BEST LONG DISTANCE RUNNER OF ALL TIME

long long distance wrote:

You guys are ignorant of the meaning of the term "long distance". The greatest ever was Yannis Kotouris.

careful with the word "ignorant" there cowboy. His name is "Yiannis Kouros"

or how about Yiannis Kouros' hero

Phidippides?

http://www.lakepowell.net/marathon.html

Lopes sure does have some justification for being one of the true greats. He medalled in the Olympics at 2 very different events, the 10km and the Marathon.

Yes, Zatopek was one of the greats, but the marathon time was well below what he could have run, but then again he did run a great 5km and 10km before that.

Forrest Gump.

1. Geb ( no need to discuss his greatness)

2. Tergat (xc after xc after xc champion. he did a lil something in a marathon once too.)

3. Bekele (end the end will be the greatest)

4. Viren (unstopable in 72(at only 23) and 76)

5. Zatopek (the great triple)

6. Nurmi (how many medals did this guy win!)

7. Steve Scott (very overshadowed because of boycotted olympics, 100+ sub4 miles)

8. Daniel Komen.......how can you not mention this guy. His times are legendary for 3k and 5k.

9. Wilson Kipketer (simply because no one will EVER touch his 800meter record)

10. Khalid (former and soon to be again world record holder in the thon.)

My opinion on the top 10 of all-time

The PointMAN

MAYEROFF wrote:

Lopes sure does have some justification for being one of the true greats. He medalled in the Olympics at 2 very different events, the 10km and the Marathon.

Yes, Zatopek was one of the greats, but the marathon time was well below what he could have run, but then again he did run a great 5km and 10km before that.

When you win 3 Olympic gold medals in a single Games, you can cast stones. Again too damn much attention to times. He ran fast enough to win during a summer marathon following two other victories (did they run heats in the 5 and 10 in those days?).

What he could have run...what a stupid statement. I guess if you ever win a marathon then it will be okay for me to say "Sure you won, but you could have run faster."

Just for yucks -- lifetime T&FN World Rankings points for male distance runners. Athlete of the Year rankings included.

Geb, 250 (4 events)

Zatopek, 197 (4 events, no AOY pts)

Aouita, 185 (5 events)

El G, 175 (3 events)

Keino, 167 (4 events)

Coe, 163 (2 events)

Morceli, 156 (3 events)

Clarke, 146.5 (2 events)

Kiptanui, 132 (3 events)

Kuts, 119 (3 events, no AOY pts)

Cram, 104 (2 events)

Tergat, 103 (4 events)

For comparison's sake, Nurmi's scoring total from world lists is 296 in the 1500/mile, steeple, 5k, and 10k. He also ran a 40k race at near-marathon-WR time in 1932.

I got to second Chamoody.

I disagree completely. Geb set like 20 WR's, Tergat how many, one? Geb's records were FAR more important. Geb took the 5000m from 12:58 to 39 with a few guys stepping in there every now and then and proceeded to hold it for 6 years. he did the same with the 10000m, taking it from barely under 27 to 26:22. Geb was UNDEFEATED ON THE TRACK against Tergat. He NEVER LOST TO THE MAN IN DOZENS OF RACES. How could you ever possibly consider Tergat better? XC is a FOOTNOTE compared to track. Yes, Tergat's XC stuff is great, but come on - track is what 99.99999% of people care about most and Geb beat his ass on a regular basis (ie every freakin' time they raced, literally). Geb took two freaking golds away from Tergat, Tergat doesn't even have a gold medal. Geb is 10x better than Tergat at 1500m, 2000m, 3000m, and 5000m. The only event Tergat was even competitive in on the track was 10000m, and he still never one gold. Geb won world indoors in the f***ing 1500m and almost set the 1500m indoor world record! Geb KILLS Tergat.