Mo Farah is the reason we're not more excited about Cheptegei's 12:35...

Noelleon wrote:

but medals are forever.

I've never understood this perspective. Why are medals forever? Just because you get to keep the physical medal itself? As soon as the next Olympics happen, you're not the reigning champ anymore.

When you think of the 5k, whose exploits do you remember better: Niyongabo and Wolde or Gebrselassie and Komen? The former both won Olympic titles, while the latter both set world records at around the same time.

Of course, we can think of examples where the medals meant more, but the point remains: there's no magical "permanence" of medals above records. They both fade from memory as a function of time, the significance of the performance, and the extent to which the performance has been surpassed.

We don't remember Niyongabo and Wolde because they weren't the best in the world at the time they won their titles, and because their performances don't stack up to the later wins of El Guerrouj, Bekele, and Farah. On the other hand, the 5k times of Geb and Komen would still be (very) competitive today.

You've got to judge it on a case by case basis. Of course Farah will be remembered, even without world records, because his levels of success and dominance (in his particular way) are unsurpassed by anyone else. But the same could be said about Komen.

The thread is going around in circles, so let's consider Tokyo 2021 and the 10,000. Farah is probably the fourth fastest in that field, but does anyone see JC, Rhonex or Kejelcha really taking it on for the full 25 laps? Without rabbits or wavelight, plus the added pressure of an Olympic title on the line, I can still see a typical Farah type race unfolding. And I don't think JC can live with Farah's pace over two laps. WR or not, if Farah walks away with a good from a third successive Olympics, he's a legend

runderun wrote:

The thread is going around in circles, so let's consider Tokyo 2021 and the 10,000. Farah is probably the fourth fastest in that field, but does anyone see JC, Rhonex or Kejelcha really taking it on for the full 25 laps? Without rabbits or wavelight, plus the added pressure of an Olympic title on the line, I can still see a typical Farah type race unfolding. And I don't think JC can live with Farah's pace over two laps. WR or not, if Farah walks away with a good from a third successive Olympics, he's a legend

The full 25 laps? No, probably not. But I could see Chep taking it on enough to the point that Farah will be spent. Chep will likely also have help in Tokyo from either Mande or Kiplimo sharing the pace. Bottom line is I think by now Chep has a firmly established racing style- He's gonna make sure it's fast, he's gonna push it from further out than Farah or the rest of the opposition wants, and he's gonna make sure it doesn't come down to a 52 second close. I think we'll see something like Moscow '80, where Mo is leading in the closing stages and the young bloods just outstrip him with little resistance down the back stretch.

runderun wrote:

The thread is going around in circles, so let's consider Tokyo 2021 and the 10,000. Farah is probably the fourth fastest in that field, but does anyone see JC, Rhonex or Kejelcha really taking it on for the full 25 laps? Without rabbits or wavelight, plus the added pressure of an Olympic title on the line, I can still see a typical Farah type race unfolding. And I don't think JC can live with Farah's pace over two laps. WR or not, if Farah walks away with a good from a third successive Olympics, he's a legend

If Mo is still in the lead pack after 15 laps, I’m sureJC will push the pace and ditch Mo well before the last 5 laps.

runderun wrote:

The thread is going around in circles, so let's consider Tokyo 2021 and the 10,000. Farah is probably the fourth fastest in that field, but does anyone see JC, Rhonex or Kejelcha really taking it on for the full 25 laps? Without rabbits or wavelight, plus the added pressure of an Olympic title on the line, I can still see a typical Farah type race unfolding. And I don't think JC can live with Farah's pace over two laps. WR or not, if Farah walks away with a good from a third successive Olympics, he's a legend

That would be interesting and emphasise my point. If he is in very good shape (or they think he is), they will once again run in single file worrying about where he is.

I am Sam wrote:

runderun wrote:

The thread is going around in circles, so let's consider Tokyo 2021 and the 10,000. Farah is probably the fourth fastest in that field, but does anyone see JC, Rhonex or Kejelcha really taking it on for the full 25 laps? Without rabbits or wavelight, plus the added pressure of an Olympic title on the line, I can still see a typical Farah type race unfolding. And I don't think JC can live with Farah's pace over two laps. WR or not, if Farah walks away with a good from a third successive Olympics, he's a legend

That would be interesting and emphasise my point. If he is in very good shape (or they think he is), they will once again run in single file worrying about where he is.

When was the last time a 38 year old won an Olympic medal on the track?

Probably Miruts Yifter.

And a 38 year old won world XC in 1985.