why was geb a better 5k runner than bekele - bekele has the WR

Bekele has the WR, won gold in the 5K at the Olympics and WC's, and won the diamond league for the 5K. He is obviously the best 5K runner no question

Geb does have a better mile time. I think most people believe he has a little better speed, because of that.

I however, agree that Bekele is superior over that distance, simply because he has run faster times with even faster last laps than Geb ever did.

Don't put too much stock in the WR conversation. If Geb would have come after Bekele, he would have lowered the WR. Geb ran for the record and beat it. If the WR was 12:37, he would have run 12:36.

Here's the deal: Geb handed it to Daniel Komen over 5000m, whereas Bekele got dropped by El G and Kipchoge in his career.

jurinamoi wrote:

Someone explain please.

Well, you are adopting a premise with which many differ, so it is as if I were to state that Sammy Wamjiru was the greatest marathoner in history. Many people believe that, and many do not. You might ask yourself where Geb in his prime would have finished in the 2003 WC 5000m, won by Kipchoge, or the 2004 Olympic 5000m, won by ElG, but remember that if you are comparing Geb to Bekele, Geb, like Bekele, would have run the 10,000m first.

A fresh Geb, in his prime, would have likely won the 2003 WC 5000m, and possibly the 2004 Olympic 5000m. Bekele might have also. Who knows?

This conversation is ridiculous. Most people have a hard time debating whether or not the world record holder or the Olympic/World Champion is the better runner at the event. Well in this case Bekele has both...how could someone who doesn't have the record NOR has won the event at the WC's or Olympics be a better runner at the event?

Csls wrote:

Don't put too much stock in the WR conversation. If Geb would have come after Bekele, he would have lowered the WR. Geb ran for the record and beat it. If the WR was 12:37, he would have run 12:36.

Here's the deal: Geb handed it to Daniel Komen over 5000m, whereas Bekele got dropped by El G and Kipchoge in his career.

I like how you left out the part where Komen beat Geb

No head-to-head match up but they ran in the same era, faster time wins.

mgm wrote:

No head-to-head match up but they ran in the same era, faster time wins.

No head to head match up between who?

Actually Bekele did beat Geb in his prime at the 10k distance. In 2003 Bekele beat Geb in the 10k running the best 10,000m in history.

If you look it up here are the results

1. Bekele 26:49

2. Geb 26:50

3. Sihine 27:01

but what you don't see is that the field went through 5k in 13:52. That means Bekele won a 10k race against Geb where the final 5k was run in in 12:57, and a remarkable 54.8 final lap!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvqAIl_Ydiw

Despite getting beaten in the final strides, this may have been Geb's best race he ever ran.

And when your wondering why Bekele lost the 5k later that week to Kipchoge and El G, remember that he had just run this race (not to mention the other prelims)

Kind of like why Robby Andrews will always be better than Wheating.

Good Wigins wrote:A fresh Geb, in his prime, would have likely won the 2003 WC 5000m, and possibly the 2004 Olympic 5000m. Bekele might have also. Who knows?

even a peak geb woudn't outsprint hicham in '04 ( maybe in '03 when at 12'52 it was close to hicham's limit )

The Rocket. wrote:but what you don't see is that the field went through 5k in 13:52. That means Bekele won a 10k race against Geb where the final 5k was run in in 12:57, and a remarkable 54.8 final lap!

