Worst runner with an Olympic gold medal?

Based on zero historical research and his PRs compared to the current WR, I would say Mo Farah is the worst distance runner with a gold medal. Or perhaps the guy that won the 2004 Olympic marathon.

Worst on paper going into the race would be Billy Mills.

Peter Rono - 1988 1500m

Couldn't even win NCAA's that year or the next year. Wasn't even the best guy on his college team.

Going into 1988 you had:

Seb Coe- Reigning Olympic Champion

Abdi Bile - Reigning world champion

Said Aouita - 1500m world record holder

Steve Cram - Mile world record holder

Peter Rono only ran 3:42 the year before and he ran his lifetime PR in that race - 3:35.96

Never ran better than 3:41 after that.

I don't even know how he made the Kenyan team.

Waldemar Cierpinski - drugged to the gills in 76 and 80

Nils Schumann

i live under a bridge wrote:

Waldemar Cierpinski - drugged to the gills in 76 and 80

Correct.

Paula Ivan

Hands down. Couldn't break 2:15 for the half in Dec, wins Olympic 1500m gold in August

Paula Ivan ran the second fastest 1500 in history at the time (3:53.96 isn't the worst runner to win Gold)

But, yeah, she came out of nowhere and slowed down right after.

Ben Johnson - 10.44 in the 1983 World Championships.

tons of one marathon winners you've barely heard of:

Stefano Baldini

Gezahegne Abera

Josia Thugwane

Young-cho Hwang

Gelindo Bordin

Constantina Tomescu

Mizuki Noguchi,

Naoko Takahashi

Valentina Yegorova

agip wrote:

tons of one marathon winners you've barely heard of:

Constantina Tomescu

Uh, no.

1998 World Cross Country Championships Marrakesh, Morocco 16th Short race

European Championships Budapest, Hungary 17th Marathon 2:34:35

World Half Marathon Championships Uster, Switzerland 29th Half marathon

1999 World Cross Country Championships Belfast, Northern Ireland 14th Long race

11th Short race

World Championships Seville, Spain 19th Marathon

World Half Marathon Championships Palermo, Italy 12th Half marathon

European Cross Country Championships Velenje, Slovenia 2nd Senior race

2nd Team race

2000 World Cross Country Championships Vilamoura, Portugal 35th Long race

22nd Short race

2001 World Cross Country Championships Ostend, Belgium 33rd Long race

World Championships Edmonton, Canada 10th Marathon 2:30:38

World Half Marathon Championships Bristol, United Kingdom 32nd Half marathon

Tokyo Marathon Tokyo, Japan 4th Marathon 2:26:39

2002 European Championships Munich, Germany 7th 10,000 m

World Half Marathon Championships Brussels, Belgium 22nd Half marathon

2003 World Championships Paris, France DNF Marathon

World Half Marathon Championships Vilamoura, Portugal 5th Half marathon

2004 Summer Olympics Athens, Greece 20th Marathon 2:37:31

World Half Marathon Championships New Delhi, India 3rd Half marathon

Chicago Marathon Chicago, United States 1st Marathon 2:21:30 PB

2005 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 3rd Marathon

World Half Marathon Championships Edmonton, Canada 1st Half marathon

2006 European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 11th 10,000 m 31:49.47 PB

World Road Running Championships Debrecen, Hungary 2nd 20 km

2007 London Marathon London, United Kingdom 3rd Marathon 2:23.55

2008 Summer Olympics Beijing, China 1st Marathon 2:26:44 SB

Probably someone whose gold medal was in something other than running. I'd guess that there are some pretty slow runners with gold medals in powerlifting.

by god you're right. she won one other marathon.

seriously - this is your argument?

Uh, yes agip, I'm serious. There was a 5 year period where she was a threat to win every race she entered. She was about a tenth of a mile from winning a second Chicago when Deena died near the finish.

Don't make it sound like she showed up to one race and never did anything else.

amcz wrote:

Uh, yes agip, I'm serious. There was a 5 year period where she was a threat to win every race she entered. She was about a tenth of a mile from winning a second Chicago when Deena died near the finish.

Don't make it sound like she showed up to one race and never did anything else.

ok - scratch her from the list.

the bigger point is that the olympic marathon is a crapshoot - the most unpredictable and luck-dependent event. The winner list is full of barely remembered names.

toro wrote:

Peter Rono - 1988 1500m

Couldn't even win NCAA's that year or the next year. Wasn't even the best guy on his college team.

Going into 1988 you had:

Seb Coe- Reigning Olympic Champion

Abdi Bile - Reigning world champion

Said Aouita - 1500m world record holder

Steve Cram - Mile world record holder

Peter Rono only ran 3:42 the year before and he ran his lifetime PR in that race - 3:35.96

Never ran better than 3:41 after that.

I don't even know how he made the Kenyan team.

Peter Rono ran 3:39 the year before, and has run faster than 3:35,96 in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992.

But still he is a good candidate for that "title" of the thread topic.

The other name from the last decades obviously is Nils Schumann.

Also Million Wolde hasn't done that much outside of the Olympics.

Valerie Adams

/thread

Worst or least deserving?

How about Stanisława Walasiewicz (gold medal women's 100m 1932 Olympics)or Ewa Kłobukowska (bronze medal for 100m and gold medal for 4x100 relay in 1964 Olympics) both of whom were Polish women who were actually men.

by god you're right. she won one other marathon.

seriously - this is your argument?[/quote]

Hey, man, leave him alone. She has gotten 11th and 7th in the European 10k championships. She must be like super legit or something.