To the British press he is the GOAT. Those London marathon promotional pauses were just silly. Farah was never going to challenge Kipchoge in any serious manner. But the British press are like that with their sports pple. With the football world cup, the joke is it always has two winners, the actual tournament winners, and England who repeatedly tell everyone they are going to win the next tournament in the 4 intervening years. Then the tournament comes around again and they of course don't win it. There are two particular English track and field commentators who worship then man, listening to them commentate on a race where Farah is running is surreal. However, their adulation once spectacularly backfired on them in the last lap in Daegu in the 10,000m. They called the race for him with all kinds of superlatives on the last lap until Jeilan spoiled their party. You should look up the video of that race to see what I mean. Strange thing is, this adulation is only meted out when a sports person is on a winning streak. Andy Murray in tennis was always British while winning but if he lost, the British press would call him Scottish. If Farah starts losing consistently or is ever busted for drugs, they will start calling him Somali or Somali born. From the marathons he has run to date, it's fairly clear that there is a pace at which he will blow up. Even in his Chicago win, he struggled a couple of times whenever Kirui put in his surges. Problem is Kirui wd not sustain the surge and would let the chasing group catch up with him again until he himself blew up. Farah of course is always a danger if there is a sprint finish, like he did in Chicago, sprinting away from Mosinet Geremew for the win. But kipchoge runs a fairly even paced marathon, once he puts the hammer down no one can keep with him. So unless Farah improves his comfortable pace level after the half way point, he won't win many marathons. Certainly he won't win against Kipchoge at his current level. He has to wait him out until he retires to get a sniff. And Geremew and Kitata are young guys. If they keep improving, he won't be touching those two either. Right now Ethiopia and Kenya seem to have a deepening field of young marathoners who don't do track, but get into roads right away. Farah is getting older, so he will face younger and younger guys every year. His marathon prospects aren't looking good. I think he has 1 or at most 2 years to do something spectacular before the window closes.
It’s official- Farah is the most overrated runner in history
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Not responding to anyone in general, but the there is no doubt that the 4 greatest distance track runners in no order are Haile, Bekele, Komen and Mo. Drugs or no drugs, I don't know how you dispute this.
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Surprise! wrote:
Not responding to anyone in general, but the there is no doubt that the 4 greatest distance track runners in no order are Haile, Bekele, Komen and Mo. Drugs or no drugs, I don't know how you dispute this.
El Guerrouj and Kipchoge are comfortably ahead of Komen and Mo, and someone like Lagat is fairly close (although probably still behind). -
List Maker wrote:
Surprise! wrote:
Not responding to anyone in general, but the there is no doubt that the 4 greatest distance track runners in no order are Haile, Bekele, Komen and Mo. Drugs or no drugs, I don't know how you dispute this.
El Guerrouj and Kipchoge are comfortably ahead of Komen and Mo, and someone like Lagat is fairly close (although probably still behind).
Didn't see that you said track runners. Still, El Guerrouj is definitely ahead of Komen and Mo, and there are a lot of others who are close. -
List Maker wrote:
List Maker wrote:
Surprise! wrote:
Not responding to anyone in general, but the there is no doubt that the 4 greatest distance track runners in no order are Haile, Bekele, Komen and Mo. Drugs or no drugs, I don't know how you dispute this.
El Guerrouj and Kipchoge are comfortably ahead of Komen and Mo, and someone like Lagat is fairly close (although probably still behind).
Didn't see that you said track runners. Still, El Guerrouj is definitely ahead of Komen and Mo, and there are a lot of others who are close.
Even on the track I would rank Kipchoge ahead of Mo. -
I thought I knew wrote:
2:05 marathon is overrated? I know the internet has seduced humans into trying to have hot takes and judge the world via anonymous posts, but seriously, how does a message board exist to criticize a 2:05 marathon? For any human to run this fast 20 years ago was unheard of. Give me a break. He ran close to his personal best today. I give kudos to any human who runs to the best of his ability, which is more impressive on any day that sitting behind a computer screen acting high and mighty about people striving to do something you never will.
That argument can be used to justify anything. If I was paid like Mo Farah to be a professional runner with $1m appearance fee, don't you think he should be held to a HIGHER standard than a regular joe who doesn't get paid to run?
