How good can Mo Farah be?

Uk Boy No 2 wrote:

After having one of the best seasons in the world this year by a non- African at the distance events, how good do you think this guy can be?

800 - 1:48

1500 - 3:38

3000 - 7:38

5000 - 13:09

I reckon that Dave Moorcrofts British Record is almost a certainty within the next couple of years.

Does anyone think he ever has a chance of winning at world / olympic level?

With MY help he can compete with some of my OTHER customers.

Isn't Mo Farah Somalian by birth? The same Somalia that is in Africa? And who cares about 'one of the best seasons in the world this year by a non- African'- the Africans are there and you have to race them. Ask Craig Mottram.

I think that's partly his point. He's had one of the best season's by a non-african but that's largely irrelevant. How good can he be?

I think he's an athlete that's unlikely to medal in a major championship, but if he continues to improve, one that will at least be running with the best athletes in the world. A finallist and top 5 finisher, but probably not a medallist. This does of course rely on him improving. Similiar probably at the world XC..

I think he'll go sub 13.

Actually as I'm writing this I think I've come up witha reasonable summary, he's probably got the potential to be as good as Mottram can be, but a bit better on the country.

alright uk boy hows your running going come third recently

3rd, in the inter-varsity ?

I believe he wil break every UK distance record from 3km - marathon over the next 10-12 years he can potentially go sub:

7.30 3km

13 5km

27 10km

61 half

2.07 marathon

Doesn't have the mentallity for the marathon in my opinion, not being funny but if I was a British record holder I'd be slightly p***ed off that an African born athlete was taking it away, I admire him for what he has achieved, has cetainly had a tough time from a very young age and thoroughly deserves everything he has got, but my worry is that he becomes a smoke screen for the obvious failings of UKA with the "UK" born athletes. Farah makes our endurance running look better than it is, it gets uka good press and gets the sport more press which is all good, but I do not want to see a procession of naturalised Africans running for us and taking places away from UK born runners. Geele looks as though he is being gromed as the next in line, and no doubt another promising recentlyy arived 15/16 year old will be next, is it really all that different from what Qatar, Bahrain are doing?

When we have a UK born guy or guys running back down around 27.30 in numbers then UKA will have been doing a good job and British running will be back on the rise, it can be done with UK born guys, it's been done before.

I agree with you we do need British born runners hitting 27:30 for 10km and 13:10 for 5km but Farah can be the role model for the next generation and something for them to aim at. It is the same throughout the whole of european distance running not just the UK european born great distance runners are in demise.

Europeans were very poor in terms of depth 50 or so starters, so many countries are not sending teams, it equates to only 8 or so full teams!

We no longer have a nation where everyone who is British was born in Britain.

Moumin and Mo born in Somalia. Dave Taylor born in Kenya... Do you really think it's the same as the Qatar/Bahrain situation?

I don't think it is the same, by any stretch of the imagination, there are no incentives... yet. But I can see sport going down that road. The pressure on UK Sport to produce in 2012 is changing peoples idea of developing 'long term' success, they want gold medallists and they want them now, if standards are not showing significant signs of improvement by 2010 you just watch the fast tracked passport increase and the 'incentives'. Dave Taylor was born in Kenya to European parents who held British passports? Its apples and oranges!

Mo is British in my opinion, but genetically he is African and has all the advantages which go with that, I'm not using that as a slight against him, he still makes all the sacrifices, works incredibly hard and is a very likeable person but the fact is he is an exceptionto the rule here, we have a large West African origin population here and have consequently had great sprinters, some might say our white sprinting suffered. However, it is different becasue we do not have a large population of east african origin, so there are not going to be many Mo's, which is why we should be looking at why the white guys (which we have a lot of!) of European origin are not delivering.

You should check the stats but how many times have we had more than one runner under 27.40 in a year - probably only 4 times ever and not since '83. So to expect UKA to get us back to the good old days is asking a bit much.

I would suggest that we are very unlikely to get to a situation where we have a number of runners under 27.40 in a single year. However I think that is a reflection of the current state of the sport throughout Europe, not just the UK.

There are just not enough athletes prepared to devote their lives to achieve that time, probably because the rewards are not good enough. There are loads of reasons (which are repeated every time we get to discussing this issue) but all I am trying to say is that UKA are not the prime reason behind the demise - life is. Just look at the junior rankings and you will see that there are not enough reasonably talented athletes, who are prepared to work hard, coming in to the sport.

You cant make a silk purse out of ...........

He can be one of the best in the world and consitently make world and olympic finals he will run even faster on the track over the next few years if he continues to get in the grand prix races.

Who gives a toss about his east african genes? It's about attitude and dedication. Don't forget who won the AAA 5000M title, beating Mo in the process. Mo isn't the only one with huge talent. He is getting the praise right now because he has finally got his act together. There are plenty of others though in Britain who are capable of giving him a good race.

There is nobody in Britain at the moment who is capable of sub 13.20 except Mo, he has the potential to run sub 27.15, there is nobody else who looks like running sub 28.15. The AAA was a one off feak, they happen.

You say 'Who gives a toss about African genes'

well go and take a look at the world rankings for 5k/10k and it seems that theer is a little more to it than just 'attitude and dedication', are you saying its more about mindset than physical ability? So the East Africans are just more dedicated, don't talk out of your arse thats just naive.

The gap was there for all to see on Sunday, in a field of 50 odd our second counter was 28th.

We have several athletes capable of sub 13.20, don't be so cynical.

Our second counter was 24th, and hes coming back from injury a fully fit Chris Thomson would have finished higher, we also had an athlete who may well have ran well drop out of the race...dont forget also Pete Riley would have ran if he had been in form...

Distance running is the number one sport in East Africa, no other countries number one sport is distance running...In England the best athletes at the moment are not doing track or cross country, or road running, it would not suprise me if they are playing Premiership Football

In Kenya, Ethiopia etc everyone wants to be a distance champion like geb or tergat...They have a far bigger pool to pick from and so the standards are bound to be higher

Im sure there are a lot of copies of Craig Mottram out there playing football or running the wrong distance. Yes you brits got plenty of up and coming 800m runners. 1.45-1.48 guys who will stick with the 800 for rest of their career. It's hard to turn young distance runners to champions because they lack the natural speed to be competitive, which 800m runners got. But I guess it's pretty hard to convince a 20-year old 1.48 guy to go for longer distances like 5k or 10k, running up to 100 miles a week.

mo considers himself British and is a 'product' of britain. I hope that other brits are inspired by his achievements. He has undoubted talent - but so do many other brits - and his breakthrough has come about through tthe sacrifices he has made not because his genetics have suddenly come to the fore.