Who had the WORLDS BEST race tactics?

Who was the best "racer" (best at making moves,good kick,etc.) ever in the history of T & F and why?

i say viren.

Henry Marsh

it's gotta be Herb Elliott since he never lost

or maybe Geb

Miruts Yifter 'the shifter' and Fermin Cacho (if ya gotta win a Big One win it in front of the Home folks) on the track and Cosmas N'Deti during his 3 Boston wins.

Pre didn't have the best race tactics when it comes down to winning a world class race, but I kinda like his quote: "I'm gonna try and work it out so that it's a pure guts race. And if it is, I'm the only one who can win it." Not exactly tactical genius, but I like the thought.

Pre was perhaps the worst tactician. He was perhaps the guttiest, but his tactics were awful.

who else saw that indoor mile on video where pre goes out too hard and places dead last?

George Wallace had some interesting race tactics

I always thought that Steve Cram had the most tactical acumen. The world champs race in 1983 was pure artistry. Just ask Steve Scott, Steve Ovett, and Said Aouita. Now way should Cram have won that race. Fast forward to 1985 and watch him spank Aouita in the 1500 in Nice and then put the wood to Cruz in an 800. Two more races he shouldn't have won.

Of course it helps to have the wheels to back it up, but still they were ballsy as well as smart races.

Brian Diemer, smart, smart runner - start from the back, get plenty of room to hurdle and pick people off throughout the race and hammer home. Not really sexy, but effective.

Wottle was great because he had so much confidence in what he was doing. Marsh is a tough choice to beat however.

Can someone please explain why Henry Marsh is considered a great tactical runner? Didn't he fad alot at the end? 84 Trials, 84 Games?

Not going to take a stab at your all encompassing question but one race stands out as an example of not so great tactics (Plumer) and intelligent tactics (Jennings): indoor nationals in Madison Sq Garden in '90. Women's 3K. Patti Sue Plumer takes it out hard: 4:35 at the mile. Field strings out. Vicki Huber and Lynn Jennings go through mile in 4:39 and slowly start reeling Plumer in. She inevitably tires and Jennings goes for the kill. Three pb's and an AR for Jennings: 8:40, 8:41 and 8:42 for Jennings, Plumer and Huber. Terrific race. AR, national title and killer head to head comp. One of my all time favorite races.

I'm going to go against convention and say El Guerrouj.

He expends as little energy as he can in the first half of the race and just hammers the last half of the race so that only the best even have a chance to beat him. Ngeny got him in 2000 but he had run a 3:43 mile.

In Athens, closing in 1:46, relenquishing the lead with 100 to go and then getting it back at the finish. That's great tactics. With or without a rabbit, whoever shows up against him, he almost always wins.

Maurice Greene?

It may seem counter-intuitive, but did Geb really have good tactics? I know that sounds strange because he won EVERYTHING (57 consecutive wins), but that includes heats and qualifying rounds. I've only seen him race 3 or 4 times on TV ever, so I never saw these 5000 or 10,000 heats, so I don't know if there were ever times when he unnecessarily expended energy to win a heat just to keep his streak alive, while he would have qualified for the next round without winning.

Obviously he won the finals too, so the tactics look great, but if had kicked the last 400 to go from 3rd to 1st in a semi, only to fade in the final, it would look pretty stupid.

peter coe, on behalf of seb coe

I saw him during the 1996 10K heat and he pretty much had it on cruise. He had another Ethiopian team member get out in front and then did as little as possible coming home. Can't comment on the other heats, but in that one he didn't do too much in order to win.

It's gotta be TOSHEIKO SEKO... the Japanese warrior.