Most of us agree Bekele is the GOAT, right?

I agree.

Kipchoge is overrated!

??

It is obvious that you never saw Bruce Egeland.

Farah doesn’t even belong anywhere near this discussion, not the top 10 or even top 15! Bekele is the GOAT.

Uhhhhh no guy wrote:

Farah doesn’t even belong anywhere near this discussion, not the top 10 or even top 15! Bekele is the GOAT.

You can't have the hardware Farah does and the times and not be in the discussion for top 10, probably even top 5 ever. Nowhere near Bekele but Farah is up there (assuming he doesn't get busted for cheating).

Even though Eliud Kipchoge could not race sub-2 Marathon at Berlin, Chicago, London, NY or Tokyo, Kipchoge now has the sub-2 confidence and sub-2 muscle memory. If Kipchoge gets proper rest, he may be able to race app. 2:01:20. He better do it soon or he'll age out. I don't think Bekele has a 2:01:20 in him.

Didn't we all think Kipchoges world record of 2hrs 1min and 39 would last for years unless Kipchoge himself broke it.Then Bekele surprised us all coming within 2seconds of the record.He could have a 2hrs 1min 20 in him.He is outrageously talented and nothing can be ruled out.He has proved his doubters wrong b4

be serious wrote:

You can't have the hardware Farah does and the times and not be in the discussion for top 10, probably even top 5 ever.

Mohamed Farah ran in a weak era with African athletes starting to move to the marathon for prize money.

Even Centrowitz has a gold medal. Do you consider Centrowitz to be one of the greatest top 5 runners ever in the 1,500?

facts and reason wrote:

in a weak era with African athletes starting to move to the marathon for prize money.

That's a pretty little way of saying "an era when the rest of the world caught up to the Africans doping techniques"

John Wesley Harding wrote:

Yes, at least from 1500-marathon in the past 30 years or so, Bekele’s #1.

1. Bekele

2. Gebrsellassie

3. Kipchoge

4. El Guerrouj

5. Farah

Geb's a little over rated in my opinion. My top 5 would be

1. Bekele

2. Kipchoge

3. El Guerrouj

4. Gebrselassie

5. Komen

Top 4 are all close with a bit of gap to Komen. At 6 I'd put maybe Lagat or Farah.

idk how kipchoge rates above el guerrouj, especially since el g beat both him and bekele in the athens 5000

father time wrote:

John Wesley Harding wrote:

Yes, at least from 1500-marathon in the past 30 years or so, Bekele’s #1.

1. Bekele

2. Gebrsellassie

3. Kipchoge

4. El Guerrouj

5. Farah

Geb's a little over rated in my opinion. My top 5 would be

1. Bekele

2. Kipchoge

3. El Guerrouj

4. Gebrselassie

5. Komen

Top 4 are all close with a bit of gap to Komen. At 6 I'd put maybe Lagat or Farah.

Ummmm... ever heard of Paul Tergot?

Say Bekele doesn’t break the marathon world record but wins gold in the Tokyo Olympics marathon. GOAT?

I get that, but I still say Haile Geb. Held the 5 and 10k records, and the world marathon record, has won a load of championships. The world record will always be changing so just because Bekele has faster times doesn’t make him the GOAT the way I see it. Gotta look at times and performances in the context of the time period they were ran in.

el g > kipchoge wrote:

idk how kipchoge rates above el guerrouj, especially since el g beat both him and bekele in the athens 5000

idk how el guerrouj rates above kipchoge, especially since kipchoge beat both him and bekele in the 2003 world champs 5000

but seriously, el guerrouj beat kipchoge in a sit and kick 5000m. Pretty predictable. Idk how Kipchoge beat him the year before. What's more up for debate is whether el guerrouj is better at his main event (1500m) than Kipchoge is at his (marathon). Honestly I'm not 100% sure although I guess I'd lean more to kipchoge.

Bekele was about dead even with Haile G. He slightly broke Haile's 5000 and 10000 records, but never set a marathon record, which Haile did.

Neither of them could ever touch Komen's 3000 record. Nobody will, possibly ever. The sport is going to collapse first.

Bekele's XC dynasty was impressive, but nobody really cares that much about XC.

However, none of them approach the achievements of 800+ GOAT Augustine Choge, the only man ever to break 1:45, 3:30, 7:30, 12:55, and one hour. All these other "GOAT"s have demonstrated nowhere near Choge's speed at middle distance. As Kipchoge's best friend and protege, that marathon WR will come his way eventually.

I don't rate him that high. I'm 98.5% sure he's a huge drug cheat.

The UNDOUBTED greatest legal runner of all time is Henry Rono. Four WR's in just 3-4 months. No hint of PED's. In fact, we now know he took PDD's (Performance Detracting Drugs - LOTS of alcohol).

Bad Wigins wrote:

Bekele was about dead even with Haile G. He slightly broke Haile's 5000 and 10000 records, but never set a marathon record, which Haile did.

Neither of them could ever touch Komen's 3000 record. Nobody will, possibly ever. The sport is going to collapse first.

Bekele's XC dynasty was impressive, but nobody really cares that much about XC.

However, none of them approach the achievements of 800+ GOAT Augustine Choge, the only man ever to break 1:45, 3:30, 7:30, 12:55, and one hour. All these other "GOAT"s have demonstrated nowhere near Choge's speed at middle distance. As Kipchoge's best friend and protege, that marathon WR will come his way eventually.

Bekele is more than 2 minutes faster than Geb in the marathon

EthiopiaToDiWorld wrote:

Not in terms of broader Track and Field. That title goes clearly to Usain Bolt. But with respect to distance running, Bekele is:

The world record holder in 5000m.

The world record holder in 10000m.

Two seconds away from the world record in the marathon.

Had Bekele broken the world record, Bekele would have held three world records at once. It's disgusting how awesome that might have been. There remains a possibility that Bekele might yet do that, however unlikely. Make no mistake, I'm not arguing Bekele was the greatest middle-distance runner ever. His short stature is ill-suited to cruising over distances of 800m and 1500m. But at anything over 3 miles? His endurance and stride are the greatest the world have ever seen. Can anyone make a compelling argument towards the contrary?

Bekele needs 2 minutes.

Precisely 2:02.02.