He put himself in that situation. If he doesn't want to be judged at the same level as Kipchoge or Sub 2:05 marathoners, then stop getting paid like a Sub 2:05 marathoner (actually, he get paid A LOT MORE).
Is that simple enough and clear for you?
If he runs for free, I'll be the first guy to say that he doesn't deserve any criticism. -
A lot off good athletes moved early to marathon but who showed the ability to have the speed required to beat him in championship races on the track?
Bekele was past it on track when he moved up same with Geb.
Other than Kipchoge name a current marathon runner who has demonstrated the speed to beat Mo on the track. -
Then let's keep it at people he beat on the track. Why do pple he beat on the track like Geoffrey Kamworor and Bedan Karoki beat him resoundingly at half marathon?
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Anthos wrote:
To the British press he is the GOAT. Those London marathon promotional pauses were just silly. Farah was never going to challenge Kipchoge in any serious manner. But the British press are like that with their sports pple. With the football world cup, the joke is it always has two winners, the actual tournament winners, and England who repeatedly tell everyone they are going to win the next tournament in the 4 intervening years. Then the tournament comes around again and they of course don't win it. There are two particular English track and field commentators who worship then man, listening to them commentate on a race where Farah is running is surreal. However, their adulation once spectacularly backfired on them in the last lap in Daegu in the 10,000m. They called the race for him with all kinds of superlatives on the last lap until Jeilan spoiled their party. You should look up the video of that race to see what I mean. Strange thing is, this adulation is only meted out when a sports person is on a winning streak. Andy Murray in tennis was always British while winning but if he lost, the British press would call him Scottish. If Farah starts losing consistently or is ever busted for drugs, they will start calling him Somali or Somali born. From the marathons he has run to date, it's fairly clear that there is a pace at which he will blow up. Even in his Chicago win, he struggled a couple of times whenever Kirui put in his surges. Problem is Kirui wd not sustain the surge and would let the chasing group catch up with him again until he himself blew up. Farah of course is always a danger if there is a sprint finish, like he did in Chicago, sprinting away from Mosinet Geremew for the win. But kipchoge runs a fairly even paced marathon, once he puts the hammer down no one can keep with him. So unless Farah improves his comfortable pace level after the half way point, he won't win many marathons. Certainly he won't win against Kipchoge at his current level. He has to wait him out until he retires to get a sniff. And Geremew and Kitata are young guys. If they keep improving, he won't be touching those two either. Right now Ethiopia and Kenya seem to have a deepening field of young marathoners who don't do track, but get into roads right away. Farah is getting older, so he will face younger and younger guys every year. His marathon prospects aren't looking good. I think he has 1 or at most 2 years to do something spectacular before the window closes.
The British Press and particularly the BBC have been particularly bad with Mo Farah, shoving him and his diversity credentials down our throats that makes even the most ardent athletics fan feel sick. They didn't do it with Andy Murray - he has often been criticised, they don't do it with Laura Muir. Mo Farah clearly brings something to their diversity credentials that others don't offer. They try to do it with Deena Asher Smith a bit but its Farah who really sets the bbc commentators alight with over the top, effusive commentary. I usually turn the sound down as not only is it nauseating, its off-putting.
FWIW I find the bloke quite annoying and I don't rate him as a person. He does very little for grass roots athletics in the UK on the rare times he's here, he didn't bother to turn up to collect his sports personality of the year award even though he was quite nearby at the time, he behaves badly in public yet this doesn't dent the bbc's adoration of him. Its very strange and a bit disturbing.
Obviously he's a talented athlete but if he had been born in an era of record breakers on the track, he would just be an also ran. -
Mo outside of top 15 all time wrote:
List Maker wrote:
List Maker wrote:
Surprise! wrote:
Not responding to anyone in general, but the there is no doubt that the 4 greatest distance track runners in no order are Haile, Bekele, Komen and Mo. Drugs or no drugs, I don't know how you dispute this.
El Guerrouj and Kipchoge are comfortably ahead of Komen and Mo, and someone like Lagat is fairly close (although probably still behind).
Didn't see that you said track runners. Still, El Guerrouj is definitely ahead of Komen and Mo, and there are a lot of others who are close.
