlanta and Sydney). 5 losses in 8 years(races from 1500m-2 miles), 96% win rate, 107 out of 112 races. He only lost once to Lagat, once to Ngeny, once to Andersen(super slow 4:04 mile) and 2 times he fell(Rome DL, Atlanta OG). Most dominant in history?

...and unlimited supplies of Moroccan pharmaceuticals with possible IAAF protection.

Coe was a 9.98

El G was a 9.99

Plus he ran for a country that had one of the most prolific doping programs in the history of the sport. Some many doping positives and so many great performances in the full-throttle era of EPO.

Confirmed EPO users such as Ramzi (Olympic gold/double-gold WC/3:29.14), Laâlou (3:29.53), Boulami (WR Steeple), Mourhit (12:49 5000), etc.

They were second to none in doping. Lol.

https://lawm.sportschau.de/doha2019/nachrichten/Morocco-A-paradise-for-sports-cheats,lawmdoha1138.html

Not normal!

Lost twice to lagat

MiddleStar wrote:

Maybe he could have scared them, but, the fact he lost the Olympic title to Ngeny in 2000, made him continue to focus on 1500 instead of going for 3000-5000m fully if he won that race. As for Bekele, he never had the same percentages as El G, let alone 4 unbeaten years with at least 8-10 races in each of them.

Well that's not fair. Nobody runs 8-10 5000s and 10000s. Kenenisa Bekele was unbeaten at 10,000m for eight freakin years though. Also in XC for many years (until the year he dropped out).

Jack M wrote:

2000m was his best event. 4:44 will never be touched.

As ridiculous as 7:20 is for 3000m, I think El G could have beaten it had he tried more than a single time. If you watch his 7:23, it's clear the pacing was off and it wasn't really one of his better days.

His OG wins in Athens are still some of my favorite races to watch.

I agree, i believe his absolute physiological limit would have been 1:44 high for 800, 2:12 high for 1000, 3:25/3:42 1500 and mile, 4:43 2000, 7:20 maybe 7:19 high 3000, 7:57 for 2 miles, 12:38-12:40 for 5000m

MiddleStar wrote:

Jack M wrote:

2000m was his best event. 4:44 will never be touched.

As ridiculous as 7:20 is for 3000m, I think El G could have beaten it had he tried more than a single time. If you watch his 7:23, it's clear the pacing was off and it wasn't really one of his better days.

His OG wins in Athens are still some of my favorite races to watch.

I agree, i believe his absolute physiological limit would have been 1:44 high for 800, 2:12 high for 1000, 3:25/3:42 1500 and mile, 4:43 2000, 7:20 maybe 7:19 high 3000, 7:57 for 2 miles, 12:38-12:40 for 5000m

My HS coach thought if he trained for it he could run three 3:59.9 miles en route to a 5000 time. I'm not confident in that.

That's true, Bekele's dominance was second to none in long distance running, but his win rate wasn't close to El G's. Bekele's 10000m streak was unreal, but in an 1500m race many more things can go wrong compared to a 10000, the same as you can't race 10+ 10000m races a year. Considering all their range and career span, Bekele is superior, but El G's pure dominance was the greatest modern athletics has ever witnessed.

Once for real. In Rome he fell, already mentioned that, the same as it happened in Atlanta OG final + his 3 fair defeats to Lagat, Ngeny, Andersen. Only these in 9 years

birdbeard wrote:

Also ideal amount of EPO.

Just like everyone else in the race.

What were Bekele's PRs at the age of 18?