Greatest Double of All Time?

I think I would allow triples, quadruples, and quintuples...etc.

paavo nurmi's was pretty impressive.

i didn't know they had cross country as an olympic sport back then.

i can see for miles wrote:

El G in 2004 has to be up there. He beat 2 of the best ever in Bekele and Lagat - both in their prime.

The last 100m of that race was exhilarating. El G was passed and I thought it was over. He beat Lagat by sheer force of will.

Same day double:

Don Paige, Villanova, won the NCAA 800 and 1500 with only about 20 mnnutes in between.... that would be in the late '80's.

anynone heard of this guy named Carl Lewis??? think he was pretty good...

Bekele's multiple doubles at the World XC champs. He won the long AND short course races 5 years in a row. That's the 2 most difficult races in the world to win a day apart.... winning one or the other is a great achievement. Winning both is extraordinary. Doing it for five years in a row is simply off the charts.

Jack Lovelock wrote:

Cannot believe nobody has mentioned Viren's 'Double Double' from 72 & 76. It, along with Zatopek's triple in 52, will never be done again (even Gebrselassie and Bekele couldn't do it!). Phenomenal.

Thats a Double-Double Animal Style !!!! .... because he fell in the 10K in 72, got up and won it in a World Record time! THats the best "quad" of all time!! ....man im gettin hungry

Bill Huntington wrote:

If you want to include same-day doubles, Pre ran 3:56.8 and 13:06.4 mile-3mile within two hours in 1973.

Also consider David Bedford at 1972 British Olympic trials.

27:47 10,000 followed by 13:17 5,000 within 18 hours.

How can it not be Juantorena? who even tries doubling at 400/800 and who sets mid-d WRs in the Olympics in the modern era?

tempered, of course, by the fact that he was an eastern bloc athlete in the 1970s and is therefore dubious.

Bekele's 2008 Olympic double, which I consider to be extremely underrated. Sets an Olympic record in the 10k, then comes back to destroy the 5k record.

If you don't count the 4 x 100 then Bolt's 100 and 200 double at the 2009 World Championships.

Jeremykokoe wrote:

Mark Everett USA in the 90's ran 1:43.20 800m & 44.59 400m.

Everett was a great runner but Juantorena ran those times in an Olympic final 20 years earlier.

I think that double may never be repeated. The 5k/10k double has been accomplished multiple times. The 1500/5k by El G and Lagat. The 800/1500 by Snell (and a tainted Ramzi).

Of course Zatopek's triple is the pinnacle of achievement in the sport.

But consider this: If Juantorena were competing this year, with those times he would still be a strong contender for medals in both events. The same can not be said for Viren who won his last double in the same Olympics.

Well, El Guerrouj on the distance side and...

...Bolt didn't do too bad in the Beijing olympics: winning the 100m, slowing down, and breaking MJ's record into a headwind!!!

GERMAN FERNANDEZ PPL PLZ!!! THE MOST IMPRESSIVE DOUBLE EVER CONSIDERING AGE AND RECOVERY TIME.

I used to know wrote:

Same day double:

Don Paige, Villanova, won the NCAA 800 and 1500 with only about 20 mnnutes in between.... that would be in the late '80's.

1979

i can see for miles wrote:

But consider this: If Juantorena were competing this year, with those times he would still be a strong contender for medals in both events. The same can not be said for Viren who won his last double in the same Olympics.

Yes, but if Viren was around today, I think his talent and work ethic would have seen him be every bit as competitive with the Africans.

hate to burst your bubble but Lukas V 2 mile - mile double at '11 NBIN was better.

you have to look hard wrote:

Yes, but if Viren was around today, I think his talent and work ethic would have seen him be every bit as competitive with the Africans.

Doubt it. He also would have been busted for blood doping.

I vote for Juantorino

Nope, Bekele held close to that pace for 10K with his 26:17.

Bill Huntington wrote:

If you want to include same-day doubles, Pre ran 3:56.8 and 13:06.4 mile-3mile within two hours in 1973.

Dolly Parton