I think the moderator is confused: Kenenisa's season was clearly better than Hicham

KENENISA BEKELE'S entire season

3000 m Winstreak: 6 (finals)

7:30.77i...PB.......1)Sparkassen Stuttgart 31 Jan

7:47.27+i...........1)Norw Union Birmingham 20 Feb

7:37.34+...SB.......1)FBKG Hengelo 1 Jun

7:41.31.............1)Norw Union Gateshead 27 Jun

5000 m

12:49.60i...WR,PB...1)Norw Union Birmingham 20 Feb

13:34.1h............1)NC Addis Ababa 8 May

12:37.35....WR,PB...1)FBKG Hengelo 31 May

13:21.16............1h1 OG Athína 25 Aug

13:14.59............2) OG Athína 28 Aug

10000 m Winstreak: 4 (finals)

26:20.31....WR,PB...1)GSpike Ostrava 8 Jun

27:05.10............1)OG Athína 20 Aug

Cross Country 4.0 km Winstreak: 2 (finals)

11:31 1 WC Bruxelles 20 Mar

Cross Country 12.0 km Winstreak: 1 (finals)

35:52 1 WC Bruxelles 21 Mar

HICHAM EL GUERROUJ's entire season

1500 m Winstreak: 1 (finals)

3:36.46........1rA Aragón Zaragoza 8 Jun

3:32.64........8)GGala Roma 2 Jul

3:32.20........1)Athletissima Lausanne 6 Jul

3:29.18........1)KBC Heusden 31 Jul

3:27.64....SB..2)WK Zürich 6 Aug

3:37.86........1h1.OG Athína 20 Aug

3:40.87........1s2.OG Athína 22 Aug

3:34.18........1)OG Athína 24 Aug

3000 m Winstreak: 6 (finals)

7:34.71i...SB..1)Gaz Liévin 28 Feb

5000 m Winstreak: 1 (finals)

13:21.87.......3h1.OG Athína 25 Aug

13:14.39...SB..1)OG Athína 28 Aug

I too think Kenenisa had the best season over any athlete by far and I would rank Stefan Holm (Swe) ahead of Hicham and maybe Tim Mack (USA) and Christian Olsson (Swe).

I have to agree with you here, Vip.

Guerrouj should be happy with his 2 Golds.

But I haven't seen anyone have a year like Bekele's in a long time.

Guerrouj isn't even at the top of the world list for any event this year.

Bekele definitely deserves the Athlete of the Year Award.

Look, he broke the 5000 indoor record, then 2 world records that were 6 years old, then won a Gold and a Silver in the Olympics, AND before that he won the World Cross Country.

Hicham did not have a great season UNTIL the Olympics, in which he obviously did quite well.

So it's either Times or Medals. Bekele achieved both.

Jason

Agreed! Responders to the front page poll have so far been misguided.

I am so glad that as great as a site Letsrun.com is that it doesn't hold the ability to give out IAAF and Track and Field News Athlete of the Year-because it would definitely be to the wrong athlete. The majority of the posters here also seem to be either misinformed, misguided, or too loyal to certain athletes.

If someone had a better season than Kenenisa I would be the first to admit it; however, for anyone to think Hicham or any athlete had a better season than Kenenisa raises question as to why they think that?

VIPAM

If it was only two world records vs. two olympic golds?

I would probably still give the award to the two world records.

Here's why the moderator did this visperm, it's all about one thing, winning the gold. The Marlins won the WS as a wild card team, they are the champions. The 49ers won the SB with only a 10-6 record, they are the champions. EL G won 2 golds and beat who many think should be athlete of the year. EL G is champion and athlete of the year.

Do you think El G should be ranked #1 in the 5000 with only one race?

I agree with all the posters here: Bekele definitely had the better YEAR: 3 World Records (El G:0), 1 Olympic Record (El G:0), 1 loss (El G:2), and 2 World Championships (El G:0). The only thing El G has on Bekele is an additional olympic gold over Bekele in a tactical Olympic 5,000 meter final. There is also the dominance factor, admittedly much less important than wins and times and records, but still worth mentioning because Bekele STOMPED his competition race after race. His winning margins were gigantic, whereas El G's wins were often small and sometimes quite slim, even in races with mediocre times.

