Mo Farah needs to run a fast 800 to establish the best RANGE ever

Yeah did Nurmi ever medal in the Olympics at 800? And at the same time the top 5000 and 10,000 runner in the world? Even in the 1930's?

Aouita was the only runner in the modern era (post 1960) that would even think of attempting the 800 in an Olympics while at the same time the top 1500, 5000, and 10,000 runner,

HobbyCogger wrote:

But Nurmi was likewise able to race and win at all distances from 800 up,

No, not over 800m. Over 80m he couldn't win against the top competition of his era.

if i was incredibly wealthy i would offer mo farah $1 million (or more, whatever) if he could:

(1) break 26:30 in the 10k and/or

(2) break 12:40 in the 5k.

i would pay for rabbits, work with meet organizers, get him into a meet at the right point of his training. whatever the little fella wanted. I'd take care of everything he needed for a good go at it.

You think he'd go for it?!

***the CONDITION is that he do random tri-weekly drug tests (in city/country/municipalities of his choice for 6 months leading up to the race. then we might be slightly more confident in his GOAT status if he could pull that sh*t off.

but i'm doubtful every since someone posted Mo's progress and Tegenkamps progress side-by-side a couple of months ago....i'm failry convinced little Mo is cheating. He basically was the same runner as Teg time and place-wise before salazar

George Atlas wrote:

Yeah did Nurmi ever medal in the Olympics at 800? And at the same time the top 5000 and 10,000 runner in the world? Even in the 1930's?

Aouita was the only runner in the modern era (post 1960) that would even think of attempting the 800 in an Olympics while at the same time the top 1500, 5000, and 10,000 runner,

Agree completely. Nobody really has approached that range simultaneously and also been a legitimate medal contender at WCs/OGs.

The real question is, for ultimate supremacy, could Geb beat Farah's 12.98 in the 100m?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJMIwlQB-28

just wikipedia El G, Kenny B, Geb and Farah and you'll see a lot of world records and gold medals. it's amazing to look at what these guys have accomplished

To summarize my opinion: Farah is a good tactician and wins more than anyone when it oc***s. he's amazing at winning. I know that's the point, but i'd rather watch kenenisa, el g, komen, or geb races that Farah races. I like how geb and kenny won tons of races but also went after times. it would have been easier on their bodies

Farah can still be a marathon stud if he wants to be. He's only run one.

I'm no expert, but i'm guessing farah could run under 59 for the half if he gave it a good build up

that being said, i like geb more than farah as GOAT. Geb knew how to win AND run fast. he won like 9 marathons and had the world record. he also had some other world records and always seemed to go for it, whether it was a 1500m or some 20k or 1-hour time trial. look at his resume just based on times. all faster than farah except the 1500m. jesus

3:31

7:25

8:01

12:39 (his indoor, 12:50 pr is faster than Mobot's outdoor)

26:22

44:24 (10 miles)

58:55

2:03:59

geb has a better resume based on times, but it's about winning the damn race says bowerman, and farah is exceptional at winning the important races. look at 2011-current. lots of gold medals

kenenisa has so many golds too, many from XC, which i like. it's kind of more impressive than farah having run a 3:28. also, he ran very fast very often. he ran 26:20 in 2004, then 26:17 WR in 2005 then a 26:25 in oregon 3 years after his WR. what do you guys think?

if farah ran 12:3x or 26:2x i would be willing to call him the GOAT. and i don't like him

he wins the 5/10 at the olympics next year, he will certainly be the GOAT at winning championships. no one would come close, would they?

they were/are probably all dopers. let's be real.

safrazap wrote:

Star wrote:

Aouita vs. Farah in Olympic events:

800 1:43.86 - 1:48.69

1500 3:29.46 - 3:28.81

5000 12:58.9 - 12:53.11

10,000 27:26.11 - 26:46.57

Marathon DNR - 2:08:21

You can pick some non-championship distances where Aouita has a better PR outside of the 800.

