Zatopek vs Geb vs Shorter - Marathon Fight!

I think Zatopek may be considered the greatest distance runners of all time, right with Geb and Nurmi, but I would not say he was the greatest marathoner ever. I would give that honor to Abebe Bikila. (And he ran barefoot his first Olympic win but ran in shoes in his second to correct the list).

If he could have travled all over the world running two to three marathons a year, like runners today, who knows how fast he would have ran and how many big-city marathons he would have won.

Bikila — the grestest distance runner ever, no. But the greatest marathoner ever, yes.

What does it take to make the list? I might take a piss on the side of the road 'mid-run' next time i plod round 26 miles..

From the article:

"The runners are listed in no particular order."

He's way off on IK. Joanie showed everyone who was the greatest in LA, and her fastest time was just short of the Norwegian's. I mean c'mon- he's got both Ingrid and Waitz on there, yet head to head she beat them both in the most competitive woman's marathon of their era.

Zatopek was great, but as a marathoner he does not belong on top. Bikila should be above him, and generally I feel he's a bit mixed up. Here's my reordering:

1 Abebe Bikila

2 Paula Radcliffe

3 Emil Zatopek

4 Jim Peters

5 Derek Clayton

6 Frank Shorter

7 Carlos Lopes

8 Khalid Khannouchi (again, beat Tergat and Geb in the same race AND with a WR. An Olympic win would put him way up top)

9 Joan Benoit

10 Grete Waitz

I'd fit them on if I could:

Ingrid, Geb, Tergat, Rodgers

if this guy fancies Grete Waitz... maybe there should be a list of 'the fittest marathon birds'... Paula defo number ONE!

"The runners are listed in no particular order."

I enjoyed this alot... i love zatopek and want his babies, but it's quite big to put him in the list on the strength of one performance against a weak field in a moderate time. I'd pop rodgers in there instead. tough to see who else gets fired though... I'd love to get de castella in there somehow...

Weak field? He beat Jim Peters...who lowered the WR from 2:25 to 2:17. He beat Jim AFTER running and WINNING the 5k and 10k. Probably the most impressive marathon victory in HISTORY. Of course Jim likely would have killed Zatopek if not for the 2:18 he ran a week or two before.

Alan

How come Ron Hill is not on the list when Clayton is? Clayton set the world best on a highly dubious course and the real world best was set by Hilly in Edinburgh in 1970 (and subsequently beaten by another Brit Ian Thompson). Head to head I'm pretty sure Hilly never lost to Clayton in a marathon and beat him on at least 3 occasions (69 Maxol, 70 Commonwealth, 72 Olympics). Going into the 72 Olympics Hilly was the favorite, however, as he records in his bio he overtrained and had a bad one. His marathon longevity is notable. His Boston winning time of 2:10:30 is still impressive and his PB of 2:09:28 compares more than favourably to his rivals of that era Shorter, Bikila, Wolde, Lismont etc.

Jim Peters ran his first world record of 2:20:42.2 on June 14,1952 lowering the world record from 2:25:39.0.

The Olympic marathon won by Zatopek was run 3 days after his 10K win in an Olympic record time of 2:23.04 and was run on July 27, 1952. Zatopek won by 2 minutes and thirty-one seconds. Delfo Cabrera, the defending Olympic Champion, was 6th in that 1952 marathon.

Peters then lowered the world record to 2:18:40.2 the next year on June 13, 1953. Peters lowered the world record twice more and then ran his final world record of 2:17:39.4 on June 26, 1954.

Although I might put Zatopek at the very top of some sort of historical list of distance runners, I wouldn't put him in the top ten marathoners. Not even close.

Also, although I would probably pick Tergat and Geb as two of the three best distance runners in history (along with Bekele), I am not particularly impressed by rabbited time trials, and would have a hard time putting them on this list.

KK would be a strong candidate, even though he lacks a world or Olympic championship. Steve Jones, same thing. Jonesy's 1985 Chicago victory was, to me, more impressive than any time trial I've ever seen, including Geb's most recent one.

i agree... Hilly should be top of the list in my opinion... even better and more impressive than Zatopek, Geb, and Bikila put together.

I think this frequent contention that Clayton's 2:08 at Antwertp was short is more dubious than Clayton's own that the course was in fact accurate. Knowing a new WR was coming, he had the course measured before he ran it to make Regarding Hill, his Commonwealth win at Edinburgh was probably long.

do you know just 45 days before tokyo marthon, bikila had appendices opration?

errrr.... ok i retract bikila from the equation... hilly should be top of the list... more impressive than Zatopek and Geb put together!

MarathonMind wrote:

I think this frequent contention that Clayton's 2:08 at Antwertp was short is more dubious than Clayton's own that the course was in fact accurate. Knowing a new WR was coming, he had the course measured before he ran it to make Regarding Hill, his Commonwealth win at Edinburgh was probably long.

Both Clayton and Hill ran their PB's virtually solo. A fast course with both at their best and pacemakers to help - 2:06 would have been a possibility.

DreamTeam wrote:

(And he ran barefoot his first Olympic win but ran in shoes in his second to correct the list).

Bikila — the grestest distance runner ever, no. But the greatest marathoner ever, yes.

He was told he had to start the race with shoes on, he was never told he had to run the whole thing with shoes. He ran a mile (maybe less, i dont really know how far) then took his shoes off and ran the rest barefoot.

i do realise that the original list has been written in no particular order...

... but what if they were to be ranked in order?

Plus some greats have been missed out from the original list... a few of them have been shelved now.

So here goes:

1. Radcliffe

2. Geb

3. Peters

4. Rodgers

5. Waitz

6. Bikila

7. Tergat

8. Clayton

9. Zatopek

10. De Castella