2015 London Marathon men's elite field is amazing - greatest ever?

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9 years ago 01/09/2015 3:00am EST

re: londoner

londoner wrote:
That Bekele even felt at this stage in his career that he needed Canova's oversight is intriguing in itself.

i) in Ethiopia marathon is EXTREMELY important;

ii) BEKELE has always suffered to be less beloved than GEBRE in his country.

So he has set two last ambitious goals for his career, which he seems to be really motivated to accomplish:

1) win the marathon gold medal in the next OG (like BIKILA, WOLDE, ABERA, but unlike GEBRE...) ;

2) get the marathon WR.

If he achieved both goals, that would rank him without any possible discussion as the GOAT of long distance running.

Chicago was a disappointment, and a step back for him. Time is now short for him to be able to get ready for these two goals... It took more than five year for both GEBRE and TERGAT to master the distance, between their debut and their first WR, BEKELE cannot afford that: OG is already next year, he might also try a first WR attempt this fall then next possible shot would be in 2017 where he'd already have turned 34...

Thus the call for grandpa Renato's help ;-)

9 years ago 01/09/2015 6:35am EST

re: Drugs!!!!!

Agree. I would put a lot of money on the majority of the sub 206 guys being doped.

The argument that all the money is in the Marathon so that is why times have improved so much does not wash with me. Most of these guys can run 2 Marathons a year and the likelihood of winning or placing highly in both is low. There is still money in track and shorter distances where they can run many more races.

For me the biggest reason all these guys are switching to Marathon is that drugs testing is far easier to aviod. They can come out of hiding a couple of times per year to race where as they would be tested more often competing in shorter races. They can hide away dope themselves up to the eye balls and come off the dope just in time for their race.

WADA may do a limited amount of out of competition testing on Kenyans and Ethiopians but they cant do that much with the resources they have. Meanwhile the drug testing authorities in Kenyan and Ethiopia are still a total joke.

Lets Run makes me laugh. NOP are treated like the devil and guilty as charges yet these guys are all superheroes that can magically run 203, 204 and make it look easy. The world record set in 1988 stood at 2:06:50 for 10 years. Suddenly hoards of guys are breaking 2:06 like it is a walk in the park. Training is not that much more advanced to lead to such improvements. Sure the odd person may run exceptional times and take the record down but the volume’s of guys running so fast is a clear sign to me something is up. I am quickly losing interest in the elite side of the support it is becoming as fake as WWE wrestling.