Mo Farah told us today he thinks he could have run 12:45 in his prime.... Agree or disagree?

kimani wrote:

Hate on him all you want, he is probably the most famous distance runner ever, way more random people know of him than KB or Geb or Viren or Nurmi, maybe Ryun and Bannister are/were close, but they were also in the glory event, not some random jogging in circles event with commercial and field event breaks. Mo is more famous than most previous 100m WR holders, he's on the level of ridiculous WR smashers like Bolt and Michael Johnson.

Gebrselassie definitely was much more popular (in the sense that people liked him very much and also in the sense that many people knew him) in his prime than Farah ever was. Definitely also Nurmi and Zatopek (excluding Africa here, which just wasn't developed enough in their days). Not sure about Viren, who just didn't made big headlines outside of the Olympics. I don't think many random people knew about Kenenisa Bekele, even in his track prime.

Michael Johnson was not even close in the popularity to Usain Bolt, probably even behind Farah.

Bolt by far is the most popular T&F athlete (to the average person) in history - I really don't think this is debatable.

The next group behind Bolt might include Carl Lewis, Gebrselassie, Zatopek, Nurmi, Bubka and a few more (who?).

Then maybe Coe, Ovett, Ottey, Ron Clarke, Kip Keino, Edwin Moses.

rojo wrote:

So right there you have a great example of why I think Geb is greater than Farah. People always say Farah doubled so many times. So what?" Do you not think that Geb's 1997 World 10k gold (after running a trial) and 5k world record in the span of 7 days is better than Farah winning a 10k and 5k (without 10k heats)?

Honestly Rojo, most of the time I think you're a complete moron who's incapable of making even the most basic arguments. That said, this time you're absolutely correct.

wow idiots... wrote:

Should've Could've Would've...

Of course Mo obviously could have run faster than 12:53. But he never even made the effort to try. It his fault he tarnished his legacy like that. No excuse. Mo is not the GOAT

"Tarnished his legacy"? LOL. I think you care a bit too much about this, dude.

I don't know how many times I have written that on this forum.

And for sure the fact that Gebrselassie has had heats in the 10000m and Farah not is a big difference.

The question why Farah has not faster PBs in the 3000m, 5000m and 10000m might be intersting for fans when discussing his true potential. For the question who has had the better career (Gebrselassie/Bekele or Farah) it is totally unimportant. He hasn't. And for sure PBs are a very important factor in an athletes career.

Gebrselassie's and Bekele's careers are much superior to Farah's - I really can't understand why this still is questioned by someone.

Mo said he would have won that race had he been there

So, 12 45 makes sense

No one who doesn't follow running knows who Geb is. Not in the US (or the rest of the Americas), the largest market in the world, the place where fame matters most. Same for Zatopek, Nurmi, Bubka.

Why doesn't anyone mention the risk of injuries. Can we at least give Mo the title of least injured champion of all time. I can keep going but why give away too much information for free.

The point was that people knew him WHEN HE WAS IN HIS PRIME. In the mid/late 1990s. He was very popular, more than Farah today. Speaking for Germany, someone with little bit of interest for sport (not specifically athletics) knew Gebrselassie. Is Farah a name outside the athletics world? Maybe I'm underestimating this.

Yeah absolutely agree!! In his prime with a good pacing he could have run 12:45 and also a better personal best in 10000. No doubt about it.

Is also true that if people like Bekele or Gebrsellassie had focus only

on championships and olympic games, like Mo Farah have done all these years,and not trying to break world records

they could have won more gold medals.

Well this is how Farah will be remembered- the guy who "could have" but never did. Some legacy

True champions dont talk about what they could have achieved if...

They simply achieve

rojo wrote:

But for Farah, he wanted the global championships and for good reason. In a non-third world country, people are going to be paying big attention and big bucks for the championships. For an African runner like Geb, there might be more money in the WRs.

But it's hard to run 12:46 in early July and then be ready to roll at Worlds. And it's hard to double at Worlds and have anything psychologically or mentally left for a WR.

I think people are crazy if they don't think Farah could have run faster at 5000. I certainly do. But since he didn't, I'm going to hold it against him in the GOAT debates. Nothing was stopping him from doing in in 2014 except a huge London payday.

MF ran 12'59" in London a year ago on a fairly warm atrocious day for running (26 C in the stadium and a Dew Point close to 20C) by winning if you rememmber by a full home stretch. That time alone adjusted for that heat conditions is worth in the region of 12'45" (in case you are wondering there are a couple of studies that have calculated how much % you are slower the warmer it gets). So for all purposes he has done that.

He could not have. He tried, and only went low 12:50's. Don't pretend he was just out to test his kick in that race.

Speculating about even pacing is pointless because that's not how Mo runs. It is not optimal for him.

12:45 sounds legit. Actually I'm somewhat surprised by his modesty.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

BUT DIDN'T

He can think whatever he wants, but he did not actually run those times.

The clock does not lie, and leaves little room for speculation.

Like it or not, your PR is your PR, and the fact that we can actually quantitatively measure how fast you can run a certain distance by time is one of the great things about running as a sport. We can objectively compare runners based upon their best times.

Farah sort of admits that he does not even believe that he could have approached the world record by stating, in his prime with the right conditions, he might have been able to run 12:45. (only 12:45...)

So, yes, I agree that Farah can think/believe whatever he wishes to, but he did not actually run those times.

And I think/believe he missed opportunities to bolster his legacy by neglecting to go out and actually record those times, if/when he could have.

Yeah 100% he would've run that time, maybe even slightly faster.At the end of day ,we'll never know his true capability.

Mo could still improve his GOAT standing on the roads. I'd rather see him go run 58:xx for a half than go and run 12:47 or something.

How fast of a marathon would he have to run to be considered better than Geb? I'd say something like 2:03:20s

Too late now he wasted all that speed for public glory. Too bad. Probably he could broken both records. Not a chance at 3000m though. That will live forever.