El G. probably deserved Athlete of the Week during the Olympics, could receive "Performance of the Year" award for his Olympic 1,500 (or for the 1,500/5,000 meter double), and could make a good case for being ranked number one in the world in both the 1,500 and 5,000. But in looking at seasons for determining Athlete of the Year Awards, Bekele's year was clearly better than El Guerrouj's.

I'm gonna disagree here.

Bekele's loss in the 5,000 was too high profile, and too important. Who cares if he was running fast early in the season if he got beat to the line in the finals of the Olympic Games?

El G beat everyone when it counted. I vote for him.

As a side note, does anyone else think that Bekele's silver tarnishes his legacy at all? If he were to end his career today, I mean.

I say yes. For some reason I find 1 gold medal in one attempt more impressive than a gold and a silver.

Bekele deserves it. He had a better season. Period.

EL G beat Bekele and won Olympic GOLD. period.

The IAAF AOY isn't even debatable when you consider World Cross, which is IAAF sanctioned, but let's get right to the heart of the matter...

Compare the 2 WR's with the 2 OG's:

-In both WR's the rabbiting could have been better, yet Bekele willed himself past Geb's previously untouchable records. Looking at the world lists since Geb's records, no one else has been close. These aren't like swimming records that drop a tenth each time a major championship rolls around. These are marks that meet promoters and sponsors throw very real money at to break year in and year out. I mean really, if the '80 Olympics and the '81 track season had been the same year, would you give someone other than Coe the athlete of the year because he took a silver?

-The two OG's are probably the feel-good story of the year. Hicham has publicly battled Olympic failure for 9 years, and this season he's looked as vulnerable as ever, often distracted by family, health problems, and at one point suggesting Olympic withdrawal. Yes Bekele is pretty boring off the track as far as the media displays him, but don't let emotion cloud judgement on performances.

gold baby wrote:

EL G beat Bekele...

I wondered if I would get to this first or not.

All that matters is who crosses the finish line first. Time will never precede place in importance no matter how fast one can run solo. When El G and Bekele raced at a distance outside their respective strengths (and yes, I am discounting Bekele's WR in the 5000m because I think that his triple double is more impressive), El G proved superior. How many times do athletes get criticized for running "too fast, too early" in an Olympic year? Clearly all that matters in such a year is the Olympic final; all else is but a prelude.

Moreover, when was the last time before Bekele that an Olympic 10k record was broken or a 5k or 10k world record was broken? Now compare that to how long it had been since someone won both the 1500m and 5k at the same Olympics.

Again, all that matters in such a year is the Olympic final.

athlete of the YEAR

which means everything in the year, i do not think el g's ok year with some fantastic olympic performances outdo what bekel did the whole year. too many people are merely looking at the olympics. that is only a small piece of the pie. bekele 5k in and out. 10k. cross double ass whooping. 10k gold and still a 5k silver. el g won two olympic golds, good job. bekele won a gold and silver, and kicked ass the entire 11 months prior to the olympics. its athlete of the year, not athlete of the olympics. el g was to the point where he need the golds at the olympics for his mental well-being, now he can move on. bekele is young enough not to entirely focus on the olympics. no contest

bekele!

Samuelitis wrote:

As a side note, does anyone else think that Bekele's silver tarnishes his legacy at all? If he were to end his career today, I mean.

I say yes. For some reason I find 1 gold medal in one attempt more impressive than a gold and a silver.

Good point... I also think Phelps' performance sucked because he didn't get Gold in all 8 events thereby tarnishing the 6 Golds he did win. If you are at that level and you're not guaranteed to win, it's best to duck the event and the competition... what was Phelps thinking trying to beat Thorpe, what an idiot? He failed and shouldn't be swimmer of the year because of it, Thorpe should be.