Daily Debate: If Mo Farah wins Tokyo 10,000 gold, will he be the GOAT of track distance runners?

I think it would be amazing if Mo actually won this year and definitely brings him in considering of GOAT on the track. However, I still say Bekele and here's why:

over his period of dominance, he still doubled twice in 08 & 09, won only the 10,000m in 05/07 where he didn't try to double then missed the double in 03 & 04. still very impressive especially the way he won some of those races but arguably could give the edge to Mo for championship performances.

I think the big difference to me is on top of that, Bekele basically ran every golden league race during those years and won. At one point after a loss to Lagat in 2006, Bekele went on to win close to 30 races in a row (don't have the exact number but that's what i recall reading) over the next few years. Mo did a couple tune-up races here or there but barely raced during the season. Perhaps this saved his legs at older ages and conversely was a detriment to Bekele staying healthy but to me that factor can't be ignored when comparing

Yes he would be the goat.

World records don’t mean much.

When you’re talking about the greatest of ALL TIME, you need to have an athlete that sustains extremely high dominant performance for multiple seasons/championships.

Cheptegei holds many world records, but doesn’t have the length of experience for him to be considered the goat

Daniel Komen is the complete opposite.

Farah started his dominance in 2011, continued all the way to 2017, still had great results in 2018 too.

He’s already the goat. Another goal would cement that status.

A world record is not equal to Olympic Gold. Athletics is not a time trial.

Fernando Mamede

Dick Quax

Numerous other runners who would swap their record for Olympic Gold.

That does not mean Farah would be the GOAT because others have won multiple golds and world records.

Wejo is probably correct BUT there are scenarios where I would say no to the notion. For instance, if the pandemic were to prevent several medal favorites from participating then it is difficult to say winning Tokyo gold is enough. However if they show up and Mo defeats them at age 38 he would then arguably be the greatest track distance runner of all time. Not necessarily distance runner but track distance runner. However, it will not happen.

This is fun to think about - but there is <1% that Farah wins in Tokyo.

I will take any odds against The Mobot coming out in Tokyo

I highly doubt he wins. Even if he's in the same shape as before which would be hard to do when he won gold with a great kick, the other top guys now can beat him. He beat an out of shape bekele, Rupp who sat back the whole time and a random Kenyan as his top competition. Now he has to deal with doped up record breakers who can kick like hell too. Mo will probably get rattled and drop out or fold and jog it in for 5th or worse. Last time when he won he knew he was the best and had the confidence to sit back and screw around. That won't be the case this time.

Would he be? : Yes

Will he be? : No

End

Low quality bait thread, but no, Mo excluded himself from GOAT talk by never chasing for times.

Low quality bait thread, but Mo excluded himself from GOAT talk by never chasing times.

Just another person with an asterisk * after each “record.”

on my side it's a movie wrote:

He beat an out of shape bekele, Rupp who sat back the whole time and a random Kenyan as his top competition.

Geoffrey Kamworor - 2X World XC champ, 3X World 1/2 champ, 2X NYC marathon champ, 58:01 former half-WR

Yomif Kejelcha - 3:47.01 indoor mile WR-holder, 7:28/12:46 PBs with 59:05 1/2 marathon strength

Caleb Ndiku - 3:29.5 1500 PB, ranked world #1 at 5k in 2014 +

Young Joshua Cheptegei

Older Bernard Lagat

Several other sub-12:50 guys: Hagos Gebrhiwet, Dejen Gebremeskel, Yenew Alamirew, Isiah Koech, Thomas Longosiwa, John Kipkoech

Several other sub-59 guys: Bedan Karoki, Abraham Cheroben, Jemal Yimer, Abadi Hadis (R.I.P.)

Additionally, his 8:03.4 2-mile is equal value to 7:28/12:49, never mind that it was run indoors, and he’s the fastest sub-27 10k man over 1500 by a big margin.

I don’t think he’s the G.O.A.T., but this long running narrative that he was a scrub who got lucky beating nobodies is woefully ignorant. He is a talented world class runner who was able to dope more effectively than his contemporaries, to the point that he could have given the legends of the ‘96-‘04 EPO era a run for their money.

Historyer wrote:

Wejo is probably correct BUT there are scenarios where I would say no to the notion. For instance, if the pandemic were to prevent several medal favorites from participating then it is difficult to say winning Tokyo gold is enough. However if they show up and Mo defeats them at age 38 he would then arguably be the greatest track distance runner of all time. Not necessarily distance runner but track distance runner. However, it will not happen.

This is the best answer yet—that whether he’d be anointed ? would depend on the circumstances. If Cheptegei, Kiplimo, Kipruto, Kandie and/or the top Ethiopians are MIA for whatever reason and he barely wins over, say, Mo Ahmed and an inexperienced Kandie in 27:15 then no, he’s probably not the G.O.A.T. If he outkicks all the top new talent to win in a 26:28 PR, then it’s hard not to give him the title of “track distance goat.” Like most, I believe this is merely an intellectual exercise and won’t happen—I’d be shocked if he medals.

I had him #9 on this list 3 months ago:

(Where I’d argue he’s #4 behind Bekele, Gebrselassie and Zátopek when filtered to “track distance runners.”)

There's no hiding from the fact that if Farah were to win in Tokyo, against the currently expected line-up of athletes, that he would be a very convincing argument for the GOAT of distance running on the track. Albeit this outcome is highly unlikely in my mind.

People are very quick to blame Farah for slower winning times than the likes of Bekele and Gebrselassie but equally quick to forget that there was a talented field lined up against him throughout the last decade that failed to prevent his route to victory.

Farah is clearly not the out and out fastest distance runner of all time, but he clearly has an abundance of talent, career longevity and tactical savviness that arguably create an athlete who is greater than the sum of his parts. Would I consider Nadal to be a better tennis player than Djokovic overall? Not in my mind, but much akin to Farah and WC's or Olympics, Nadal seems to still turn up every year to walk away with the French Open, and has more grand slam titles to show as a result.

If Farah were to win Tokyo, he is a GOAT in the sense that no one can match his career medals. Clearly we at LRC like the idea of 'fast times is king', and naturally that's a sensible measure for GOAT status. The whole topic clearly boils down to personal preference over whether titles or time is your GOAT decider.

However, as Ricky Bobby might say 'if you ain't first, you're last'.

Of course not! Silly question. Geb won more hardware and set more records, same for Bekele.

yep-Geb and Bekele both won many championships along with multiple WR's over a relatively long period of time....

Too many others that are ahead of him. Nurmi, Viren, Puttemans, Geb, and Bekele to name a few.

No.

Statistically and emotionally, the GOAT is still Haile.

How he didn't get a mention here is surprising.

No. I looked up specifics. 19-9-2

It's Mo now..no matter what he does

But I'm surprised still that nobody mentioned Haile.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wrote:

Of course not! Silly question. Geb won more hardware and set more records, same for Bekele.

False in regards to significant hardware, especially if he were to win another Olympic gold.