What is the greatest Olympic track race of all time?

cmh wrote:

1996 mens 10000m (Tergat vs Gebreselassie)

part 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FToLNEr9YY

part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpMlAe7X8Uo

This has my vote. It's got everything: mano a mano, the tactics of desperation (WR holder and faster final lap: if you're Tergat, how do you beat Geb?), a long grueling attempt to put the plan into action, and then, when Geb takes the lead in the final lap, the denouement.

Many great races are here in the thread. Hats off to fellow history buffs of our sport!

the El G 2004 1500 was indeed amazing. He stretches it out with a 53 point third lap, smooth as silk. Lagat passes him momentarily in the stretch, El G digs deep for the win. Just incredible, even if the top 2 may or may not have been clean.

I did a quick survey, not sure that anyone mentioned the Munich '72 10K. It's the race that sealed my hard core fandom at age 15, and makes me want to punch anyone in the face who suggests dropping the 10K from the olympics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awW09xs--D0

Bedford runs a 59 first lap, bent on self destruction. Gammoudi and Viren fall, then Gammoudi drops.

With a few laps to go, a bad-a$s group on lads break away, including Shorter.

Last lap, Puttemans challenges with a desperate sprint with 150 to go, but Viren pulls away for a world record and gold. Hard to beat this run!

1972 10K.

Dunk wrote:

Montreal 5000 for me. Spellbinding how that played out. Replayed that final lap zillions of times.

Viren was racing against guys with better kicks. His plan was to pick up the pace in each of the last 15 100m sections. 200 to go he is with great kickers but they were spent. Not sure what his actual last 1,500 was but he was trying to PB for the 1,500 at the end of the 5,000.

My high school coach told us this story about 1,000 times. He was a huge Viren fan.

What about the 1971 European championships 5000m and 10000m?

The Montreal 5000 -- for sure Mo Farah has studied this race. Control from the front over the last few laps. Viren was brilliant there.

I actually heard an official inside report that everyone in the 1996 100m had raised testosterone to epitestoterone ratio's and it took 4-6 months to ratify Donovan Bailey's world record. Many of the drug testers wanted the IAAF officials to take a stand and crack down on some in this race who had ratio's of 3.95. Naturally it was all covered up.

Rudisha FTW wrote:

I'm agreeing with all of these, this article has them all too:

http://runreporter.com/olympics/the-greatest-olympic-races-of-all-time/

Rudisha in 2012 has to be number one for me, front running a WR in a middle distance event without a pacemaker is almost unheard of!

Herbert Elliot 1960 1500m did just that, actually if you look back long enough there are many examples of this.

Mope Dealer wrote:

Rudisha FTW wrote:

I'm agreeing with all of these, this article has them all too:

http://runreporter.com/olympics/the-greatest-olympic-races-of-all-time/

Rudisha in 2012 has to be number one for me, front running a WR in a middle distance event without a pacemaker is almost unheard of!

Herbert Elliot 1960 1500m did just that, actually if you look back long enough there are many examples of this.

This was all back when the incumbent world records were NOT set by guys who had pacers. Given equal abilities, it makes sense that it would be easier to break a world record without a pacer when the previous world record also did not have a pacer.

When pacer-led time trials became popular, it became much harder to break the existing world records without a paced race.

AnnPacker won gold in Tokyo having never previously run an international 800m race, and with the final itself only her eighth ever two-lap run. Her real focus was the 400m, with Packer arriving in Japan as the favourite to win the event having run the fastest time in the world that year. As it was, she took silver, finishing behind Australia’s Betty Cuthbert in a European record time of 52.20sec.

Going one better in the 800m never even registered with the 22-year-old PE teacher from Reading, who had only begun running the longer distance shortly before the Olympics as a way of improving her stamina, and took the third spot in Great Britain’s team at the last minute after less than impressive displays in the buildup. Packer clocked 2:11.1 in her debut race in the May before running three even slower times. A finishing time of 2:05.3 at London’s White City Stadium in her final race before boarding the plane for Tokyo marked an improvement but still gave no indication of the blistering run that was to come.

For Packer not only won gold, she did so in a world record time of 2:01.1, leaving France’s Maryvonne Dupureur, who had run faster than her in the heats and semi-final, in second place and looking on in a state of utter bafflement.

Just too many but here's a few:

1956 1500m (historically very important race)

1960 800m, 1500m, 5000m, Marathon

1964 10000m

1968 100m, 200m, 800m

1972 400 hurdles, 5000m, 10000m

1976 5000m

1980 1500m (10000m perhaps ushered in the modern era)

1988 100m

1992 10000m was pretty controversial as was the 1996 1500m

1996 100m, 200m, 10000m

2000 1500m, 10000m

2004 1500m 5000m

2008 100m

2012 800m 5000m

The problem with your hypothesis is that Herbert Elliot without a pacemaker in the 1960 olympics ran faster than previous WRs set 'with' pacemakers.

Also, the pacemaker is less relevant to the 800m. Alberto Juantorena broke the 800m in 1976 without a pacemaker. The first 300m was run in lanes in those days.

But I do believe that your hypothesis holds for the longer distances.

Up vote on 2000 men's 10,0000m final. Closest margin of victory in history, geb overcomes a foot injury, after almost deciding not to race. Truly inspirational

My vote for the 2012 800 - Rudisha explodes down the second lap backstretch at WR pace and they flash to him at around 650m and his face betrays nothing but pure calm. A lot of elite PB's set in that race.

Runner-up for me is 1988 4 x 100 with Carl Lewis as anchor looking like he was shot out of a gun down home straightaway.

In no particular order:

2012 Men's 800 Hammer down all the way

1972 Men's 800 Wottle and the evenly paced thriller

1984 Men's 800, 1500, 5000 All gruelling tests of who had what under the hood

1984 Women's 3000 Great race by Puica overshadowed by Slaney's fall

1984 Women's marathon, first one and great run by Joan B

1988 I just can't get to including FloJo with the spectre of unexplained jump in performance

1996 Who didn't go nuts when Michael Johnson destroyed the field

1968 Every single sprint race. Hines, Smith, Evans are GODS!!

Just because it was as ridiculous as Johnson in 88, but Marion Jones in 2000 is a crazy demolition job.