Best runner in history?

Myers won 8 national titles in one week, who does that?

zatopek

He belongs in this discussion for sure. What a sad ending to his story.

The thing about Myers is he was the guy who changed things more than anyone else.

Nico Young

Are you talking about death?

I checked out Tom Longboat. The people you've never heard of before. Wow! Thank you for the introduction. There must be other stories from days gone by that could be told. But if you never heard of someone, how can you keep their memory alive?

It's a heck of a thing isn't it. 150 years ago you were the best in the world. In 2022 almost nobody has ever even heard of your successes nor know your name. I find that not only sad for the athletes but for the sport also.

Why do you find it to be sad? Do you really think people will be discussing Kenenisa Bekele in 2172? This is the way of the world.

It would not take much for than a 1:45 guy to run of this Lon guys PR's without stoping. Hit 400 in 49, then 800 in 1:54...... Kipchoge, Bolt, and S. Hassan are contenders.

I like to share what I have picked up over the years of being a geek/nerd about my interests which are track, football, rasslin;,music, literature. So thank you.

I think we all should start at the beginnings with anything you get into it, gotta know those origins.

Zatopek later years...

A hero in his native country, Zátopek was an influential figure in the Communist Party. However, he supported the party's democratic wing and, after the 1968 Prague Spring, he was stripped of his rank and expelled from the army and the party,[10] removed from all important positions and forced to work in a string of menial manual labour positions.

He gained employment in one of the few companies not discouraged from employing out-of-favour citizens. The company was "Stavební Geologie", and he was immediately put to work prospecting for natural resources around Bohemia, infrequently being able to visit his wife in Prague. His work in such a field gave rise to the rumour that he had been sent (as many before him were) to the uranium mine concentration camps; however, the camps and the last of the mines had closed many years before. It is also rumoured that Zátopek had a short stint at refuse collection, but was let go as he was unable to complete a round without a horde of citizens insisting on helping him, though no evidence exists of this ever happening.

In 1977, after 5 years of working and living away from his wife and friends, Zátopek's spirit was broken and the communist government, no longer deeming him a threat, allowed him back to Prague with the offer of a further humiliating and menial job in the ČSTV (Čzechoslovak Union of Physical Education). As the only option to get back to Prague and his wife, Zátopek accepted the offer. Using his gift as a linguist, the ČSTV put him to work monitoring foreign publications for the latest developments in sports science and training techniques. It was a lowly job shuffling papers in a small office under Strahov stadium. He dutifully served until his retirement in the early 1980s.

You aren't getting this at all. Key word....IMPACT....the impact Lon Myers had on American running was immense. Read the thread.

No, you're wrong.

You're confusing the era of Lon Myers with the early Olympic era.

Lon Myers was the daughter of a clerk and became a bookkeeper. His main rival was the Englishman Walter George, who was an apprentice pharmacist at age 16. Both turned professional.

Track and road running were wildly popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Walter George ran a 4:12 mile nearly 150 years ago in London. Think how poor the nutrition was, the training methods, physio, tracks. Not to mention the pollution and smog in cities like London. Also, like Lon Myers, most of the runners would run in (and 'train' for) every event from sprints to long distance road races, often on the same day.

But of course, you could take a random villager from Iten and transport him back to 1860 and in a couple of years with 19th century training he would be running sub 3:50 for the mile.

Right.

The funny thing is that he was probably more famous at the time than Galen Rupp or any other American distance runner since Jim Ryun. The crowds at these races were massive, and by all accounts, like bedlam. He came out of retirement at age 38 and travelled to England to take on his old rival Walter Geroge (who had just broken the world record) again, and won - recieving a winner's cheque of $90,000 (in today's money). Imagine how old 38 was in the 19th century.

Look at the dude's legs in relation to his upper body. Has there ever been a runner with a perfect phenotype like that??

en.wikipedia.org

Lon Myers

Laurence Eugene "Lon" Myers (February 16, 1858 – February 16, 1899) was an American sprinter and middle distance runner.Myers won 28 national championships. He also set world records at 11 different distances, and held every...

Link:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lon_Myers#/media...

So was Lon transgender? I honestly did not know that.

I agree. The best runner ever was the person who was active in the infancy of modern athletics and record keeping. That makes most sense to me. The best runner ever was the guy who competed when the global competitive pool was like 30 other people likely students or farmers.

Haha, maybe. *Son of a clerk.

it appears that when Lon Myers did meet strong opposition, he lost;

Travelling to America, George faced the top American miler Lon Myers over a series of three races in November 1882. A total of 130,000 attended these races at the Polo Grounds in New York City. In the first, Myers beat George 1:563⁄5 to 1:57 in the 880 yards. The next week, George led all the way in defeating his rival 4:212⁄5 to 4:273⁄5
in the mile. In the final 3/4 mile showdown, 60,000 watched George and
Myers battle on a cold day on a bad track. George led narrowly with a 612⁄5
and 2:02¾ before Myers took the lead. But Myers staggered at the end
and collapsed after crossing in 3:13 – behind George who won in 3:10½.
Both fell unconscious after the race and George described it as "the
most gruelling race I ever ran."

There was no tv, only newspapers and live events. these events were staggeringly popular, and the runners unbeleivably famous.

George won the mile record and it wasnt beaten for 30 years.

Respect to Coevett, WALTER GEORGE is the goat.

or roger, of course. Probably roger.

Bottom line is....

LAURENCE E. "LON" MYERS
Sport: Track and Field
Inducted: 1980
Country: United States
Born: February 16, 1858 in Richmond, Virginia
Died: February 1899
Lon Myers was the greatest sprinter of the nineteenth century. He was the first to run the quarter-mile in less than 50 seconds (49.2). From 1880 to 1888, Myers held World records for the 100-Yard, 440-Yard, and 880-Yard events.His best event was the Quarter-Mile, which he lowered from 50.4 to
48.8. At one time or another over a 21-year period, Myers held every American record for races 50 yards to one mile! He also held 10 Canadian and three British national championships. Myers ran more 880s under two minutes and more 440s under 50 seconds
than the total run by all amateur and professional athletes of his era.
In the 1879 National (U.S.) Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Championships, Myers won a triple victory (220, 440, 880), setting records in each event. In 1880, he won four titles in the AAUs—
the 220, 440, and 880 events and the 100-Yard Dash—a feat he repeated one week later at the Canadian Nationals. Myers was the first and probably the only track and field athlete ever to capture eight National titles in one week.

Great post! I wish I could give your post more than one up vote. But since that's not possible, I'll do it the old fashioned way. 10/10.