You have not talked about Olympic events.

You got Aouita's 5000m PB wrong.

You forgot the 3000mSt.

So, Aouita has the better PB than Farah in the 800m, 1000m, 1 Mile, 2000m, 3000m, 3000mSt.

But for sure Farah's sequence of marks is very impressive and might be better than Aouita's. But when considering when Aouita has set his PBs, it's not anymore close.

He didn't include the steeple because most runners never attempt it and it falls between 3000 and 5000, which is already listed.

Further, Mo's 1500 & indoor 2 mile are superior to Aouita's Mile and 3000 on conversion.

His 5000 PR is also better, as well as his 10,000.

reader of the forums wrote:

safrazap wrote:

You have not talked about Olympic events.

You got Aouita's 5000m PB wrong.

You forgot the 3000mSt.

So, Aouita has the better PB than Farah in the 800m, 1000m, 1 Mile, 2000m, 3000m, 3000mSt.

But for sure Farah's sequence of marks is very impressive and might be better than Aouita's. But when considering when Aouita has set his PBs, it's not anymore close.

He didn't include the steeple because most runners never attempt it and it falls between 3000 and 5000, which is already listed.

Further, Mo's 1500 & indoor 2 mile are superior to Aouita's Mile and 3000 on conversion.

His 5000 PR is also better, as well as his 10,000.

Meant 1500, which is already listed.

Why are we comparing times? They ran 30 years apart. Mo should be faster.

But we can compare achievements. Ignoring results from indoors and weird distances:

Aouita:

Olympic & WC gold at 5k

WC bronze at 1500

Olympic bronze at 800

WRs at 1500, 3k, 5k

Farah:

Olympic & 3x WC gold at 5k

Olympic gold, 2x WC gold, 1x WC silver at 10k

Aouita has the better range as measured by accomplishments. Farah probably has the better GOAT resume, since that tends to be measured by dominance in your primary event (like El Guerrouj) or sometimes even two events (like Michael Johnson 200 & 400).

ventolin to the power of doink wrote:if i was incredibly wealthy i would offer mo farah $1 million (or more, whatever) if he could:

(1) break 26:30 in the 10k and/or

(2) break 12:40 in the 5k.

i would pay for rabbits, work with meet organizers, get him into a meet at the right point of his training. whatever the little fella wanted. I'd take care of everything he needed for a good go at it.

You think he'd go for it?!

eh ???

do you think aiming for < 7'20 woud be a "lesser" aim than the above ???

if he did < 7'20, woud anyone actually ever care that he never even bothered with a shot at < 12'40 or < 26'30 ???

woud anyone here seriously doubt that if he < 7'20 that any claim he coud make after such as :

"i ran < 7'20 & proved i can bust the clock

i am not bothering with 12'40 or 26'30 as i don't have the time to go chasing further clockings in the brief remainder of my track career & as i'm now only after 2 more double golds"

that he is absolutely correct & has no need to chase 5k/10k clockings ???

woud a < 7'20 shut up all the doubters here & negate the need to chase a < 12'40 or < 26'30 ???

The great Augustine Choge has ran 7:28.00, faster than either Aouita or Farah, and better than Farah's world "record" at 2 miles. His 12:53 was on a non-Monaco track unlike Farah's. And his 3:29.47 in Berlin is more impressive than Farah's Monaco-assisted 3:28.high's too.

Indeed, if you add up Choge's times in the major events from 800 to 5000, he beats both Aouita and Farah easily.

Choge

1:44.86

3:29.47

7:28.00

12:53.66

= 25:35.99

Aouita

1:43.86

3:29.46

7:29.45

12:58.39

= 25:41.16

Farah

???

