What would Gidey need to do to become the GOAT?

conorsleith wrote:

...and I mean all-time distance GOAT, male or female. If she can simultaneously hold all the world records from 5000m to the marathon, does that dethrone Bekele (or Geb, or Kipchoge, or whoever)? Does she need to add more Worlds/Olympic titles to her resume?

Unless I missed it, she doesn't have any World/Olympic titles. So yeah, she'd have to win a lot of those before she can join the contest.

Surprise! wrote:

conorsleith wrote:

...and I mean all-time distance GOAT, male or female. If she can simultaneously hold all the world records from 5000m to the marathon, does that dethrone Bekele (or Geb, or Kipchoge, or whoever)? Does she need to add more Worlds/Olympic titles to her resume?

Unless I missed it, she doesn't have any World/Olympic titles. So yeah, she'd have to win a lot of those before she can join the contest.

Yeah, you're right -- silver and bronze in the 10,000 at 2019 Worlds and 2020 games, though she does have two junior cross titles.

conorsleith wrote:

...and I mean all-time distance GOAT, male or female. If she can simultaneously hold all the world records from 5000m to the marathon, does that dethrone Bekele (or Geb, or Kipchoge, or whoever)? Does she need to add more Worlds/Olympic titles to her resume?

"Does she need to add more titles to her resume."

Try any title. She hasn't won a major outdoor track title. She has one world silver and one world bronze. This is the biggest question mark against her in general. How come she can absolutely rip these fast performances but struggle elsewhere.

In 2020 she sets the 5000m world record but gets easily beaten by Obiri in Monaco, plus hints from Obiri that Gidey/her agency shut her out of the world record attempt.

In 2021, she sets the 10000m and half marathon WRs, but is easily beaten over the 5000 by Tseguy, blown away on the last lap by an exhausted Hassan, and also is handily beaten by Niyonsaba.

What does she have to do to be the GOAT? Jointly holding the world and olympic titles would be a good step in the right direction. Right now I put her even behind Cheptegei, let alone the other names you mentioned. He's currently the reigning 10,000m world champ, reigning olympic 50000 champ, an olympic and world silver in the 10, world records in the 5 and 10 plus one DL title (Gidey has never one a single DL race, let alone a title).

If she adds the marathon record and multiple golds at World Championships and Olympics, then she's the GOAT. She's still only 23, so she has time. She'll be 26, 30, and 34 at the next 3 Olympics. So she has some opportunities.

Closing speed! As good as she is she has no closing speed. If someone is near her at the start of the last lap, she will be beaten. Just look at the Doha and Tokyo 10 k final videos.

Be a Champion + best time trialist

She needs to become and ultra runner to become the goat.

Confess?

Simple:

1. Win multiple Olympic golds.

2. Beat Sifan Hassan

another perspective wrote:

Try any title. She hasn't won a major outdoor track title. She has one world silver and one world bronze. This is the biggest question mark against her in general. How come she can absolutely rip these fast performances but struggle elsewhere.

In 2020 she sets the 5000m world record but gets easily beaten by Obiri in Monaco, plus hints from Obiri that Gidey/her agency shut her out of the world record attempt.

In 2021, she sets the 10000m and half marathon WRs, but is easily beaten over the 5000 by Tseguy, blown away on the last lap by an exhausted Hassan, and also is handily beaten by Niyonsaba.

What explains all of the 2020-21 performances is that she doesn’t have a final kick, so her performance in unpaced track races frequently falls short. Even if she holds a high steady pace from the get go, Hassan or Tsegay will simply draft behind her as they have amply demonstrated and then outkick her at the end. Her strength appears to be the paces she can hold while leading compared to her competitors, but that gets more than outweighed by drafting tactics with strong competitors.

Her choices are to try and wait out Hassan and hope Niyonsaba gets banned, or move to the marathon where her relentless grinding style is more likely to pay off. She's 23 so can just wait for Hassan to burn herself out or get bored. Happened with Bekele, which opened the door for Farah

She's already the best of all time at the 5k, 10k, 15k and Half marathon. She already has the top 2 most impressive performances in all of female running. Gidey is without question the best to ever do it in running.

But you said greatest of all time, and to get there she just needs to win championships. If Dibaba is the woman to beat, we need to note that she has 3 olympic golds, 5 Worlds golds, and just as much success in XC. Being 23, Gidey probably has 2 more olympic games in her, and 2 more Worlds. She would need to pick up at least one gold at each championship she has left, which is doable, and then do something in the marathon.

I think that would do it. A modest amount of gold medals, and another world record, this time in the marathon, would give her a strong enough argument to be the GOAT.

Get off the PEDs and run those times.

She can't be any kind of GOAT if she keeps losing to Hassan.

Gidey's claim to GOAT will of course have to include, at the very least, a marathon WR. Geb (former GOAT) did this, and the only way Gidey can overtake Bekele (current GOAT) is by doing what he has never done.

She is not close to the best of all time….yet.

You must have been on vacation this summer. Did you not watch her in the 5000m in Tokyo? No wait, she didn’t even compete in that race. Hassan did, and won. Then racing fresh in the 10 not only could she not hold off Hassan, she finished 3rd! You are seriously saying that she’s the greatest women’s 10K runner ever, but she lost to Hassan at the last WC and the last Olympics? You are putting way to much stock in wave light, super shoe TTS. Those “races” mean very little. You simply can’t be the called the greatest at an event but fail to beat your top rival at the last two global championship races.

dullard wrote:

She can't be any kind of GOAT if she keeps losing to Hassan.

+1

She has to set the women's beer mile record to be the GOAT.

I cannot refer to any T&F athlete as G.O.A.T. unless an athlete can win AT LEAST one Olympic gold medal in one of original T&F events from 1896. Events from 3000m or 3000m SC, 5000m, 10000m and now we are discussing 1/2 Marathon are all phony events for almost 1500m runners to almost Marathoners. I am not taking a shot at hs &/or college XC runners. I was one. I am not taking a shot at college 3000mSC athletes to college 10000m runners. College athletes simply doing one's best. I am not going to consider 1/2 Marathoners great. I look at 1/2 Marathon similar to 600m. Johnny Gray is the only man to have broken 73 seconds for 600m. Since most on this site care very little about 600m, few refer to Johnny Gray as great. That said, over 35 years, no other man, sub-73, 600m. Half Marathon is no different.