Even on the track I would rank Kipchoge ahead of Mo.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that's adorable. -
You realize wrote:
Pre pre pre pre wrote:
Pre is more overrated
Pre’s legend is based on the fact that he never got the opportunity to run in his prime but he completely dominated the college ranks and his age group. The legend is about what could have been not his 4th place finish.
He earned his legend ...;
4th, against a blood doper, at age 21yo; the guy was a junior in college.
His 27:43 .6 was I believe the 4th fastest 10km of all time.. 45 years ago, on 4/27/1974, at the age of 23y.
...he earned his legend. -
Mo can come off as a jackass, and his wife REALLY rubs me the wrong way with their passive bullying antics and victimization BS. However, Mo on the track was awesome. Cunning and skilled competitor. Wins races. He's got the hardware to show for it. Winners win.
But he ain't beating Kipchoge in the marathon. That's not exactly something to be ashamed of.
I also like Mo's long stride running form. A thing of beauty. -
web2dot0 wrote:
I thought I knew wrote:
2:05 marathon is overrated? I know the internet has seduced humans into trying to have hot takes and judge the world via anonymous posts, but seriously, how does a message board exist to criticize a 2:05 marathon? For any human to run this fast 20 years ago was unheard of. Give me a break. He ran close to his personal best today. I give kudos to any human who runs to the best of his ability, which is more impressive on any day that sitting behind a computer screen acting high and mighty about people striving to do something you never will.
That argument can be used to justify anything. If I was paid like Mo Farah to be a professional runner with $1m appearance fee, don't you think he should be held to a HIGHER standard than a regular joe who doesn't get paid to run?
He put himself in that situation. If he doesn't want to be judged at the same level as Kipchoge or Sub 2:05 marathoners, then stop getting paid like a Sub 2:05 marathoner (actually, he get paid A LOT MORE).
Is that simple enough and clear for you?
If he runs for free, I'll be the first guy to say that he doesn't deserve any criticism.
When you bring home Olympic gold medals in the 5 and the 10 for two consecutive Olympics you've earned some cred. If other folks want big appearance fees they can go win four golds in the five and ten. It's all there for the taking. -
He's rated about 25th in the marathon, and 45th in half marathon. Ok, but I wouldnt say GOAT.
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GOAT ---not wrote:
He's rated about 25th in the marathon, and 45th in half marathon. Ok, but I wouldnt say GOAT.
Mo's not even close to being close to being goat in the marathon. Not sure anyone would disagree.
but sweeping 5 and 10 for two consecutive Olympics.....I don't know what exactly goat means, unless it's a current world record, but winning those four races is legit. Winners win. -
Blows my mind reading some of the posts on this thread.
You guys are absolutely crackers! The guy has and always will have the double double Olympic Gold medals. Just to expand that is to say he won both the 5,000m and 10,000m events including heats in two consecutive Olympic Games. It's arguable whether anyone will ever be able to pull that off again in history.
He also pulled out a 1,500m time which shows he could have a been an all time great at that distance as well had he chosen to commit to it. PLUS he then goes sod it I'll have a bash at the Marathon and is running 2:05s!
Can none of you truly comprehend the level he has achieved over such a range? It's utterly unbelievable. It's like if Usain Bolt went you know what I'm going to give the 800m a bash then actually started winning meets / running competitively at that distance as well. And that just would never happen. Yet Mo has pretty much managed to do that.
Yet you read the comments on here and the suggestion is because he hasn't moved up and dominated the marathon (and crushed Kipchoge!!) that he's flopped! Absolutely batty. -
He's rated accurately. Most people see him as an amazing championship racer - savy and able to control a race. His track tactics don't transfer well to the marathon, but he is still good enough to be relevant and his celebrity keeps people interested. Can you imagine the hoopla if Bolt seriously tried the 400? He would pack stadiums to watch him "only" run 44s.
