Would Kipchoge winning Oly Marathon Gold #3 in 2024 be enough to surpass Bekele as the Distance GOAT?

It's all subjective and doesn't matter. KB has had success on three surfaces, while Kipchoge has two surfaces. KB did come within 6 seconds of the marathon world record twice, so I will call that success on the roads. Kipchoge has no XC results of note, and aside from his amazing win early in his career, he solid on the track but never a world beater...there was always someone better (Bekele most often!).

Kipchoge is the fastest marathon runner ever and has 2 olympic Men's marathon golds..he's obviously the greatest competitive Men's marathon runner in history. He can be surpassed though.

Kipchoge is already the greatest marathoner ever and winning again will only set the bar higher for the next person. But he's never going to be the greatest distance runner ever unless he gets a world record in a track event.

Bekele is clearly a bigger talent and the track and xc GOAT. Kipchoge is easily the marathon GOAT with good but not all-timevgreat track credentials.

I feel like you need to give the nod to Kipchoge because of the consistency and longevity. Bekele was the best from 2003-2009, but was very inconsistent afterwards and was never again the best in the world. Kipchoge was the best in the world from 2014-2021 and 2nd best in 2013, and very good from 2003-2011 on the track but like Bekele after 2009 was never the best in the world during this time. They are very similar, but Kipchoge also had his dominance in an era where all the biggest talents go to the marathon. The marathon is the hardest event to dominate. Haile once said "marathon is the king of the distances". I agree with that. Kipchoge > Bekele.

robert678 wrote:

Bekele is clearly a bigger talent and the track and xc GOAT. Kipchoge is easily the marathon GOAT with good but not all-timevgreat track credentials.

I feel like you need to give the nod to Kipchoge because of the consistency and longevity. Bekele was the best from 2003-2009, but was very inconsistent afterwards and was never again the best in the world. Kipchoge was the best in the world from 2014-2021 and 2nd best in 2013, and very good from 2003-2011 on the track but like Bekele after 2009 was never the best in the world during this time. They are very similar, but Kipchoge also had his dominance in an era where all the biggest talents go to the marathon. The marathon is the hardest event to dominate. Haile once said "marathon is the king of the distances". I agree with that. Kipchoge > Bekele.

This...especially when you factor in that no one cares about XC. Track and Road is what matters.

To me, it isn't even close. Bekele, absolutely.

Not sure the Olympic marathon should be counted as a major marathon win.

Federations control too much of the power in selection. Let's have one major race where the athletes

have the power.

Senseless to restrict the field to such a few, why not let anyone < 2:05 / <59 since the previous Olympic race in automatically? And offer travel and hotel covered, along with double the prize money of Berlin, London or Chicago where race directors can limit entry and expenses arbitrarily.

Oh Please wrote:

KB has had success on three surfaces, while Kipchoge has two surfaces.

One of those surfaces doesn't count, and everyone damn well knows it. Hardly any elite runner gives a hoot about some obscure western after-school activity like golf course running. No depth of competition, easy to dominate.

El Guerrouj was undefeated against Bekele.

Bekele doesn't have an Olympic Gold in the Marathon.

Bekele has more DNF's in the Marathon than Wins.

Those are all FACTS.

No.

When we talk about "The GOAT of Distance", that refers to not just the marathon but also track and cross country.

In order for Eliud to be in the running for being the goat of distance he would need to improve on 2 aspects of his running career that are behind him now.

Simply put, Bekele edged Kipchoge out in the Track and XC categories by such a wide margin that its not possible for Kipchoge to make up for it in the marathon category.

The public perception ofc is clouded by recency bias and the superior name recognition of Kipchoge. But real ones know just how great Bekele was and why he is the true goat of distance.

In order for Eliud to be in the running for being the goat of distance he would need to improve on 2 aspects of his running career that are behind him now.

Simply put, Bekele edged Kipchoge out in the Track and XC categories by such a wide margin that its not possible for Kipchoge to make up for it in the marathon category.

Just a theoretical question, what would Kipchoge have to do in the marathon to be the overall GOAT? 1 more olympic gold + legal sub2 + all marathon major wins and undefeated until retirement in 2026? 2 more olympic golds or 3? Surely of he would do something completely insane from now on you'd reconsider? Just interested in what would it take?

