I have been compiling a list of runners who have had the most universal impact to the running scene before 1980. I am trying to narrow my list down to 10 and so far I have Hannes Kolehmainen, and Arn Andersson and Gunder Haegg as a duo. Who else comes to mind as the runners who were the most influential with their success, training, etc.?
John Walker
1976 Olympic 1500m gold
Mile WR (first sub 3:50)
Thru his athletic success and personal charisma he brought about the professionalism of the European track circuit (as credited by Steve Ovett in his autobio).
Nurmi, Zatopek, Bannister, The Lydiard disciples, Keino, Bayi, Viren, Rono,Yifter and then the wave of Britons of the late 70's into the 80's.
ryun, lindgren, prefontaine
On the world scene?
probably: Peter Snell, Herb Elliot, Rodger Banister, Jack Lovelock, Zatopack, John Walker, Ryun, Viren...
Emil Zatopek. Arthur Lydiard, it was his running career that lead to his coaching. Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers spearheaded the US running boom. Ron Clarke. The list could go on forever.
I didn't realize theres was so many new zealanders in there.
The runners that are being listed...how did they make an impact?
"Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers spearheaded the US running boom."
No sorry. Bill Bowerman and his book Jogging did more for launching the US running boom than anything else coupled with Pre and his attention grabbing races/attitude
IrunHard wrote:
"Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers spearheaded the US running boom."
No sorry. Bill Bowerman and his book Jogging did more for launching the US running boom than anything else coupled with Pre and his attention grabbing races/attitude
Pre did nothing for the running boom. Did he ever run a roadrace? The running boom was about the masses getting out and running road races. Track was and always will be a niche sport but there are roadraces in every little town all over the country. Roadraces brought the stars right to the people and the biggest star was Bill Rodgers and his 4 Boston and New York marathon wins. While some books were written that helped runners or joggers, they are written in response to the boom, not the cause of it.
Pre did nothing for the running boom. Did he ever run a roadrace? The running boom was about the masses getting out and running road races. Track was and always will be a niche sport but there are roadraces in every little town all over the country. Roadraces brought the stars right to the people and the biggest star was Bill Rodgers and his 4 Boston and New York marathon wins. While some books were written that helped runners or joggers, they are written in response to the boom, not the cause of it.[/quote]
The Pre issue could be argued to death between us so let us refrain from that.
I don't know about you but I wasn't around then, so I will not pretend to know what actually inspired runners during the 70's. When Bowerman visited New Zealand to Personally observe the great Arthur Lydiard and during this trip noticed regular people doing what AL called jogging. He then returned to the US speaking at numerous running clinics and along with that wrote his book jogging which introduced may people to the idea of running for the benefit of their health.
Jim Peters
Gordon Pirie
Roger Bannister
Dave Bedford
Brendan Foster
Ian Stewart
yes roadracing is so popular... i heard people had trouble getting tickets to see them back thenit is so much more popular than track, nobody cared when bannister broke 4 in the mile
front running sports fan wrote:
Pre did nothing for the running boom. Did he ever run a roadrace? The running boom was about the masses getting out and running road races. Track was and always will be a niche sport but there are roadraces in every little town all over the country. Roadraces brought the stars right to the people and the biggest star was Bill Rodgers and his 4 Boston and New York marathon wins. While some books were written that helped runners or joggers, they are written in response to the boom, not the cause of it.
These boys were the most dedicatedhard working distance runners, who just got on with their job-never moaning or taking it for granted.
They were the glory days of distance running and they were the unasuming,shy,quiet men who just did it! (and produced the goods)
Pity our raw new talent cant take notice from these profesionals and put in the work!
Abebe Bikila. This Ethiopian won 2 Olymppic golds, setting the scene for African dominance of distance running.
Gents: (I am almost 100% no women posted yet)
NO women Runners???
I would have said Alison Roe for winning both ny and boston but that was in 1981...
I can't decide if Rosie Ruiz was influential or not, irrespective of the outcome...
Arguably Sylvester Stallone did more for the mass running movement with one scene in Rocky than all of the world-best-athletes mentioned.
One guy that influenced me was Alberto Juantorena... olympic 400 and 800 win in 1976 was beyond influential.
Gents: (I am almost 100% no women posted yet)
NO women Runners???
I would have said Alison Roe for winning both ny and boston but that was in 1981...
I can't decide if Rosie Ruiz was influential or not, irrespective of the outcome...
Arguably Sylvester Stallone did more for the mass running movement with one scene in Rocky than all of the world-best-athletes mentioned.
One guy that influenced me was Alberto Juantorena... olympic 400 and 800 win in 1976 was beyond influential.[/quote]
Good Point! Also don't forget about Joan Benoit Samuelson, even though her claim to fame really began in the 80's she is definitely a more than notable entry in this discussion.
Another to add in there is Mary Slaney
Ron Hill?
Walter George - set world records at distances from a mile to the hour run. He was decades ahead of his time - his mile world record stood for nearly 30 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_George_
(athlete)
yeah i would have included Mary Decker Tabb but she was also on the upswing starting 1982 (if we stick to pre 80s requirement) Plus the Budd incident was such a downer. That whole thing shoud have been handled better.