3:28.81m

7:33.1

12:53.11m

= 23:55.02

meaning he'll need a 1:40.97 to match Choge from 800 to 5000. Perhaps you think his 8:03.4 2 mile means he can run a faster 3000, if so let him go out and do it, until then 8:33.1 is all he's got. Certainly it's not worth better than 7:30 so he'd still need sub 1:44. Not gonna happen.

On the other hand, it's only a matter of time before Choge, who is still only 28, moves up to 10,000 and runs some solid sub-27's which he is built to do easily. Then all that shiny limpic and WC hardware will be moot because you can't be range GOAT if someone's got better PR's over that range.

Nobody notices Choge because he's an honest blue-collar runner not a showboater. But he's the fastest overall so far on the track.

I agree with your predictions as Mo has cemented himself with his 3min28 1500m ffs people that is fast,but from the general consensus it looks LRC audience love balls to the wall/hard front running ala Pre.Why should Mo do if he has the streak and is the master tactian.Geb did his fair share of sit and kicking ask Daniel K.Its up to the boys to show him the way ie Asbel.Then and only then will we see.

As pointed out several times, Aouita's prime years were about 30 years ago...long enough where straight time comparisons are not completely just when evaluating against current runners.

Also, in terms of the WCs only being held every 4 years back in the day, Aouita would've had two great opportunities to add medals had there been WCs held in '85 and '89, in addition to the ones he medaled in - '83 and '87.

Yep, and remember this thread is about the greatest competitive range, not the greatest runner, Geb and Bekele smashed World Records whereas Aouita always seemed to edge them.

He did compete in an era when most of his top competition was from a variety of European countries that seemed to have disappeared from the top over the last 20 years.

He beat the 1984 Olympic 800 champ (Cruz) and two years prior beat the 1984 Olympic 10,000 champ (Cova). Medaled in the 1988 Olympic 800. Medaled in the 1983 World Championship 1500. Broke the world record in the 1500, 2000, 3000, and 5000. And was ranked number one in the world in 1986 in the 10,000,

Imagine if Mo Farah decided to run the 800 next year in Rio. And medaled. That's what makes Aouita one of the all-time greats.

Great idea to ADD the times!

Runner A: 100m: 12s; Marathon: 2:15:00

Runner B: 100m: 20s: Marathon: 2:14:30

Obviously runner B is the much better all-around runner, since his added-up PBs are 22s better. How can somebody argue against that?

Maybe you just add up Gebrselassies PBs from 800m to 5000m? What do you think the outcome will be?

Since some stupid might even argue about those times I listed, I change them:

Runner A: 100m: 11s; Marathon: 2:45:00

Runner B: 100m: 19s; Marathon: 2:44:30

Bad Wigins wrote:

The great Augustine Choge.

Maybe you can explain why the greatest runner ever walked on planet earth never placed higher than 5 in global outdoor champs.

This is a very good summary of why Aouita's accomplishments, in terms of medals, displays a more successful range than Farah.

Of course a lot of Farah's times are faster! They should be, 25+ years after Aouita. World records are moving targets, and tracks are faster now than they were in the 80's.

Aouita was capable of 3:28 flat at his peak (85), faster than Farah has run on a significantly faster track (Monaco). Aouita would beat Farah over 800m, and he reached nowhere near his potential over 5000m. I would suspect he could have run 12:52 on the tracks of the 80's, and in a championship situation over 5k, I'd say his kick was at least as good as Farah's.

George Atlas wrote:

Yep, and remember this thread is about the greatest competitive range, not the greatest runner, Geb and Bekele smashed World Records whereas Aouita always seemed to edge them.

He did compete in an era when most of his top competition was from a variety of European countries that seemed to have disappeared from the top over the last 20 years.

Yes, but he competed against many all time greats of middle distance running. It was one of the greatest eras in terms of depth, certainly in the 8 & 15: Coe, Ovett, Cram, Bile, Cruz, Ereng, Gray.

Farah's competition the last 5 years in his better events, the 5 & 10k, represents a relatively weak era.