rojo wrote:
-Rojo
PS. One last thing. I know Haile never did the 5k/10k double at the Olympics but does anyone really think he wouldnt have beaten venuste niyongabo in 1996? Please.
Maybe .. but they'd both very likely have been beaten by Komen, so that makes any point here moot.
wejo wrote
"To be fair to Jon, much of Jon's GOAT argument was based on IF Farah wins double golds this year and picks up another Olympic gold. A lot of the non GOAT arguments weren't projecting ahead. So Jon looks like the fall guy."
Well, to be fair to KB and Geb et al, then we should at least give them a few 'what ifs' as well.
IF KB breaks the marathon wr
If Geb had run the OG 5000m in Atlanta and won
If Komen's career had lasted longer
If Aouita had made some different choices in which OG races he entered.
The very premise of the "Article" is
"I told Robert that if Farah sweeps the 5k/10k at Worlds this year and the Olympics next year, it’s going to be very hard to say he isn’t what I wrote he could be in the WR recap — the greatest track distance runner of all-time."/i]
.. he would additionally have to (accomplish one of the following)
-win multiple major marathons
-run the marathon world record/or marathon pb of 2:03:30 or better
-win Olympic marathon gold (he’ll be 37 in 2020)
-break Bekele’s 5k world record"
Sure, he who frames the argument wins it.
You're saying that IF Farah sweeps the 5000/10 000m at this years's worlds, then again in the OG in 2016, and then additionally either wins multiple major marathons, with a pb of better than 2:03:30, wins an OG marathon gold or breaks Bekele's 5000m wordl record you might consider him in the running for GOAT?
Those are no small accomplishments.
How about this? If Farah runs for the next 10 years, at the pro level, doesn't lose a race, breaks every conceivable WR and OR for every distance from 3000m to the marathon, wins double gold in both WC and the OG as well as the OG marathon, he'll be the GOAT? Sure. Why not? Until then, he's not.
The GOAT is based on accomplishments, not goals. If we draw up a list of accomplishments that haven't yet been achieved, anyone can be the GOAT, right? How about if Caleb Ndiku wins the WC and OG 1500-5000m double, sets WRs in everything from 1500m - 5000m, doubles again in 2017, 2019 and 2020, before running the first ever sub 2:00hr marathon, can he be considered the GOAT?
Wejo, you keep suggesting the discussion is about 'if', yet both the article title and the thread title state a present tense. That's trolling, if nothing else.