Here are mine:
1) Frank Shorter
2) Ryan Hall
3) Meb Keflezighi
4) Bill Rodgers
5) Khalid
Here are mine:
1) Frank Shorter
2) Ryan Hall
3) Meb Keflezighi
4) Bill Rodgers
5) Khalid
KK does not belong on that list, damn cry baby can't take it that Geb has his old record. he needs to grow up. I think I'd go
1) Shorter
2) Salazaar--guts man, raw guts.
3) Bill Rodgers
4) Ryan Hall, though he will move up, i just don't think he has earned any higher than this yet, though he will.
5) Meb, i felt bad for him, it just wasn't his day.
tom brady baby wrote:
Here are mine:
1) Frank Shorter
2) Ryan Hall
3) Meb Keflezighi
4) Bill Rodgers
5) Khalid
Wait, you mean you are placing two athletes (Hall and Meb) who have never won a major marathon ahead of proven world-beaters?! I would say:
1) Khalid (4 Chicago wins, 1 London win in one of the most epic races in marathon history, set WR twice)
2) Shorter (4 Fukuoka wins, 1 OG, 1 OS, 2 Trials wins)
3) Rodgers (4 Boston wins, 4 NY wins, 1 Fukuoka win, twice set AR)
4) Salazar (3 NY wins, 1 Boston win)
Meb has an OS, and Hall a fast debut and an impressive US trials title. Not quite up there with the others yet.
Hall doesn't belong on the list yet, IMO, he doesn't have enough marks yet.
1 Frank Shorter
2 Bill Rodgers
3 Alberto Salazar
4 Meb Keflezighi
5 Buddy Edelen
Do DeMar and Kelley have a place on this list? Surely in the top 10.
1. Rodgers - edges out Shorter; with a healthy foot he would have won the '76 Olympics
2. Shorter
3. Edelen - WR holder, Polytechnic winner when it was arguably the toughest race in the world, won '64 OT by 20 minutes.
4. Kannouchi - winner of the greatest marathon ever in a WR.
5. Salazar
Honorable Mention - Clarence Demar
I actually consider Kannouchi the greatest ever but most of his high points were prior to becoming American. Hall has the potential to move onto this list but he doesn't have the resume yet.
Shorter
Rodgers
Buddy Edelen
John J Kelley
John A Kelley
1) Salazar
2) Rodgers
3) Shorter
4) DeMar
5) Edelen
Honourable mentions:
Hall
John J. Kelly
Sandoval
Meyer
also
Joan Benoit-Samuelson & Dick Beardsley
Any list here without KK is complete garbage. Even if he did run several of his best marathons prior to becoming an American citizen, he was an American citizen when he won what was arguably the most stacked marathon of all time and set a world record. At least admit that the reason you don't have KK on your list is because you dislike him for some reason or another.
My list:
1. Khalid
2. Shorter
3. Rodgers
4. Meb
5. Salazar
1) Steve Jones--ran first half of the Chicago Marathon in 1:01:42 on the way to winning in 2:07:13 on a windy day. Had previously set a world record in the marathon in 2:08:05.
2) Carlos Lopes--won the Olympic marathon in the heat of Los Angeles in 2:09:21 at the age of 37. The following year, he won the World Cross Country Championship.
3) Derek Clayton--ran 2:08:33 almost 40 years ago. Was obviously way ahead of his time.
4) Frank Shorter--perennial winner of the Fukuoka Marathon in the early 1970s, at a time when Fukuoka was the most competitive marathon in the world. Gold medal in Munich. Cheated out of a gold medal in Montreal.
5) Alejandro Cruz--ran 2:08:57 to win at Chicago when he was only 20 years old.
Just out of curiosity, and ignorance, what has KK accomplished since becoming an American citizen? I know he had tons of credentials before the switch, but what about after?
Living in the Past wrote:
1) Steve Jones--ran first half of the Chicago Marathon in 1:01:42 on the way to winning in 2:07:13 on a windy day. Had previously set a world record in the marathon in 2:08:05.
2) Carlos Lopes--won the Olympic marathon in the heat of Los Angeles in 2:09:21 at the age of 37. The following year, he won the World Cross Country Championship.
3) Derek Clayton--ran 2:08:33 almost 40 years ago. Was obviously way ahead of his time.
4) Frank Shorter--perennial winner of the Fukuoka Marathon in the early 1970s, at a time when Fukuoka was the most competitive marathon in the world. Gold medal in Munich. Cheated out of a gold medal in Montreal.
5) Alejandro Cruz--ran 2:08:57 to win at Chicago when he was only 20 years old.
Umm, the threat is top US marathoners.
*thread
How you rank athletes all depends on what your criteria are. Stealing the method from Track & Field News, I'd make placing high (with an emphasis on actually winning) at the biggest/most important races, followed by head-to-head record versus peers, and fast times last.
1) Frank Shorter
One Olympic gold medal and one silver plus four Fukuoka "World Championship" victories puts him far ahead of everyone else in terms of major-race victories. Might have also been a WR holder since Derek Clayton's WR may have been on a short course.
3) Bill Rodgers
Won Boston & NY four times each but bombed in his only Olympics. Won 22 career marathons. Also might have been a WR holder if Clayton's WR wasn't over the full distance.
2) Khalid Khannouchi
Five wins in major marathons and two world records.
3) Alberto Salazar
A career similar to Khannouchi's but shorter.
4) Clarence DeMar
A long career with seven Boston wins but took only 3rd and 27th in his two Olympic races.
5) Buddy Edelen
The only other US marathoner who ever ranked #1 in the world.
Honorable mention: Johnny Kelley for longevity, Mark Plaatjes for a Worlds win, Whitey Michelson for a career similar to DeMar's but not as dominant.
I just noticed that of my eight athletes listed, four were born outside the US, one didn't run well until he left the US, and the other three were from Massachusetts.
1. Frank Shorter
2. Ryan Hall
3. Meb Keflezighi
4. Alberto Salazar
5. Bill Rodgers
~ I have seen enough from Hall to rate his performance at the US Trials, the most dominant American marathon of all-time; complete mastery of the distance on that day. Sure, Edelen won the Trials by 20-minutes, but not at a 2:06 effort.
Please let us realize how much more difficult it is to win a Marathon in 2007 than it is in 1977. The ol' crew never had to race Martin Lel, a slew of Africans, and so many professionals (Italians, Spaniards, etc).
Beijing will prove an interesting challenge for Ryan Hall. He must replicate this training cycle with some adaptation to hot and humid conditions. Thankfully, his hydration strategy is excellent. However, any medal will be great, for I fear the Japanese and Koreans/Chinese, as they always perform well in poor conditions and in the East.
Thread, threat... it's easy to be confused here on letsrun since most threads, if not in the opening post, then inevitably in the follow-up responses, are bound to be a threat to one's sensibilities in one way or another.
KK set the world and US record while an American citizen. 2:05:and change. He became a citizen in 2000 and has run the following as a US citizen:
2000 London 2:08:36
2000 Chicago 2:07:01 AR
2002 London 2:05:38 WR AR
2002 Chicago 2:05:56
2004 Chicago 2:08:44
2006 London 2:07:04
If you accept Sydnee Maree as a US citizen and Bernard Lagat as a US citizen then you have to accept KK as a US citizen.
1) KK: As seen above
2) Frank Shorter: Olympic medals
3) Alberto Salazar: World Record
4) Bill Rodgers: Mutliple wins, woulda, coulda, shoulda in 1980
5) Buddy Edelen: First American to hold the WR for the marathon
Runningart2004 wrote:
3) Alberto Salazar: World Record
Wasn't Salazar's World Record on a short course?