More impressive/important Olympic Gold or World Record?

the best athletes all know when the World or Olympic final is, and they all point for it. If they are not there for any reason, injury or otherwise, they don't get the title. On balance, I'd say an Olympic championship trumps a world record. I hate to admit it, but I have to consider Kip Keino a better miler than Jim Ryun. Ryun owned Keino for two years prior, but the OG 1500 stands out.

Laser Viren got a world record and an Olympic Gold after falling in the 1972 Olympic 10000 meters

In all honesty, I think it depends on the distance. When it's sprints, world records are more impressive, because at that point we may be seeing the fastest a human being has ever gone using their own two feet. On the other hand, distance races are way more impressive than the world record in my opinion. Nothing is more exciting to me than watching the pros actively predict moves, take risks, and attempt to break the field. It's almost like a chess games. So, I think a world record in sprinting is more impressive, but a well fought gold medal is much more impressive from a distance runner, as it shows your running IQ. Take for example, Mo Farah. He holds the indoor 2 mile record, but lets look else where. He has shown time and time again in large scale races his ability to read his competition, and decide what breaks are real and which are not.

Honestly, if I had to choose, I would much rather be an Olympic Gold Medalist than a world record holder. It's been said quite a few times before, but the fact that world records can be broken really detracts from the permanence of that achievement. I would much rather have the title of Olympic Gold Medalist to carry around for the rest of my life that nobody can take away from me. With a world record, there is always that thought in the back of your head that somebody is going to better it at some point down the road.

Gold Medalist boi wrote:

Honestly, if I had to choose, I would much rather be an Olympic Gold Medalist than a world record holder. It's been said quite a few times before, but the fact that world records can be broken really detracts from the permanence of that achievement. I would much rather have the title of Olympic Gold Medalist to carry around for the rest of my life that nobody can take away from me. With a world record, there is always that thought in the back of your head that somebody is going to better it at some point down the road.

But not all world records are the same, and nor do they last the same. Someone runs a WR like Coe's 800m or Komen's 3000m and it lasts a long time. I doubt anyone will think of Centro as having been more successful than they do Komen.