kartelite wrote:
Kipchoge has 2 Olympic and World golds. Bekele has 8 and has the WR in the two marquee distance events. Kipchoge moved up because he couldn't beat Bekele, and probably even Mo (I know about 2003, that was one time only). The 10k has been kind of sad after the Geb/Bekele era, no one close to their times, but the 5k has always been way more competitive than the marathon. Bekele could have broken 2 hours if he trained for it seriously when he was 25.
Why do you think that? Tergat went 2:04:55 in 2003. Geb went 2:03:59 in 2008. That's the Bekele era right there. Whatever you think of the man, his era was not ready for a time much faster than that.
To accept that Ki[choge's the GOAT, you'd have to accept a Federer/Nadal type argument where Bekele had Kipchoge's number, but Kipchoge is still better. I don't think that's the best argument. Kipchoge held his own in the 5k, which we've seen now is not close to his best event. How close would he have been had he focused on the 10k?
Here's the Kipchoge argument: he's done something that no one has ever done, namely win 9 consecutive marathons. He's done that because he's a fantastic mental runner, but also because he's so far ahead of everyone else that he wins on his off days. The 5k and 10k are so different in that the best runner almost always wins. Geb and Farah both had similar championship success to Bekele, and Geb in particular is essentially the exact same runner. So Bekele was peerless in his own time, but certainly not peerless in all times.
Kipchoge on the other hand
1) Won the Olympic marathon by a (recent) record margin
2) Won a record number of consecutive top-class marathons
3) Broke the world record by a (recent) record margin
4) Ran the fastest all-conditions time
He also nearly broke the World Record in London, which hasn't been done since 2002 (and Kipchoge's time was 2:33 faster that Khannouchi's). He also won that race where his insoles fell out, and that London race in 2015 when he beat Kipsang and Kimetto back when no one beat Kipsang or Kimetto.
So all of this suggested not just marathon GOAT, but rather that Kipchoge is not only the best in the best time, but he's the best by more than anyone has ever been the best, and he's done it in the best time. I'm not saying this is enough to call him the all-time GOAT, but it's certainly a powerful suggestion.
Another way to think about it is: it's hard to convert times between events, but it'smuch more reliable to convert DIFFERENCES. Kipchoge's gap ahead of Kimetto is equivalent to 8 seconds in the 5k. Imagine if Geb never existed, Komen never existed, and Barega wasn't in the Brussels race just now. Gebrhiwet's 12:45 would have just become the second fastest run of all time, and that's the gap between Kipchoge and everyone else.
Basically, the marathon has caught up to the Geb/Bekele years in the 5k/10k. And Kipchoge is even more dominant that either of them were. So maybe that makes him the GOAT?