I think the reason the Olympic marathon might be more memorable than other marathons is because it's actually televised. Before Beijing's faster course, who'd really care about a slow (for world-slass runners) hilly marathon that previous Olympics had given us? But put it on TV and yeah, it's memorable (plus throw in some kilted freak priest and you even get ratings).
Haile is a businessman, which is why he always picks races which gives him the greatest chance at a win and has the best prize money packages. Even when he ran track WRs, he would break the WRs a little at a time. This is what Bekele does now. Why? because of the WR bonus structure. Haile is not concerned with the purist view of the sport. He is all about $$.
Wanjiru on the other hand, is more about pride. He will clean Haile's plate if they ever go head-to-head. Wanjiru is the future of the marathon and Haile's record will fall soon.
Mrr82 < full brain wrote:
Mrr82 wrote:How bout give Wanjiru grief for dodging Bekele for many years to come by moving up to the weaker event, the marathon in these recent years.
Another fine post from the guy who is still doing his altitude training on the treacherous alpine slopes of Lincoln, Nebraska. Remember that great post?
Wanjiru has dodged Bekeke? For many years? How old is Wanjiru? 21? Are you completely out of your mind, Mrr82? Again?
Mrr82 is still bitter about the fact that Rupp will never be able to compete with Wanjiru.
I don't see why people are comparing Geb to Wanjiru. They are in two completely different leagues. Geb is arguably the greatest distance runner of all time. Wanjiru doesn't even compare. Maybe he will one day break Geb's record. But until he does...
quote]what are you smoking?? wrote:
Geb already proved that the world had passed him by in the 10,000 in Athens. What, four years further on he was supposed to somehow magically revert to being anything other than an also-ran? Geb would need a flux capacitor-equipped DeLorean or prosthetic carbon fiber springs to have challenged for a medal in Beijing.
[/quote]
What are you talking about? Geb was 5.5 seconds out of the win in Beijing and was in the hunt until the very end. "anything other than an also-ran". The better question is what have you been smoking?
As for Wanjiru destroying the WR in the marathon we'll see when that occurs. He sure has the balls to go for it. Don't forget Gharib though. 44 seconds back in Beijing under the same conditions. He'd have to be thought of as a threat to the WR as well.
Live from Beijing wrote:
(plus throw in some kilted freak priest and you even get ratings).
How the fvck could that lead to "ratings" if nobody knew about it beforehand?
don't see why people are comparing Geb to Wanjiru. They are in two completely different leagues. Geb is arguably the greatest distance runner of all time. Wanjiru doesn't even compare. Maybe he will one day break Geb's record. But until he does...
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Agreed.......it's usually the vocal and ignorant minority writing these negative posts on letsrun.......Geb ran a super race......Wanjiru ran a great Olympic marathon......Geb does have two Olympic gold medals and four WC golds..........stop the madness.......remember, marathoners usually don't have a long career....... I like Wanjiru as well..... but if Sammy races too many marathons, it's very likely he will not be competing into his 30's.........
Apples and oranges. Albeit, pretty orangey apples and applish oranges.
They're both worth remembering, both crazy, both score major points in the "who's the best marathoner right now" debate.
I'm happy for Geb that he can look back at his decision to run the 10k rather than the marathon in beijing and say he got what he wanted out of it--an early fall WR.
I don't really care if Geb ducks big competitions. He won big races when he was younger. If he ran against the best guys now, he might run slower and get beaten and no one would be better off.
As long as he keeps pushing back the WR, he's forcing the young guys to continue raising the bar. That makes the sport better to watch.
Geb has never won a against a truly world class field, he time trials which he does very well.
Yes Wanjiru finished second in London, but he himself said before the race he wasn't 100% for that race, and Lel at the time was the most feared marathoner on the planet, those guys ran 2.05 low in atrocious conditions in London, there is no doubt in my mind they could've run something in the 2.04s if the conditions were better.
The field in Beijing was the strongest Olympic marathon field in some years.
Warnjiru is a head-to-head competitor, Geb is a time trialist.
But if Warnjiru had come to this race, he'd have used Geb's pace to even attempt to keep up.
flower boy wrote:
Geb has never won a against a truly world class field, he time trials which he does very well.
Yeah, right. Gold medals. Let's see Olympics - Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. Weak fields.
1993, 1995, 1997, 1999 World Championships. More weak fields.