you forget, this was well past geb's 5k prime ( although not 10k )

he'd already got hammered in 2 5ks on the circuit by chebbi in fairly fast races ( 12'53+ ) but geb didn't push it hard all the way round but stoopidly tried to outkick the biggest distance kicker of all time :

see bio here

his 10k was close to his best - he'd run 26'29 in race v kemboi when they slowed drastically in last 1 - 2k waiting for the kick - he was well below 26'25 that day if he'd kept the pace going at the end

i reckon his line of fit back then was ~

53.1 / 1'50.6 ->

3'34.9

4'51.1

7'26.3

12'44.0

26'23.0

age & training for M had decimated his basic speed ( he probably had lost close to 2s over 400, 3s over 1500 from his prime ) but had compensated with much better endurance which kept his 10k close to his best but the 5k had long gone from sub-12'40 territory

kennster wasn't racing against a prime 5k geb in '03 ( kennster obviously good for around 12'40 in '03 but he didn't seriously chase the clock that year )

for the record, i reckon kennster's prelim line of fit in '03 was ~

51.7 / 1'48.4 ->

3'31.8

4'47.6

7'22.3

12'40.2

26'22.8

in an actual flat-out 10k from the gun, there probably was no difference between them

Yes, it's hard to compare the two from the '03 Paris 10,000. Though Bekele won by a second, Geb was the ultimate pace setter for him and did the lion's share of work to get the sub 13 final half. But still, this was one of the rare occasions when their prime years overlapped. And the race itself was extremely analogous to their contributions to the sport. Geb breaks trail, then Bekele follows behind and then launches one step farther.

And it's a great point about Bekele being compromised after that 10,000 for the 5,000. Had Bekele skipped the 10,000, I get goose bumps thinking about what he could have done in that race.

Come to think of it, it would be a absolutely amazing to watch a 5,000 with a fresh Geb, Bekele, Koman, Choge, and El G. And one step farther, with good pacers, I have to think a record near or sub 12:30 would have happened.

bekele had better epo like

who cares

2003 was four to five years after Geb's best times in '98/'99.

So, for him to get drafted off and still come within a second of a Bekele at or near his peak in that fantastic 10k was extraordinary.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

2003 was four to five years after Geb's best times in '98/'99.

So, for him to get drafted off and still come within a second of a Bekele at or near his peak in that fantastic 10k was extraordinary.

That 1 second, if it was really that little, was over the course of 200m. Maybe less. But maybe I'm remembering wrong.

RE: why was geb a better 5k runner than bekele - bekele has the WR

The question by the OP is a little bit curious I think. Stating as a fact that Gebrselassie was "better" over 5000m than Bekele was.

For sure it is not a fact. And for sure, there isn't even a clear answer to this subject.

If we ask - for example - Gebrselassie v. Tergat over 5000m, than there is just one possible answer: Haile Gebrselassie. He beats Tergat in any possible subject which someone maybe wants to bring into the discussion. Gebrselassie has beaten Tergat any time they races over the distance (8 times), usually by big margins. Gebrselassie has the much better PB. Gebrselassie has the much better win loss record over the distance at all. Gebrselassie has set 7 world records (4 outdoors and 3 indoors) at the distance; Tergat 0. And so on.

But for sure the question was about Gebrselassie v. Bekele. Anybody who just says Gebrselassie was "better" or Bekele was "better" just shows his stupidity (or that he is not well informed - which for sure means he should not say anything to the subject at all).

Who would win when both in there absolute best 5k shape? Nobody can know this. I would say more often Gebrselassie would be the winner - but I can't be sure about this. When two athletes are so close together it's not even clear what "better" means at all. Titles won? Then the answer has to be Bekele. Totally ignoring the fact that Gebrselassie - for example - scipped the Göteborg '95 race because of the Zürich race a few days later- Where he improved the World Record by some 11 seconds. Records? Well, Gebrselassie has 7 World Records. Bekele 2 (1 outdoor and 1 indoor). But for sure we all know that Bekele has run faster than Gebrselassie. But he also came after Gebrselassie. So he had his times as the target. And so the discussion can go on and on. Gebrselassie has set world class performances 11 years apart from each other, which is also very rare. But some will argue this should not be so important to the question who is "better".

The answer to the question is clear: impossible to decide.

hermens sends geb and bekele all round the world to doping doctors

thats the system

you fools can debate whos best all you like it don mean nothin

just so ya know