What would it take for a distance runner to get the SI cover?

Ryan Hall wins the Olympic gold medal in the marthon in a WR performance, and the day after he saves a family of eight from a car fire, in which he rips off the doors of the burning vehicle and saves all the kids and cat. Maybe that would get him on the cover. Atleast in Faces in the Crowd.

Return a kickoff for a touchdown in the SB. Drive a car really fast. Hole in one on a Par 4. 70 homeruns in a season.

Surefire way----- marry Anna Kournikova.

Run a sub 3:30 mile and a sub 2:00 marathon.

a good runner with a good personality; we don't have many of those

become a mass murderer

i wouldnt say he would necessarily need a good personality. just a personality. as much as most runners dont want to beleive it, AJ Acosta has the kind of personality that Americans love. he's very far from being on that level though

Catch a fair ball from the stands.

I was going to say Webb could win gold in Beijing but I'm sure there will be a swimmer who wins 5 medals and is then 5 times more appealing to SI.

Suzy Favor on an athlete swimsuit issue.

Otherwise, I'd say an American winning Boston. Baseball isn't cooking, the Master's is the prior week, no football, no college basketball, NBA/NHL not yet in the playoffs.

If they had a naked women's high jump competition during the half time of the NBA all star game the winner or maybe a loser if she was hotter would be put on the centerfold.

I'm sorry. Now that I've looked at the thread I realize that we're talking about Sports Illustrated and not Sexual Intercourse (SI) magazine.

I change my answer to any hot looking track star holding a basketball or football at a NBA or NFL game might have a chance of getting their photo on Sports Illustrated but only if their photo is taken by accident in the background.

be linked with an a-list movie star before medalling. or, do a murder/suicide involving an ex and kids.

i'm going to go with a sex-change operation in the interim between 2 olympic gold medal performances under both sexes, that would be potential front cover material.

A buddy of mine and I had this conversation before. We agreed that it would take a world record in the mile or marathon, gold medal in the marathon, or 1st place in Boston. Unfortunately a previous poster was correct that the odds are greatly improved if this is pulled off by Webb, Hall, Ritz and not Meb, Abdi, Lagat.

win some kind of big race AND (more importantly) be really good looking

Gold medal in two events, hopefully a world record in one, or both races. Cross your fingers and hope there's not an important football/baseball/golf event that week, and that your name is easy to pronounce.

(1) Olympic Gold in WR time in 1500, or win in the marathon -- must ibnclude a great (not good, GREAT) photo of the occasion (think Dixon-Smith in 1983), ideally featuring the US flag or clearly recognizable "USA" logo prominently.

(2) Dramatic or blowout win at either Boston or ING NYCM. Same photo requirements apply.

So, when was the last time and who?

If Oprah won Boston...

Liquori (with Ryun) was on the cover for the May 24 issue in 1971.

http://dynamic.si.cnn.com/covers/search

You also left out Prefontaine. He was on the cover for the June 23 issue in 1970.