WR in one event Olympic Gold in another? Only Ovett?

Well, Bekele of course won Olympic gold in both 5000 and 10000, and held the WR in each.

If you mean WR but never won gold in that event, and gold but never WR in the same event, would take more research

Can't think of any other.

If Ovett had been as keen to break as many WRs as possible in 78 as Coe was in 79, then he likely would have broken every WR from 800 to 5000m.

Coevett wrote:

Can't think of any other.

If Ovett had been as keen to break as many WRs as possible in 78 as Coe was in 79, then he likely would have broken every WR from 800 to 5000m.

I am an Ovett man but 800m and 5000m WRs seems a big stretch.

Coevett wrote:

Can't think of any other.

If Ovett had been as keen to break as many WRs as possible in 78 as Coe was in 79, then he likely would have broken every WR from 800 to 5000m.

Sure, he had range but that didn't make him equally good at all his events. He was best at 1500/mile. He wasn't the best 800m runner at Moscow; he was tactically smarter than the best - Coe. He would never have been the best 5k runner in the world.

I think it was possible in ideal paced races. The 5000m WR was only 13:12 until August 78, when Henry Rono lowered it to 13:08 shortly before Ovett made him look silly over 2 miles.

There is no way Ovett wasn't capable of 13:12 in an ideal race in 78.

The 800m WR was 1:43.5. Ovett ran 1:44.0 in Prague that summer after Coe took him round in a suicidal first lap. After he passed Coe he slowed down thinking he had it in the bag, the saw Beyer speeding past and tried to react but too late. He was certainly capable of sub 1:43.5 that summer in a well paced time trial at Zurich or somewhere.

Ovett never time trialled the 800m. After Coe lowered it to 1:42 he probably realized it was out of reach so only went for the 1500/mile WRs.

Not saying Ovett would have, but it was in the realms of possibility.

Btw, even without ever time trialling, Ovett's pbs at 800, mile, 5000, and half-marathon in 1978 would have been WRs just a decade earlier.

WRwatcher wrote:

Ovett record in mile 1500 2 mile. Gold in 800m.

Keino. Gold in 1500; wr 5k.

[quote]Coevett wrote:

I think it was possible in ideal paced races. The 5000m WR was only 13:12 until August 78, when Henry Rono lowered it to 13:08 shortly before Ovett made him look silly over 2 miles.

Made him look silly?

He was able to hang onto Rono's pace and then ran away from him in the final 100 meters.

A lot of goal-posts shifted there. The most telling argument is that at his peak Ovett's records were confined to the 1500/mile. The results speak for themselves. If he could have taken records at the 800 and 5k he would have. He didn't.

The Unkle wrote:

[quote]Coevett wrote:

I think it was possible in ideal paced races. The 5000m WR was only 13:12 until August 78, when Henry Rono lowered it to 13:08 shortly before Ovett made him look silly over 2 miles.

Made him look silly?

He was able to hang onto Rono's pace and then ran away from him in the final 100 meters.

A 2 mile race doesn't translate to a 5k. Jazy held the 2 mile wr but was not a top 5k runner. The 2 mile is more at the outer range of a miler - as Jazy and Ovett were.

Armstronglivs wrote:

WRwatcher wrote:

Ovett record in mile 1500 2 mile. Gold in 800m.

Keino. Gold in 1500; wr 5k.

BTW, Keino likely had better range than Ovett, as he could win at any distance from 1500 to 10k, with the steeplechase thrown in.

The Unkle wrote:

[quote]Coevett wrote:

I think it was possible in ideal paced races. The 5000m WR was only 13:12 until August 78, when Henry Rono lowered it to 13:08 shortly before Ovett made him look silly over 2 miles.

Made him look silly?

He was able to hang onto Rono's pace and then ran away from him in the final 100 meters.

And waved to the crowd.

If potato Tim had challenged Cheptegei at the end of last summer over two miles, and broke the WR while waving to the crowd, I think most people here would say he made Cheptegei look silly.

Although it wouldn't be quite the same, because I doubt if Tim could win gold in the 800m this year, and certainly not if he was up against prime Rudisha.

No American man has ever held the world record at 3,000m, the steeplechase, 5,000m, 10,000m,

.

The last American to hold a WR over any distance longer than 400m (not counting event like the 500m, 600m) was Jim Ryun (mile, 1500) or Rick Wolhuter(880 yards, 1000m).

Coevett wrote:

[quote]The Unkle wrote:

[quote]Coevett wrote:

I think it was possible in ideal paced races. The 5000m WR was only 13:12 until August 78, when Henry Rono lowered it to 13:08 shortly before Ovett made him look silly over 2 miles.

Made him look silly?

He was able to hang onto Rono's pace and then ran away from him in the final 100 meters.

And waved to the crowd.

Acting like a jerk made Ovett look silly, not Rono.

Keino, also Gold in Steeple, ‘72.

Not Nomar wrote:

Keino, also Gold in Steeple, ‘72.

Well spotted.

Gail Devers?

Harrison Dillard

In 1948, Dillard was the World Record holder in the hurdles then failed to make Olympic team in his specialty. Managed to qualify for 100 meters and then wins Gold in Olympic final. Pretty amazing. IN 1952, he returned to win Gold in his specialty.

Irina Privalova still has the 5 fastest times in the 60m indoors and was Olympic champion over 400m hurdles in 2000.

Rono ran his 13:08 on April 8th in a duel meet against Cal. It's easy to confirm this type of information.