"Who do you think is the greatest distance runner of all time, and why?"

Redonculous Maximus wrote:

goats wrote:

agreed until you mentioned farah, he wasnt ever competitive when he was up against true threats in those events

Actually, Farah's era was far more competitive than Haile's and Kenny's respective eras. Go watch the 2017 WC 10,000... winning time well under 27 minutes and had five other athletes with him at the bell... was literally getting tripped from behind multiple times with 300m to go. That was typical of Farah's era.

Haile had a great rivalry with Tergat but the championship races were always slower.

Kenny usually only had his set-up guy (Sihine) with him with 400m to go, and his last 400m was usually just him taking a victory lap and even a few times waving at the crowd. Kenny's winning times were often just outside of 27 minutes or slower.... not because he couldn't have won a faster race, but because no one else in his era was able to push him.

Go back and review both Haile's and Kenny's WC and Olympic finals and there is not a single one where you can credibly say Farah would have been dropped. And we all know what happens when Farah is there with 100m left to go. Neither Kenny nor Haile could've run the final 100m as fast as Farah could in his prime.

Andy yes, Kenny and Haile had the WRs. But WRs are just glorified time trials that are one (important) element to becoming a champion - becoming a champion is what was important to Farah and he did dominated the most competitive era in distance running winning gold 10 times in a row. Neither Kenny nor Haile can claim that... neither had a dominant streak quite that long even in less competitive eras.

I'd still give Kenny the edge in the debate because you still can't deny he was very dominant, and also has all the hardware from cross country. But you can't claim that his championship golds came in a tougher era.

Go ahead and down vote. But you know it's all true.

McRunnin wrote:

OED wrote:

You think when Geb first set the record at 12:56 everyone reasonably expected someone to drop it to 12:39 in just a few short years? Of course not. Bekele didn’t need to run 12:19, but he essentially took a piece of sand paper and smoothed off the top layer of the WR. Geb took a sledgehammer to it.

And if you’re arguing that Bekele didn’t have peers in his era, it was only because his competition was slower than Geb’s. Looking at the fastest times by year leading up to Bekele’s 12:37 shows that no one ran sub 12:48. Geb had to compete against guys like Komen and Tergat, and he bested them all. Bekele essentially time trialed or sat and kicked his entire track career.

You probably want to avoid bringing up super shoes given what Bekele has been running marathons in and his magical improvement post-super shoes.

You make a good point about Komen and Tergat. But Bekele had plenty of tough competition in Kipchoge, Lagat, Shaheen, Sihine, Tadese, and others.

I love Geb, but it’s difficult to argue he’s better than Bekele when Bekele ran faster in the same era, won more championships, and had the cross country dominance that Geb never had.

runGPT wrote:

I asked chatGPT to come up with criteria for ranking the distance GOAT then use that criteria to make a top 5 list. Here are the results:

1. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)
Strengths: World records in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, Olympic golds, dominance in his era, and impressive marathon performances in his later career.

2. Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)
Strengths: Over 20 world records spanning from 3,000 meters to the marathon, two Olympic golds, and an ambassador for the sport.

3. Mo Farah (Great Britain)
Strengths: Double Olympic golds in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters (in 2012 and 2016), multiple World Championship titles, and an iconic figure in distance running.

4. Emil Zátopek (Czechoslovakia)
Strengths: His legendary triple gold at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics (winning the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, and marathon) remains unmatched. His intense training methods also brought innovations to the sport.

5. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia)
Strengths: For women's distance running, her resume is impressive with multiple Olympic golds, world records, and World Championship titles. Her duels with Meseret Defar and other competitors were iconic.

Notable mentions who are also in the conversation but didn't make this top 5 list include:

Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia): Won two Olympic marathons (1960 and 1964) and was the first to win the marathon in bare feet.

Paavo Nurmi (Finland): Dominated distance running in the 1920s, winning nine Olympic golds in distances ranging from the 1,500 meters to the 10,000 meters.

Meseret Defar (Ethiopia): Multiple Olympic and World Championship medals and had a great rivalry with Tirunesh Dibaba.

Remember, such lists are always open to interpretation, and many fans and experts might rank these legends differently based on the weight they assign to various accomplishments.

runGPT wrote:

I asked chatGPT to come up with criteria for ranking the distance GOAT then use that criteria to make a top 5 list. Here are the results:

1. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)
Strengths: World records in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, Olympic golds, dominance in his era, and impressive marathon performances in his later career.

2. Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)
Strengths: Over 20 world records spanning from 3,000 meters to the marathon, two Olympic golds, and an ambassador for the sport.

3. Mo Farah (Great Britain)
Strengths: Double Olympic golds in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters (in 2012 and 2016), multiple World Championship titles, and an iconic figure in distance running.

4. Emil Zátopek (Czechoslovakia)
Strengths: His legendary triple gold at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics (winning the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, and marathon) remains unmatched. His intense training methods also brought innovations to the sport.

5. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia)
Strengths: For women's distance running, her resume is impressive with multiple Olympic golds, world records, and World Championship titles. Her duels with Meseret Defar and other competitors were iconic.

Notable mentions who are also in the conversation but didn't make this top 5 list include:

Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia): Won two Olympic marathons (1960 and 1964) and was the first to win the marathon in bare feet.

Paavo Nurmi (Finland): Dominated distance running in the 1920s, winning nine Olympic golds in distances ranging from the 1,500 meters to the 10,000 meters.

Meseret Defar (Ethiopia): Multiple Olympic and World Championship medals and had a great rivalry with Tirunesh Dibaba.

Remember, such lists are always open to interpretation, and many fans and experts might rank these legends differently based on the weight they assign to various accomplishments.