Greatest Runner of All Time?

Unknowable. "All time" includes the future as well as the past and present, and we don't know anything about the great runners of the future.

It should be immediately obvious that I'm referring to the greatest of all time up to this point. No one discusses this topic under the impression that runners who don't even exist yet are part of the conversation, because, like you implied, it would be pointless.

My son could run on water. do you know anyone that could do that?

Bekele. 5k/10k WRs and ORs. Second fastest marathon ever. Loads of golds from Olympics and World Champs. He was probably doped as f*ck but so was everyone else.

Emil Zatopek.

The clean GOAT is Ron Clarke.

I think it's just too hard to compare across time and eras, and doping throws a twist into everything. It's also hard to separate results from times.

too juiced to lose wrote:

Bekele. 5k/10k WRs and ORs. Second fastest marathon ever. Loads of golds from Olympics and World Champs. He was probably doped as f*ck but so was everyone else.

I personally think Geb is greater than Bekele. Bekele ran a few seconds faster, but Geb took a lot more time off the WRs. Not quite as many global championships maybe. Didn't do as well in XC. But I think he actually changed the way we thought about distance running more than Bekele did.

This is argued all the time around here of course.

If we're just talking about all runners, it's hard to argue against Usain Bolt. Broke the 100m world record by an unfathomable amount while celebrating, and then did it again. Broke the 200m record too. And the 4x100 (ran an 8.65 second electronically-timed anchor leg, What The Hell). Lost very few races over the course of his long career in an event where the smallest mistake can easily cost you the race.

Bolt's my vote.

Zola Budd for all the reasons that don't matter when judging greatness.

M.A.G.A...

You better be more specific. All distance included? Usain Bolt.

Topic wrote:

Title says it all. Who is your pick for greatest distance runner of all time and why? I think there is a strong argument to be made for Bekele, Komen, and El G (with Geb and Kipchoge as honorable mentions), but ultimately El G is the GOAT due to his untouchable world records and dominance. It's possible that this topic has already been beaten to death, but I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

Oh Lord! Soon you are going to get this idiot with the pseudo-sexual fixation on Ovett and Coe , Coevett arguing that El.G was a doper etc.

To clarify, I was referring to distance runners (1500 to 5k/10k). I mentioned this in my original post, but should have included it in the title.

Paavo Nurmi for his total domination of the opposition : 9 Olympic golds, 22 world records and a 121 race winning streak. Perhaps most impressive of all, he was never beaten in his 14 year career at either XC or 10000m.

Bekele is probably my second pick after El Guerrouj. He's good, but surely not this good: 1500m WR with 7 of the top 9 times in history, 1 mile WR with 7 of the top 10 times in history, 2000m WR, and the 2nd fastest 3000m of all time, with 2 Olympic golds and 7 World Championship golds to boot.

The argument between Geb and Bekele is an interesting one, but I think it's more of a battle for second place behind Guerrouj. If we go beyond just distance runners and look at all runners, then of course Bolt wins by a landslide. It will be a long time before another person comes anywhere close to matching his greatness, let alone surpassing it.

Edwin Moses

Topic wrote:

Title says it all. Who is your pick for greatest distance runner of all time and why? I think there is a strong argument to be made for Bekele, Komen, and El G (with Geb and Kipchoge as honorable mentions), but ultimately El G is the GOAT due to his untouchable world records and dominance. It's possible that this topic has already been beaten to death, but I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

Do you make an incense type offering with EPO every night, to these Gods?

Rudolf Harbig - ran world class times from 100m to 1000m. Quite possibly still the fastest 100/1000m runner ever, and he did it in the 30s. Set an 800m WR that lasted 16 years. Sadly, died fighting communist vermin and never competed in an Olympics whilst at his peak. Admittedly, there has to be a question mark as to whether he doped given he ran under the NAZI regime.

Herb Elliott - retired undefeated at age 22, already setting times over 1500 that likely no clean African could match today.

Peter Snell - Double Olympic 800m champion, as well as a 1500 gold (and 800/1500 double). Ran the equivalent of 1:42 back in the 60s. Retired at his peak in mid twenties due to the financial circumstances of the amateur era (especially for Oceanic athletes) otherwise would almost certainly have won a third 800m crown at Mexico and likely destroyed the WR too.

Jim Ryun - a freak of nature, only denied in the most dubious of circumstances by a dubious Kenyan at Mexico. Tripped when looking certain to win gold in 72.

Seb Coe - The most incredible performance at the most competitive event - the 800m. This is the only track event in which the entire world competes in at the top level, including West African ancestry, East African ancestry, and white European ancestry. And he set a time that is still probably the clean WR 37 years ago. On top of that, he is the only man ever to defend his Olympic 1500 title.

Steve Ovett - Started out as a 200/400 runner (whilst winning schoolboy xCountry for fun) and ended up winning a major 5000m title. Probably the most naturally gifted clean runner ever. Could probably have won the 800/5000 double in Moscow.

Jakob Ingebrigsten - Some might say it's still too early to putJakob on GOAT lists, but even if he retired tomorrow, what he's done has no parallel in the sport. He just ran 3:31.18 at 17. That's less than 1 1/2 seconds outside the clean world record.

His win streak and medal count are both pretty ridiculous, and I believe he set two or three world records in his time as well. I'd still pick Bolt over him, however. He has the times and the hardware and lost very few races over his career.

It's amusing how you make unfounded claims with such authority. Maybe instead of including a bunch of useless conjecture in your response, you could just read my original post and then state who you think the GOAT is and why. I'd much rather read that than any of this tripe. Drop the whole "All Africans are dirty" routine and just answer the damn question.

Topic wrote:

Bekele is probably my second pick after El Guerrouj. He's good, but surely not this good: 1500m WR with 7 of the top 9 times in history, 1 mile WR with 7 of the top 10 times in history, 2000m WR, and the 2nd fastest 3000m of all time, with 2 Olympic golds and 7 World Championship golds to boot.

At least Bekele performed incredible feats of range, as well as performing long into the post EPO (full throttle) era.

What do you think Herb Elliott, Snell, Ryun, Ovett, Coe, Cram, would have ran loaded up on EPO on modern tracks?

If Jakob were allowed to start loading up with as much EPO as he wanted, what 1500 times would you expect him to be running in 5 years time, given that he's just ran 3:31.18 clean at 17?