Faulty memory wrote:
However, I am an open-minded soul...
yeah, you really sound like it, opening with "that sound you heard was your credibility walking out the door." it's pretty plain that you're not willing to listen to opposing arguments on this topic, that you will side with Pre no matter what. for the benefit of discussion, however, i'd like to dispute some of your claims.
Every veteran distance runner can tell you that our depth of marks 25-30 years ago was better than what the U.S. has seen since then.
every veteran distance runner yearns for days gone by, apparently, because we're not talking about depth. we're talking about the strength of world-class competition. sure, in AMERICA, guys were pumping out the 2:15 marathons and 29:00 10ks in numbers far greater than they have recently (i know that was true a few years ago, not so sure about now). for all that depth, however, how many medals did they win in the 1500? the 5000? the 10000? not a lot.
Pre's 4th place against a Finn, a Tunisian, and a Brit is NOWHERE NEAR as impressive as Bob Kennedy's 5th against the Kenyans. the rise of the Africans changed the game completely- as much or more than the post-WW2 boom- but, i say again, even WITHOUT the countless African world-beaters, how many mid/long-distance medals did the united states get against basically only themselves, south america and europe? not a whole lot. America has never been a superpower at the distance events on the track, and the fact that they're nearly as competitive now as they were in the 70s is a testament to the achievements of today's athletes. the fact that 70's athletes had such heated competition at home, and such depth, and STILL never made a huge mark on the world scene is proof that the Golden Days that your "veteran distance runners" long for weren't really that great anyway.
back to Pre's accomplishments- what major international victories did he have? there was no world championships back then, and i don't know if they had anything like the golden league, so i'll settle for impressive head-to-head victories. anything? as far as i know, his greatest international result was a 2nd place to (i believe it was) Puttemans in a 2mi that was near the world record. Webb, on the other hand, has beaten two STACKED fields in the 1500 (2004 ostrava at the age of 21, and 2007 paris at the age of 24) and another at 800m (2007 heusden).
so neither has any medals, only Webb has any (3) significant international wins, and Pre had more (3) significant ARs than Webb (1). looks to me like they're pretty even. what's more, Webb is still 24 so whatever he does in Osaka can still be compared fairly to Pre. there's a good chance Webb could be markedly better than Pre by the time this season is over.
when you're dismissive of the accomplishments of today's athletes and ignore the additional challenges they face above and beyond what the 70s athletes faced, you are being disrespectful. furthermore, you're going to make people who are fans of Pre AND Webb seem like Pre-haters simply because they take Pre's racing career in perspective. notice that i said Pre's racing career, not his legacy. if we are talking about his influence on the sport in America, then of course Webb doesn't measure up- Pre was a legend. on the other hand, his racing career doesn't live up to his legend; Webb has already matched it and, by the end of the summer, he may well have surpassed it.