For Kipchoge to win a World Championship Gold in 2003 and an Olympic Gold 21 years later in 2024 there is no question that he would be the GOAT distance runner and the 🐐 doper! No question!

“No one cares about XC”=the US stopped caring about XC after it became clear that we could not possibly compete with the East Africans.

On the continent of Africa, where distance running is at its absolute most competitive, world XC championships is one of the most events on the circuit, and XC in general is just what they do.

Again, this would be even more impressive than Jakob Ingebrigtsen winning the Olympic marathon Gold in 2040.

dsrunner wrote:

To me, it isn't even close. Bekele, absolutely.

Not sure the Olympic marathon should be counted as a major marathon win.

Federations control too much of the power in selection. Let's have one major race where the athletes

have the power.

Senseless to restrict the field to such a few, why not let anyone < 2:05 / <59 since the previous Olympic race in automatically? And offer travel and hotel covered, along with double the prize money of Berlin, London or Chicago where race directors can limit entry and expenses arbitrarily.

Who is paying for all this prize money and accommodations if not for a race director or the federations? 🤔

The Olympic Marathon should be significantly more prestigious than the Majors. No pre-negotiated pacing, no artificially contrived match-ups, no sponsors holding their athletes out of events their rivals sponsor. If you want to win, you need to make a team and you need to run fast on your own.

If there were a flat standard that would get you in automatically, outside of the federation nomination process, would arguably be a more “pure” contest, but in practice would just mean the Kenyans and Ethiopians running it in Tour de France style teams, in which case we’d longer be crowning the best athlete.

Denzje wrote:

For Kipchoge to win a World Championship Gold in 2003 and an Olympic Gold 21 years later in 2024 there is no question that he would be the GOAT distance runner and the 🐐 doper! No question!

He stay in the Marathon only.

In the tracks he got very mixed results (5000m to 10.000m)

In the Cross Country Bekele won not less 6 world titles.

IF Kipchoge made the jump to ultras and started destroying all of those records, then I would say yes. Another marathon gold in Olympics would be amazing and he would definitely be #2. But KB is the GOAT

need more information wrote:

In order for Eliud to be in the running for being the goat of distance he would need to improve on 2 aspects of his running career that are behind him now.

Simply put, Bekele edged Kipchoge out in the Track and XC categories by such a wide margin that its not possible for Kipchoge to make up for it in the marathon category.

Just a theoretical question, what would Kipchoge have to do in the marathon to be the overall GOAT? 1 more olympic gold + legal sub2 + all marathon major wins and undefeated until retirement in 2026? 2 more olympic golds or 3? Surely of he would do something completely insane from now on you'd reconsider? Just interested in what would it take?

You're missing the point. Nothing Kipchoge further does in the marathon will help his case for overall GOAT.

Kipchoge's 10k record is little discussed when these convos take place, but let's take a look. He has a few sub-27 clockings, but nothing that comes close whatsoever to Bekele achieved, and nothing that even matches up to his own 12:46 PR.

In the half marathon, Kipchoge has a single sub-hour time but otherwise just a few low-key wins in tune-ups before a marathon. Bekele, in his first attempt at the half marathon distance in 2013, beat a prime Mo Farah head-to-head at the Great North Run. This alone is more impressive than anything Kipchoge did.

Now when it comes to the marathon Kipchoge absolutely gets the nod, and Bekele obviously never pulled it together whenever they raced head to head. But I would like to remind a few facts here: Bekele has come within 6 seconds of the world record on TWO SEPARATE occasions, three years apart, both pre- and post-super shoes. He literally had a better marathon PR than Kipchoge for a period of two years.

[quote]big daddy wrote:

You're missing the point. Nothing Kipchoge further does in the marathon will help his case for overall GOAT. /quote]

That’s, like, your opinion, man.

What’s the 2nd best winning percentage in the marathon behind Kipchoge?

big james wrote:

IF Kipchoge made the jump to ultras and started destroying all of those records, then I would say yes. Another marathon gold in Olympics would be amazing and he would definitely be #2. But KB is the GOAT

A jump to the ultras, or off of a cliff, have the same probability.

Regardless of whether he wins in 2024, he's the GOAT marathoner and always will be.