The greatest long distance man that ever lived. Even in the waning days in the last gasps of his career, he still challenges the best. Though, 2004 was his year:
The greatest long distance man that ever lived. Even in the waning days in the last gasps of his career, he still challenges the best. Though, 2004 was his year:
No way. He is one of the greatest, but not the greatest. El G made him look like a turtle in Athens at 5000m, kipchoge got him the world champions ship, and destroys him the marathon...he beat him in London and Chicago.
I will say that Bekele is probably the greatest long distance track athlete.... but at marathon level? No way. He is too inconsistent, gets injured a lot, and has dropped out of two marathons, and has no world records. Plus he has few marathon victories.
However, his track career is almost flawless.
Scorpion_runner wrote:
No way. He is one of the greatest, but not the greatest. El G made him look like a turtle in Athens at 5000m, kipchoge got him the world champions ship, and destroys him the marathon...he beat him in London and Chicago.
I will say that Bekele is probably the greatest long distance track athlete.... but at marathon level? No way. He is too inconsistent, gets injured a lot, and has dropped out of two marathons, and has no world records. Plus he has few marathon victories.
However, his track career is almost flawless.
Yes, Kipchoge at the moment is a better marathon runner and much more consistent. However, neither Kipchoge nor El G even get close to Bekele achievements. the man is at the top for 15 years! World records. 9 cross country titles, marathon second best time. He is so much more than just a track athlete. And above all, this is a man that falls and gets up. He had a lot of opportunities to quit- fiancé's death, injuries- but the man keeps on fighting! Eager to break the marathon WR. 1500m runners are doomed to stick to the track- nothing like a long distance runner. Bekele is a true fighter, an inspiration- not just a good runner. And I also like about him that he is much more quiet than Geb and all his advertisements, and press talking.
And Kipchoge lost a lot of respect going to that stupid sub2 instead of staying at the regular marathons
Agreed. Bekele is the king of cross country and track. Pretty good on roads too.
Al pacino wrote:
Scorpion_runner wrote:.
He had a lot of opportunities to quit- fiancé's death, injuries- but the man keeps on fighting!
When I see an 18 year old elite athlete die of a heart attack, I smell the hot sauce cooking.
Queens Queens wrote:
Pretty good on roads too.
"Pretty good"??? The guy was like 7 seconds away from breaking the marathon world record without even trying to.
Jij6 wrote:
Queens Queens wrote:Pretty good on roads too.
"Pretty good"??? The guy was like 7 seconds away from breaking the marathon world record without even trying to.
When I mean 'pretty good', it means relative to his track and XC achievements. Was not an insult.
Berkeley is better than Kipchoge. Berlin proves that. If he'd gone for the WR after 35k rather than the win, he'd have gotten both.
Bekele is not better than Kipchoge. He's not even better than JIM RYUN. After all, he can't match 44.0, 1:39, 3:24, and 3:41. Nobody can.
Bekele vs Kipchoge:
3 oly gold v 1 oly gold
4 oly medals vs 3 oly medals
2 x current wr's v 0 current wr's
11x world xc champ v 1 world xc(Jr)
1 world indoor champ v 0
5 world outdoor champs v 1
Trackbot! Please compare bekele to Kipchoge.
Head-to-head record between Kenenisa Bekele (left) and Eliud Kipchoge (right):
Bislett Oslo 2003-06-27: 5000 m: 12:52.26 (1) VS 12:52.61 (3)
Bislett Oslo 2003-06-27: 3000 m: 7:45.2h (2) VS 7:45.8h (5)
WC Saint-Denis 2003-08-31: 5000 m: 12:53.12 (3) VS 12:52.79 (1)
WC Bruxelles 2004-03-21: Cross Country 12.0 km: 35:52 (1) VS 36:34 (4)
OG AthÃna 2004-08-28: 5000 m: 13:14.59 (2) VS 13:15.10 (3)
WC Saint-Galmier 2005-03-20: Cross Country 12.0 km: 35:06 (1) VS 35:37 (5)
WC Moskva 2006-03-12: 3000 m: 7:39.32 (1) VS 7:42.58 (3)
GGala Roma 2006-07-14: 5000 m: 12:51.44 (1) VS 12:54.94 (6)
Norw Union London 2006-07-28: 5000 m: 13:00.04 (2) VS 13:01.74 (4)
WK Zürich 2006-08-18: 5000 m: 12:48.25 (1) VS 12:57.69 (3)
VD Bruxelles 2006-08-25: 5000 m: 12:48.09 (1) VS 13:01.88 (2)
Edinburgh 2007-01-13: Cross Country 9.3 km: 28:14 (1) VS 28:51 (3)
Edinburgh 2008-01-12: Cross Country 9.3 km: 27:42 (1) VS 27:43 (3)
OG Beijing 2008-08-23: 5000 m: 12:57.82 (1) VS 13:02.80 (2)
WC Berlin 2009-08-23: 5000 m: 13:17.09 (1) VS 13:18.95 (5)
WAF ThessalonÃki 2009-09-12: 3000 m: 8:03.79 (1) VS 8:07.26 (9)
Great Edinb Edinburgh 2010-01-09: Cross Country 9.0 km: 29:17 (4) VS 29:04 (3)
VD Bruxelles 2011-09-16: 10000 m: 26:43.16 (1) VS 26:53.27 (5)
BUPA Edinburgh 2012-01-07: Cross Country 3.0 km: 9:42 (11) VS 9:26 (3)
Diamond Doha 2012-05-11: 3000 m: 7:40.00 (7) VS 7:31.40 (2)
Areva Saint-Denis 2012-07-06: 5000 m: 12:55.79 (9) VS 12:55.34 (8)
BankOfAm Chicago IL 2014-10-12: Marathon: 2:05:51 (4) VS 2:04:11 (1)
Virgin Money London 2016-04-24: Marathon: 2:06:36 (3) VS 2:03:05 (1)
Kenenisa "MF" Bekele total wins: 16
Eliud "DEVASTATED" Kipchoge total wins: 7
I am a bot. Info: habs.sdf.org/trackbot
En BCN wrote:
Bekele vs Kipchoge:
3 oly gold v 1 oly gold
4 oly medals vs 3 oly medals
2 x current wr's v 0 current wr's
11x world xc champ v 1 world xc(Jr)
1 world indoor champ v 0
5 world outdoor champs v 1
Trackbot! Please compare bekele to Kipchoge.
That plus 16 to 7 pretty much settles it. I wasn't aware that Kipchoge had won the World Cross as a junior.