Wins Boston in borrowed Nike Stings. Wins NYC 76-79. Boston 75, 78, 79, 80. Runs 2:08 on a 200 meter short course in Japan when the WR is arguably 2:09 and a few seconds. Has a bad day in Montreal, runs 2:10 through crowds and up stairs six weeks later, in borrowed soccer shorts. Runs 2:14 or so at Boston mid-80s.
Not including road races nearly every weekend for 8 years or so straight
p.s. Khalid Kannouchi was a great runner but he is not the product of the American running culture and our system of coaching. He was a person who ran great after his move to America, but we don't deserve the credit for developing him...
LOL ... his coach was an American, he relocated to NYC in 1993 (married an American in 1996), most of his races were in the U.S., he set the marathon WR as a U.S. Citizen (obtained in 2000), and most of his PRs were run in the U.S. ... He is a product of the American system.
DOVER — Ted Vogel has had a remarkable past, and now he's being celebrated by Langdon Place, his residence of five years. The 94-year-old is one of Dover’s Olympic heroes and a man who has been suppo…
Unless you can name another Olympic gold medallist in the marathon, the answer is Frank Shorter.
Note: He would've won two Olympic golds, if not for a state-sponsored East German doper.
Also, times aren't as significant as you would like to think. Very few of the courses in the 70s and 80s were specifically designed for lightning fast times. There was no Berlin, no Valencia - heck, London wasn't a thing until the early 80s and it had cobbles; and yet, Shorter consistently ran 2:10 or thereabouts.
Considering Rupp medaled in the age of masses of east Africans taking pro running seriously, it has to be him. Sorry but Frank Shorter wouldn’t even be top 5 in an Olympic marathon today.
From an accomplishment standpoint, it’s hard to argue, but Hall has five of the top 20 fastest American times including number one.
Jim Lightbody greatest US 1500m runner ever? If you only look acoomishments it isn’t close. If you factor in things like level of competition it gets a lot harder. Those 70/early 80s guy wouldn’t have racked up the wins if they had a dozen East Africans in every race.
And obviously you do the reverse when looking at times. You don’t make a list of PRs and have shorter well behind Zach Panning…
And in all these lists, Meb doesn’t get enough love.
I had no idea who Jim Lightbody was so I looked him up. I enjoy that he has a medal in the "2590 Meter Steeplechase."
Also after looking him up still not sure he's better than Ryun or Centrowitz as a 1500m runner. He has one Olympic 1500m gold.
There are tons of great American runners, past and present. But for me, no one ran with more heart and more guts than did DK and DB. And both have incredible inspiring back stories. They are role models in every sense that go way beyond running.
Someone explain again how they are ranking Rupp ahead of Meb?
Olympics: Rupp bronze < Meb silver. And don’t forget Meb was 4th in 2012 as well.
WMM wins: Rupp 1 < Meb 2.
PRs: Rupp 2:06:07 in Prague in super shoes vs Meb 2:08:37 at Boston no super shoes. You can argue either way but Rupp’s performance is not more impressive to me.
I realize neither is in the Shorter/Rodgers conversation