2001 IAAF World Half-Marathon champion. Bunch of weekend warriors were chasing him.
Those are just championship events. As for non-championship events while some have featured weak fields, others have had deep fields. Say what you want, but at least be able to back it up.
I don't think either race can be compared to each other. Now we have to look ahead. Geb thinks he can go 2:03:30. He pretty much said he needs to do that to keep it from being broken by somebody else. Geb knows what Wanjuri is capable of. Geb will bring Wanjuri to his best and we'll get to watch it all happen over the next couple of years.
Wanjuri said he would go after the world best time after the Olympics. We'll see what happens.
Boy Wonder wrote:
flower boy wrote:Geb has never won a against a truly world class field, he time trials which he does very well.
Yeah, right. Gold medals. Let's see Olympics - Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. Weak fields.
1993, 1995, 1997, 1999 World Championships. More weak fields.
2001 IAAF World Half-Marathon champion. Bunch of weekend warriors were chasing him.
Those are just championship events. As for non-championship events while some have featured weak fields, others have had deep fields. Say what you want, but at least be able to back it up.
THIS IS A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE MARATHON. Everyone agrees that Geb took on all chalengers for other distances. It is ignorant and misleading and off the topic to bring up other events.
Reaganomics wrote:
Your coach was mistaken. Records are made to be broken and they're overrated. Geb has zero golds (not even from WC) in the marathon. If you can't consistently show up and beat anyone, anywhere, anytime at that distance then you're not "at the top of the sport." WMM is a better measure of that.
Geb has won two olympic gold 10k medals in what were two of the best distance battles in the history of sport between Geb and Tergat. So to say Geb is just a time trialist is plain stupid. In his prime he arguably had as good of a kick as Bekele.
bad format? wrote:
Live from Beijing wrote:(plus throw in some kilted freak priest and you even get ratings).
How the fvck could that lead to "ratings" if nobody knew about it beforehand?
Facetiousness, get ouer yourself.
MMjrKenyan wrote:
Reaganomics wrote:Your coach was mistaken. Records are made to be broken and they're overrated. Geb has zero golds (not even from WC) in the marathon. If you can't consistently show up and beat anyone, anywhere, anytime at that distance then you're not "at the top of the sport." WMM is a better measure of that.
Geb has won two olympic gold 10k medals in what were two of the best distance battles in the history of sport between Geb and Tergat. So to say Geb is just a time trialist is plain stupid. In his prime he arguably had as good of a kick as Bekele.
You're confused or you just suck really bad at reading comprehension if you didn't see and understand the words "marathon" and "at that distance" in my post. Try again when you're ready to act like you're alert enough to keep up.
Camoo wrote:
Ronaldo da Costa, Belayeh Denismo, without looking...but your point is valid...far more people remember Baldini than remember Densimo
Before that it was Lopes, Jones, and Clayton, I think.
Obviously either one is a significant accomplishment, but I think a career with Oly Gold and no WR is probably a more satisfying one than the reverse. Setting a WR may be harder, but you have more chances to do it. If you have three shots at Olympic Gold you are doing pretty well.
You can also pick and choose where and when to run your world record, not so with the Olympics (this matters less for the shorter distances, obviously).
i really enjoy posts like this, people trying to compare an olympic medal to a world record. one person one last 3 seconds till someone else run faster then the other saying 3 olympics down the road nobody remembers. both taking away from a performance that will forever be in the record books. to set a world record means that as long as we have kept history of that event not one single person on the entire planet has ever performed to that level. winning an olympic gold, with the entire world watching, with the pressure of your family, friends, government, sponsor you competed against the best currently alive on the planet....... and beaten them all head to head. you are at that single moment the best competitor in the world in that discipline. how anyone can take anything away from either just blows my mind. right now in the marathon we are blessed that one of the greatest ever to put on track spikes is allowing us to enjoy what he can do by stretching his career by running the marathon. meanwhile we also have someone that has shown us all that at such a young age he might be the best to ever put on racing flats.
^^ Unreadable ^^
OMGosh wrote:
No.
Olympic Gold is cool for track and field
For the marathon, a WR is cooler
No one remembers Olympic Marathoners, people remember the WR in the marathon.
No one remembers Olympic Marathoners? You are utterly retarded. Stefano Baldini, Sammy Wanjiru, Frank Shorter, Abebe Bikila (sp?), Carlos Lopez, Zatopek, Mamo Wolde.
I can barely name three past World Record holders off the top of my head, Kannouchi, Geb and Tergat.