Eliud Kipchoge named #2 on ESPN’s top 20 athletes of 2018

The only part that was dumb on the Biles was the part about kidney stones. The pain is only for a short time. I've gone running the next day after a kidney stone after getting release from the hospital or care center.

It's not that big a deal

FFF wrote:

Mathieu van der Poel, cyclist

Or Nino Schurter. van der Poel in XC and cyclo-cross for sure.

Biles is a great gymnast in a sport and federation based on exploiting children so that the best athletes in the world in the sport are typically in their mid teens. It is immensely costly to do gymnastics at a high level unless you have scholarships, and in fact you have to start very early and the costs are in the thousands per year even for low level competition above the regular gymnastics classes put on by the city or county. That immensely limits the possible competition.

Eliud Kipchoge is the greatest marathoner of all time in a sport where costs to participate are minuscule, especially in Kenya. You get a very large pool of top athletes participating. It is much, much more competitive.

we know the reason simone biles is first is optics. c'mon, do we really think the author is tryong to be objective about their picks? what's some random kenyan dude who runs a lot faster than average joe got against a spunky 4'8" african american girl?

12 from USA is lazy in anyones book.

El Keniano wrote:

This is the most attention anyone in the sport has had in the mainstream media outside of Usain Bolt. Even more remarkable considering he’s not trying for the attention or publicity. And to think Brits in their little bubble were arguing for Mo Farah on the linked thread.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9051383

No arguing for Mo but you are comparing apples to oranges. The ESPN comparison talks about who is the Most dominant. The thread you posted talks about who has a higher mainstream profile (who is the most famous). While they can be one and the same, they are asking two very different questions.

In running circles, Kipchoge is popular but not in mainstream America or generally on world stage of general sports fanscompared with other athletes. Usain Bolt obviously the highest profile than likely have to go back to (from a US perspective) Michael Johnson and Carl Lewis to get close to Bolt but not reaching that level. Others internationally may be there as well but you can fill in those gaps. As you even said, Kipchoge is not looking for the publicity, so hard to make him the Ambassador and having the highest profile.

Dominant?

You guys really need to take off the blinders, here.

Mathieu van der Poel is a Dutch cyclist who is his country's champion in road, mountain, and cyclocross racing. He's undefeated this season in cyclocross races, something like 20 so far across three different series'. He's European cyclocross champion, was second overall in the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, was bronze medalist in mountain bike worlds, and the runner-up in the European road cycling championships, was third in cyclocross worlds, he's won one-day road races, won road bike stage races, AND he races at least every week, if not two or three times each week.

Just this year.

And I'm pretty sure there's some hotshot XC skier who's killing it in Europe right now who's even more dominant, but I'll put my money on van der Poel.

Dominating two marathons a year might be dominant, but not like this.

What about Alex Honnold?

What he did is impressive, mentally and phisically. He climbre for over 3 hours straight a vertical of almost 1000 meters, without a single rope, that's crazy.

Your point about how she competes in a bunch of events is silly. Yes she competes in 5 events that are all very different. The all-around is like the decathlon. Now imagine if Ashton Eaton went out and won the gold in the decathlon, but then, in addition, won the gold in the 100m, and 400m, and a bronze in the 100m hurdles and a silver in the triple jump, then he also won the gold in the 4x100m relay. Would you not call him more dominant than Kipchoge because he competed more events. If not, you are crazy, if yes, you have to admit that Biles was more dominant than kipchoge.

I don't think non-gymnastic watchers really understand how dominant she is. No female gymnast has ever won an individual gold in an event while falling. Biles was so dominant she won the all-around gold by the greatest margin in history with 2 falls and several other mistakes. She could have fallen on every routine and still won. Her routines are as hard as the best male gymnasts in the world in terms of power and strength.

Imagine if Paula Radcliffe went out and ran a 2:08. That's how dominant Biles is. She is closer to the best men than the best women. It's not even close. As someone who is a fan of many sports, I can safely say that she is the most dominant athlete in a single sport I have ever seen, all-time.

Some people could say the same with...I don't know, Teddy Riner or even better Michael Phelps. Please.

From the shadows wrote:

Some people could say the same with...I don't know, Teddy Riner or even better Michael Phelps. Please.

Yes if a woman sam as fast as Michael Phelps she'd be #1 on this list. The bars and vault are as different as the long jump is to the pole vault.

This list appeals to the masses: there are many races and at least two genders represented.

PrZ wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Yeah, having a horse on the list is ridiculous and I wouldn't call a race car driver an athlete. And UFC and gymnastics are low participation sports. I would argue that no other human being has ever lived that could match Kipchoge's WR.

Agreed. A race car driver could be obese and win every race and still wouldn’t be an athlete. Horses aren’t even human, man. They should throw Kevin Mayer on that list before half of the people that are on it (certainly before a dude that drives a car in circles). He’s literally the greatest all around athlete on the planet by far.

Once again, the water-tight definition of a sport (you must answer YES to 2 of these 3 for it to be a Sport):

1. Can you actively and purposefully make physical contact while playing defense?

2. Does the human do most of the work?

3. Is the scoring / placing done by the participants (as opposed to judges)?

Horse racing and car racing aren't sports.

theJeff wrote:

PrZ wrote:

Agreed. A race car driver could be obese and win every race and still wouldn’t be an athlete. Horses aren’t even human, man. They should throw Kevin Mayer on that list before half of the people that are on it (certainly before a dude that drives a car in circles). He’s literally the greatest all around athlete on the planet by far.

Once again, the water-tight definition of a sport (you must answer YES to 2 of these 3 for it to be a Sport):

1. Can you actively and purposefully make physical contact while playing defense?

2. Does the human do most of the work?

3. Is the scoring / placing done by the participants (as opposed to judges)?

Horse racing and car racing aren't sports.

So according to that, gymnastics isn't a sport but darts is?