Haile is still the Greates of all time

First 5-k 14:11

Second 5-k 13:39.

He dropped his three pacemakers at 5, 6, and 7 km, respectively. (One of them still finished in 1:02.)

Maybe the 13:39 (or was it 36?) was later, but he completely obliterated his pacemakers between 5-k and 10-k.

according to the iaaf, he also broke Tergat's 20K WR, by running 55:48 (Tergat was 56:18). Think about it: two 10ks in 27:56 each. That is just sick.

Just think if Bekele would have ran.

just unreal

rickert wrote:

Just think if Bekele would have ran.

he wouldn't have run a race he couldn't have won

Imagine what ritz would have run !!! maybe he would make it past halfway...

No "still" about it. Geb IS the greatest distance runner of all time. Until Bekele lowers the 5000 record by a total of 15 seconds (at least) and the 10,000 record by 30 seconds (at least), the mere fact that he's the current WR holder at those distances doesn't mean he's really historically "better" than Geb. Geb's overall quality, range, and longevity are simply astonishing.

old tymer wrote:

Until Bekele lowers the 5000 record by a total of 15 seconds (at least) and the 10,000 record by 30 seconds (at least),

That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen written on this board, and with the amount of utter trash that flies across the waves every day, that is quite a statement.

Essentially you've resigned Bekele to second place by default; unless he can satisfy your preposterous standards--which have him coming home in "at least" 12:24.36 for 5,000, or 3:59.58 per mile, and 25:52.75, or 4:09.89 per mile (back to back 12:56 5,000's)--I guess the droves of 12:50 5K runners on Letsrun.com, pimple cream, residences in their mother's basements, and failing community college grades notwithstanding, will never "accept" Bekele.

It's wonderfully funny how said posters consider their opinion to be of such worth. I've often criticized the relative buffoonery of a lot of the sports personalities on ESPN, FSN, CBS, et. al, but not I see that Carol Lewis, Jim Rome, or whoever the heck else you want to throw in there could never hope to match the overall stupidity of a Letrun poster when it cames to reasonably analyzing sporting results.

Gebrselassie is great, a phenomenal runner, someone who redefined a good performance in the distances and won more than his share of titles.

But Bekele is, 3 years into what, barring injury, will be a long career, is better than Gebrselassie ever was at any time. He has the talent and training to have already run 12:37 and 26:17. You don't get brownie points for bringing the record down by a lot. I don't see Naoko Takahashi being lauded as greater than Radcliffe because she "erased mental barriers" by running 2:19.

Use some logic once in a while. It's a wonderful thing and in short supply around here.

You guys are so ridiculous. You feel that if Geb broke a WR by 15 seconds, then in order for another runner to be considered superior, he must break the new WR by a greater margin.

Sorry, a WR is a WR.

Said Aouita is the greatest of all time.

No name: I'm not quite as clueless as you might think. You are under the assumption that times ALONE mean everything. You're wrong. Every decent collegiate 10,000 runner today is faster than Zatopek. Does that mean that they are greater than Zatopek? I think even you would say no--at least, I sure hope you would say no. Times are only meaningful in the context of the era in which they are run. Geb took the 5000 record down--in total--from 12:58 to 12:39. He took the 10,000 record down--in total--from 26:52 to 26:22. The fact that Bekele has beaten these times is impressive, but for Bekele to really achieve the historical stature that Geb has, Bekele has to do something along the lines of what Geb has done and--as stated above--that is to redefine our idea of what's possible at these distances. I'm a huge Bekele fan, but he has so far NOT redefined what it means to run 5 and 10 k. He's "simply" the fastest of all time right now. That's wonderful, but not as wonderful as what Geb has done...

The greatness of Haile is not just what he achieved in his running. I will not go into those details.

Haile, paved the road for kenenisa and tirunesh etc., without haile none of these athletes would have been found. So Minus Haile, Ethiopian running would be lostforever...Look what is happening to the Morocco laterly

The true measure of a man is not what he does for himself.. but for others.. and haile has done it ALL. He is perhaps the most amazing athlete out there.

old tymer wrote:

You are under the assumption that times ALONE mean everything.

No, you are. You're arbitrarily assigning a TIME that bekele must hit to be considered greater than Haile. Look, at his best, Haile was less than a second better than Komen at 5k, and (I think) 3-4 seconds better than Tergat at 10k. You, yourself, have said that it is how one does in his own era that matters. Well Bekele has dominated HIS era (2001 and on) moreso than Geb did at his 5k/10k track peak. He's like 8 seconds better than the next best 5k guy, and about 12 better than the next best 10k guy. That's not even taking into account his unprecidented cross country dominance. He is unquestionably the best xc runner ever WHILE dominating the 5k/10k more than Haile ever did.

How can he not be considered at LEAST Haile's equal?

Here here H

and there is plenty of time left yet for plenty of WRs and other running infulences, Bekele is not just going to come along an smash every WR every time he runs, he is just winning and creating WRs and history on the way, keen to see how he goes over the next 5 to 10 years and when he runs halfs and marathons. Maybe he should have a go now!! why wait like many do, bring it on, enter London B+tch

tall guys wrote:

WHILE dominating the 5k/10k more than Haile ever did.

Haile had Tergat, Komen, Kiptanui and the other Kenyans completely under his thumb in the '90's. He would never have let the fiasco of the 2003 WC 5000 happen (though it must be conceded to Bekele's youth and inexperience).

The important aspect of all this is that while Geb came almost out of a vacuum of development, Bekele rode in on Geb's coattails, and on teh track and especially in XC, took it to the next level.

Let's let them both finish there artistry before judging prematurely. This is a Grand Masterwork on each of their parts.

bekele lost to alistar cragg

haile never lost to cragg

old tymer wrote:

No "still" about it. Geb IS the greatest distance runner of all time. Until Bekele lowers the 5000 record by a total of 15 seconds (at least) and the 10,000 record by 30 seconds (at least), the mere fact that he's the current WR holder at those distances doesn't mean he's really historically "better" than Geb. Geb's overall quality, range, and longevity are simply astonishing.

thats a ridiculous statement to make. Bekele already broke GEB'S WORLD RECORDS...that obviously shows he is the better of the two in the 5k and 10k. to say he has to lower the records by those amounts is just moronic. Not only that Bekele is only 23 and is already AGES ahead of Geb as far as accomplishments...but if you wanna play that game than fine, until Geb can win 10 world cross champs in both the long and short course in a row, than he will be the greatest.