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    • guy not from there
      • Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 1:47PM
      • guy not from there
      • There's been some discussion in the Aouita/Webb thread about the world records of the past which led me to this question:

        What do you think is the greatest performance of all-time adjusted for era?

        We often talk about one runner being better than another because of the era in which she or he competed. My first marathon would've been good enough to win at the first Boston and the first Olympics as well, but those guys were better runners.

        My pick is Bob Beamon's 8.90, which is still the second-best performance of all-time 40 years later. Coe's 1:41 is second and at the top if we're considering just running performances. This is just an impression, however. I welcome more thoughtful and better-researched responses.
    • newschool
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 1:53PM - in reply to guy not from there
      • newschool
      • its gotta be beamon, right? has any other record been demolished by that much? running wise, maybe 19.32? i agree that coe has to be up at the top as well.
    • zeds dead
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 1:59PM - in reply to newschool
      • zeds dead
      • Where does Paula Radcliffe's marathon WR rank? I would think pretty high.
    • grubinski
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 2:09PM - in reply to zeds dead
      • grubinski
      • I have to think Ryun's 3:51.1 on a cinder track is way up there, especially considering when he ran it.
    • broken arrow
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 2:14PM - in reply to guy not from there
      • broken arrow
      • I have to agree with you on Coe's running performance at 800m. However, Komen's 7:20.67 for 3000m is still the running record that amazes me the most, and has to be up there on the all time list.
    • guy not from there
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 2:21PM - in reply to grubinski
      • guy not from there
      • Ryun took 2 seconds off the existing world record.

        Morceli took 2 seconds off in 1993 with his 3:44.

        Radcliffe's 2:15 is a very good candidate, as is Komen's 7:20, which took five seconds off the old record and is now over 11 years old. I don't know when we'll see either of those two marks being broken, much like Beamon's record.
    • the former mobile9
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 2:21PM - in reply to broken arrow
      • the former mobile9
      • 8.90A or 19.32. Both were so far ahead of their times and changed the way you thought about the event.

        Paula's is way out there, but I have some prejudice given that women's marathoning is comparatively new, with respect to the mens 200m or LJ.
    • guy not from there
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 2:22PM - in reply to guy not from there
      • guy not from there
      • That last point was to say that Beamon's record probably seemed unbreakable for so long (I wasn't around back then).
    • 3K-for-gedd-ibou-iit!
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 3:21PM - in reply to guy not from there
      • 3K-for-gedd-ibou-iit!
      • Bekele even said, "forget it... (after attempting to break it numerous times) that 3K will never be broken." That's like Tiger Woods saying, forget it, I can NEVER win that tournament, or I can NEVER shoot 58!

        Komen's 3K will live forever; it's unbreakable! Even he marvels at it!
    • trailrunner65
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 3:48PM - in reply to grubinski
      • trailrunner65
      • grubinski wrote:
        I have to think Ryun's 3:51.1 on a cinder track is way up there, especially considering when he ran it.
        I've always thought that his 3:33.1, 15 days later, was the most impressive mile/1500 I have ever seen. Busted the 6+ year old WR by a whopping 2 1/2 seconds ! And left Kip Keino in the dust in the process.
    • Shiver Me Timbers
    • Do the Oz
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 4:05PM - in reply to trailrunner65
      • Do the Oz
      • Ron Clarke's 10000m (27:39.4) in July 1965 must be considered as one of the greatest. It survived 7 years, the longest period for the event since the war and bettered his own record by almost 35 seconds.

        The best of all time is however the 24 hour record of Yiannis Kouros - 303.506 km or 188 miles 1308 yards. This will still be around long after we have all become wormfood.
    • old tymer
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 4:27PM - in reply to Shiver Me Timbers
      • old tymer
      • Shiver Me Timbers wrote:
        Probably that Rudolf Harbig 800 record that lasted about 25 years
        Harbig's 1:46.6 lasted from 1939 to 1955. The single greatest performance was probably Walter George's 4:12-3/4 mile of 1886; it wasn't beaten until 1915-and then only by a fraction, 4:12.6. It took Nurmi in 1923 to really improve significantly on it with 4:10.4.
    • old tymer
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 5:26PM - in reply to gonzo
      • old tymer
      • gonzo wrote:
        Bannister's sub-4.
        Undeniably a landmark performance, and also one of the shortest-lived (6 weeks) mile WRs ever!
    • amazed by the Greek
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 5:36PM - in reply to Do the Oz
      • amazed by the Greek
      • Do the Oz wrote:
        The best of all time is however the 24 hour record of Yiannis Kouros - 303.506 km or 188 miles 1308 yards. This will still be around long after we have all become wormfood.
        I agree. Averaging a pace of 7:37/mile for 24 hours straight without a rest, stopping, slowing down is absolutely stunning. That's over 7 consecutive marathons in 3:20 each. Think about how worn out the body would feel just running 2 marathons b2b at that pace and you still wouldn't have run a third as far as Kouros did at that pace. I can't imagine this record ever being broken.
    • present
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 9:33PM - in reply to amazed by the Greek
      • present
      • As long as we're allowing field events, Dutch Warmerdam was incredibly better than everybody else in his day in the PV, as was Jim Thorpe in the multis.

        But my money would be on Iolanda Balas:

        http://www.cnn.com/2004/SPORT/...sitesearch

        She raised the world record 17cm (just shy of seven inches!), won two Olympics, and didn't lose for ten years; but for my money, the most amazing stat is this:

        "Such was Balas' domination that at the time she set her final world record in 1961 no other woman had gone higher than 1.78m."
    • EPICLULZ
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 9:42PM - in reply to present
      • EPICLULZ
      • If we are to include championship racing and winning medals, I doubt anything can top Zatopek's triple gold at 5k, 10k, and Marathon DEBUT. Apparently Lasse Viren tried to reproduce this but came up 4th in the marathon and he was one of the greatest of all time.
    • dmb
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 9:42PM - in reply to trailrunner65
      • dmb
      • well I was going to come here and say either Beamon or Johnson because both happened on the ultimate stage, but sh**

        I never knew that Kouris ran 188 miles in a day - that's like 7:40 pace for 24 straight hours, sick, very sick. That's amazing talent
    • present
      • RE: Greatest performance ever including era? 3/22/2008 9:42PM - in reply to present
      • present
      • [Sorry, hit the "Post" button early.]

        Her final world record was 1.91m (about 6-3 1/4)--no other woman had surpassed 5-10.

        Oh, yeah--Balas used the scissors style.