I like Geb's top 3 runners of all time, but I think I would have put Zatopek over Nurmi. Nurmi might've won more golds, but Zatopek ran faster times, and was the first and only triple gold medalist in an olympics for the distances of 5000m, 10000m, and marathon. Beast.
What do you think about Geb's top 3?
You all know Bikila ran marathons barefoot, right? At the end of the 1960 Olympics marathon, Bikila had stickers and blood coming out of his feet.
Geb is a politician and is just pandering. He had to put Bikila in top because he wanted to give respect to his country but couldn't say he himself was the best ever and he probably didn't want to jinx Bekele by putting him there. The other two are pandering the LRC crowd and other westerners because they are white boys. No one could really think people running in an era with so little competition could be the best, which is why Louis Tewanima is never considered the best American distance runner despite his impressive Olympic performances.
The real top 3 imo are:
(1) Bekele--XC dominance, multiple WRs, 3x gold and 1 silver in just two olympics
(2)Coe--gold/silver back-to-back plus many WRs
(3)El G--many records, pair of Golds
Tergat - GOAT!
Certainly Geb, Bekele and Tergat are all up there, as are Nurmi and Zatopek. Coe was an 800/miler. His better range was dropping to 400 rather the going up to 5k or 10k. He was pure middle distance. How would he be that much better then Morceli, El G, or Kipketer? Kipketer had a medal in his pocket if it wasn't for the Olympic Rules.
Anyway, El G is up there, but not top 3. Similar to Coe, not enough range to call him the greatest distance runner ever. One of the best mid-d guys for sure... but his wheelhouse ended at 5k, and he couldn't drop down to 800 like Coe could. Komen is up there, but its hard to actually list him because he didn't have any longevity, and no medals.
So, Geb, Bekele, Tergat, Nurmi and Zatopek are certainly standouts, imho.
How you don't have Geb in the top 3 is ridiculous. 1500 indoor gold through marathon world record. So he wasn't dominant in cross country. Who cares? He was/is on the track and roads and no one in history has showed his range. His ability makes no sense. And for all of Bekele's concentration, its not like he bettered Geb's records by leaps and bounds... he improved them marginally. Geb broke through to a new level. He did what no-one had every done before him. He brought the record from 12:56 (I think) to 12:39! Bekele took it 2 more seconds! What was the WR in the 10k before Geb eventually brought it to 26:22?
Geb broke so many barriers and did it from the 1500 to the marathon. INSANE.
I definitely agree that Geb is great, and maybe the best range ever, and I strongly considered him for top 3 BUT he had one thing that knocked him down--no doubling. Range is great, but only matters to me if you have great range at the same time and use it to win medals. Geb limited his number of medals by not doubling. And I am suspicious that he did not double because he was dodging. He also seemed to dodge in XC. I cannot say that the greatest distance runner is a dodger, and Geb seems like a dodger to me. My top 3 all medaled in multiple events at the same Olympics, as did Zatopek and Nurmi. Geb never did. Also El G is definitely better than Kipketer and Morceli because he has more records and more golds. Komen also out because of no medals, and lets be honest, dude probably had a drug problem.
I don't get this Geb is a dodger stuff. He wasn't that great at cross, but he was on the track, so he became WC indoors in the 1500. That is crazy. I don't count that as dodging cross country because he met a 1500 field head on... an event that he should have no business being good at! He didn't dodge Tergat... twice... at the 10,000. When he set the World Record in the marathon (I think twice) wasn't he pushed quite late into the race? Panic? No... just accelerated and won.
Geb is smart. He's still competing and winning in his late 30s whereas Bekele is torn up and done (possibly). Given the hardness of the Atlanta Track, and his achilles problems that started by the 2000 Olympics, Geb would have been foolish to double in either Olympics.
The only thing that surprised me and took him down a notch in my book was not competing in Beijing. The whole not running because of the pollution was a bit much for me... so I will give you that.
Oh, Geb also didn't dodge the competition in 2004 when he surely knew deep down that his best shot was bronze in the 10,000. He still went out there and competed and finished respectably... despite finishing 5th or whatever it was.
Well to each his own, but not matter what excuses Geb always seemed like a dodger to me. If you are the greatest I think you say "f-- it, I want to race the best," like Bekele did against El G in the 5k. So I don't know, maybe Geb is just more shrewd, but seems like a dodger, especially in XC.
So what about his list ? Geb hasn't won 9 major marathons yet like Seko has.
Wait, let me get this straight. Geb falls off your list because he was a "dodger," so you put him behind Coe? Do you believe Coe did not dodge racing Ovett and Steve Smith other than in the Olympics and the rare other occassions where it suited him?
[quote]jagerbomberjacket wrote:
Geb limited his number of medals by not doubling. And I am suspicious that he did not double because he was dodging. He also seemed to dodge in XC. I cannot say that the greatest distance runner is a dodger, and Geb seems like a dodger to me. My top 3 all medaled in multiple events at the same Olympics, as did Zatopek and Nurmi.
I'm the last American hero.
Top runner of all time?
Wilma Rudolph.
I'd have to agree that putting Bikila at the top was largely political on Geb's part, although the historical significance of how he certainly opened up Africa as the source for distance runners can't be understated. It's hard to displace Nurmi or Zatopek from the top 3, and I don't see how to separate Geb and Bekele, so I'll call it a top 4.
Of course, if we're talking about top racers, Viren has to be right up there...
Bikila was the first (and besides Cierpinski the only one) to successful defend an Olympic Marathon title. That earns him a spot in the top 3, no questions asked.
As to who ran faster times? Irrelevant. We have to put everything into perspective.
Zatopek must be up there, too. No one ever won 5000, 10000 and Marathon in the same Olympics besides him and no one ever will again.
Number three must be Haile himself.
I think Geb needs to be in the top 3 along with Zatopek, Coe, Bekele, Tergat, Nurmi, El G, and Viren
Phenom Man wrote:
I think Geb needs to be in the top 3 along with Zatopek, Coe, Bekele, Tergat, Nurmi, El G, and Viren
All 9 guys all need to be in the top 3?
Kenenisa Bekele is #1
willy k wrote:
Phenom Man wrote:I think Geb needs to be in the top 3 along with Zatopek, Coe, Bekele, Tergat, Nurmi, El G, and Viren
All 9 guys all need to be in the top 3?
Of course!
1 Bekele (pending HM and marathon world records)
2 Gebreselassie
3 Guerrouj
Nurmi and Geb tied for first for domination against the competition at their time.
Then Keninisa
Rono
Zatopek
El Gerrouj
Aouita
Tergat.
Abebe Bekela
Ron Clarke belongs in the top 10. I would look at it as considering the era and the runners who at that time had greatly distanced themselves from anything you thought possible in humans running long distance.
jagerbomberjacket wrote:I cannot say that the greatest distance runner is a dodger, and Geb seems like a dodger to me. .
As others mentioned he raced Tergat at 10k...sorry but you don't choose Tergat if you're trying to Dodge competition, a 26:27 guy himself.
Geb also took on everyone at 10k in Beijing. Some people gave him a hard time because of his asthma reason for not competing in the marathon in the smog, but you can't say he's a dodger for choosing to do the 10k against the likes of Bekele.
I wasn't aware choosing not to double in the olympics means you're dodging.
He also won 3? indoors 3k world champs, along with his 1500 which i believe was a 1500/3k double? How's that for impressive.