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Fed Up With the BBC wrote:
Anthos wrote:
To the British press he is the GOAT. Those London marathon promotional pauses were just silly. Farah was never going to challenge Kipchoge in any serious manner. But the British press are like that with their sports pple. With the football world cup, the joke is it always has two winners, the actual tournament winners, and England who repeatedly tell everyone they are going to win the next tournament in the 4 intervening years. Then the tournament comes around again and they of course don't win it. There are two particular English track and field commentators who worship then man, listening to them commentate on a race where Farah is running is surreal. However, their adulation once spectacularly backfired on them in the last lap in Daegu in the 10,000m. They called the race for him with all kinds of superlatives on the last lap until Jeilan spoiled their party. You should look up the video of that race to see what I mean. Strange thing is, this adulation is only meted out when a sports person is on a winning streak. Andy Murray in tennis was always British while winning but if he lost, the British press would call him Scottish. If Farah starts losing consistently or is ever busted for drugs, they will start calling him Somali or Somali born. From the marathons he has run to date, it's fairly clear that there is a pace at which he will blow up. Even in his Chicago win, he struggled a couple of times whenever Kirui put in his surges. Problem is Kirui wd not sustain the surge and would let the chasing group catch up with him again until he himself blew up. Farah of course is always a danger if there is a sprint finish, like he did in Chicago, sprinting away from Mosinet Geremew for the win. But kipchoge runs a fairly even paced marathon, once he puts the hammer down no one can keep with him. So unless Farah improves his comfortable pace level after the half way point, he won't win many marathons. Certainly he won't win against Kipchoge at his current level. He has to wait him out until he retires to get a sniff. And Geremew and Kitata are young guys. If they keep improving, he won't be touching those two either. Right now Ethiopia and Kenya seem to have a deepening field of young marathoners who don't do track, but get into roads right away. Farah is getting older, so he will face younger and younger guys every year. His marathon prospects aren't looking good. I think he has 1 or at most 2 years to do something spectacular before the window closes.
The British Press and particularly the BBC have been particularly bad with Mo Farah, shoving him and his diversity credentials down our throats that makes even the most ardent athletics fan feel sick. They didn't do it with Andy Murray - he has often been criticised, they don't do it with Laura Muir. Mo Farah clearly brings something to their diversity credentials that others don't offer. They try to do it with Deena Asher Smith a bit but its Farah who really sets the bbc commentators alight with over the top, effusive commentary. I usually turn the sound down as not only is it nauseating, its off-putting.
FWIW I find the bloke quite annoying and I don't rate him as a person. He does very little for grass roots athletics in the UK on the rare times he's here, he didn't bother to turn up to collect his sports personality of the year award even though he was quite nearby at the time, he behaves badly in public yet this doesn't dent the bbc's adoration of him. Its very strange and a bit disturbing.
Obviously he's a talented athlete but if he had been born in an era of record breakers on the track, he would just be an also ran.
I feel for other athletes sometimes. In this era of Bolt and Farah, the press dishes out so much hero worship that it's quite ridiculous sometimes. Dont get me wrong, they have earned their keep, but the other athletes need to be respected too. A commentator can start singing Farah or Bolt's praises in the middle of another event. Or a medal winner in an event is asked by journalists to comment on how incredible Farah was, a leading question, which leaves said athlete no choice than to say something nice abt someone that doesnt even compete in their event. Yet in a world championship, u have all manner of athletes with many stories to tell. Some with no kits, no insurance, no endorsements, unattended to injuries, all come from all over the world to compete. But all the journalists, the IAAF heads, are all signing Farah and Bolt ad nauseum. I once have an idea, if a world championship is a 3 weeks Farah and Bolt lovefest, why not just invite just those two. Bolt can run against himself in the 100 and 200. And Farah alone in the 5k and 10k. Let's see if they will fill the stadium. This kind of hero worship in just two events gets sponsors pouring endorsements towards just two guys leaving other athletes including gold medal winners one injury away from ruin .... -
Its not just the Beeb, David Bedford was quoting saying he can't see what else you would have to do to be the GOAT. If Dave says he's the GOAT then he's the GOAT. Please only dispute if your 10k pb is faster than Bedford.
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Bedford trumps Beeb wrote:
Its not just the Beeb, David Bedford was quoting saying he can't see what else you would have to do to be the GOAT. If Dave says he's the GOAT then he's the GOAT. Please only dispute if your 10k pb is faster than Bedford.
I can think of a certain Ethiopian with a decent 10k PR who would dispute that.