Final word? Geb to Berlin, no Olympic Marathon

Geb is a coward. He is always avoiding competition.

I used to be a fan of him in the 90's when he was a good track runner, but now i am not impressed with all of his achievements in the road.

He knows that Ryan Hall and the Kenyans would all b****-slap his tiny little frame.

I can't figure out why Geb wouldn't want to win an Olympic marathon gold. Maybe he figures he has nothing left to prove since he has two 10k gold medals.

he always runs at the fastest courses and chases records. Geb, go where the competition is. Beating the best runners>beating the best times.

Runner 2 wrote:

I used to be a fan of him in the 90's when he was a good track runner, but now i am not impressed with all of his achievements in the road.

What? You're not impressed with his 1-hour WR that was a slower pace than a bunch of the top marks for the half marathon?

I agree with Runner2. Why Geb always run away from competition??? Even when he competed against the best at London 02 and 07, he didn't do well.

I am very disappointed in Geb. I never thought I would see him skip the OLYMPICS to go after a WR on a fast course a few weeks later. I'm pretty much speechless, because I never could've imagined GEB of all people doing this.

He says he wants to write his name in the history books as the first man to run under 2:04. Why not write your name in the history books as an Olympic gold medalist? That chance only happens every 4 years.

This will confirm his place in history as a great marathon time-trialist and not a marathon competitor.

Unfortunately, he is not a marathon competitor because we never seen him betting Lil or one of those guys. He should run with them and bet them, and then i will give him a credit.

Geb always will like to run solo. In games like Olympics, he will stay behind Kenyans to out kick them in the final stages. Look at his WR's, Kenyans were set to pace him not to compete against him. In fact 2005, some Kenyans were going for the WR with him, but the organizers had to do away with them because they "distablize" Geb... is that competition? He knows for sure Kenyans together with Ryan Hall will give him a hard time and some stomach butterflies.

It's the age old question, would you rather have an olympic medal or a world record and pretty much the greatest of all time just answered it for us.

The opportunity to run a world record presents itself much more often than winning a gold medal, especially, WHEN YOU ALL READY HAVE THE WORLD RECORD.

Unless the world record in the marathon is set in the middle of an extremely competitive race, the time that is set is of little relevance compared to winning against the best in the world. Is there a world record for International Cross Country? Do we get all exited when someone breaks the road 5k record, or the road 25k record... not really.

Everyone likes to run fast, but it's called road racing, not road track, and Geb hasn't figured that out yet. To be the best, you have to beat the best and trying to act like running a pancake paced marathon against no one has a bigger influence on your legacy than Martin Lel out powering the greatest field of all time three different times is just pompous...

Break the record, great, but you'll still never be a favorite to win a major like london, new york, boston, or chicago.

sc runner wrote:

I can't figure out why Geb wouldn't want to win an Olympic marathon gold. Maybe he figures he has nothing left to prove since he has two 10k gold medals.

Who said he would win? The Olympic Marathon isn't a rabbited time trial.

Alan

'"Also, no athlete has ever broken a world record for the marathon at the Olympics.' - Haile Gebrselassie

Didn't Bikila do it in 1960 in Rome? Or did I misunderstand what Geb is getting at?

You are correct. He probably meant in modern times, and obviously Beijing is not going to be the site of a potential record.

giddy wrote:

The opportunity to run a world record presents itself much more often than winning a gold medal, especially, WHEN YOU ALL READY HAVE THE WORLD RECORD.

Really? Geb "ALL READY" has the WR?

A lot of people dont give his WR credit because He did it in a solo race with pacers and possibly in a short course.

Gebrselassie has proven himself in tactical and time trial races more than anyone. He has never avoided another runner in his life, and has never needed too. While it is unfortunate that the greatest runner in history is going to skip his signature event at the Olympics, it does not make him any less great. A simple fact is, that Haile is not afraid of any runner in the world. His London races were anomalous exceptions to his otherwise near perfect racing career. Even the greatest have bad days. Give Gebrselassie a normal day, for him, and the rest of the world falls. Give him a great day, and history is usually made.

I think it's a perfectly valid decision on his part. He's worried about conditions affecting him in the future, which could possibly ruin his chances to set the world record later. Not saying I agree with that assumption, but I think that he, at least, is worried about it from what I've read.

Also, he has 2 oly golds, does a third mean THAT much? It would be different if he had never won one, but really, I can understand how being the first person to run under 2:04 means more to him. Very easily in fact. Not to mention, he is probably more likely to do that than win the olympic marathon anyway. Just my 2 cents.