So after this win, where do you think Kipchoge ranks on the all-time list?

Curious_Cat wrote:

1. Bekele

2. Geb

3. Hassan

4. Kipchoge

5. El G/Mo farah

Don't mix women. It's not the same. You might as well add Bolt in 1st.

I agree bgk for the first 3.

Good argument for the GOAT in all of sport..

https://twitter.com/stevemagness/status/1424160843688816641?s=20

Well, I mean... if you beat El G AND Bekele to a world championship gold at 18 years old, you probably think you have found your best distance. Nope!

fujimaster wrote:

A little behind Cole hocker(who moved up to behind Bekele after his gutsy 6 place finish in the 1500)

If only Cole had been a little closer at the bell, he would be the GOAT now.

What is the essence of being the GOAT? Is it the greatest accomplishments over the greatest variety of events? For the distance men, this is undoubtedly Bekele. Is being the GOAT being the greatest at a single event, greater than others have been at any other event? If so, Kipchoge is probably the GOAT. Is Kipchoge a greater marathoner than Bekele was a 5/10K runner on the track? Close call, but after today, I say yes! Kipchoge was a very accomplished track runner, likely equal to KB’s accomplishments in the marathon, but EK is better at the marathon than anybody has been at any other event, better than KB at the track 10K and better than El G at the 1500. Therefore EK is the distance GOAT.

Wanjiru is the best Olympic marathoner hands-down without question. Kipchoge could win a hundred gold medals and none of them will even come close to what Wanjiru did in 2008. Put 2008 Wanjiru in this year’s race and he flattens Kipchoge.

3 Bekele

2 Kipchoge

1 Steve Jones

Wise Old Man wrote:

What is the essence of being the GOAT? Is it the greatest accomplishments over the greatest variety of events? For the distance men, this is undoubtedly Bekele. Is being the GOAT being the greatest at a single event, greater than others have been at any other event? If so, Kipchoge is probably the GOAT. Is Kipchoge a greater marathoner than Bekele was a 5/10K runner on the track? Close call, but after today, I say yes! Kipchoge was a very accomplished track runner, likely equal to KB’s accomplishments in the marathon, but EK is better at the marathon than anybody has been at any other event, better than KB at the track 10K and better than El G at the 1500. Therefore EK is the distance GOAT.

Kipchoge better at the marathon than El G over the 1500? No way, you can't compare the fields from the olympic marathon and the olympic 1500m. And your metric is wierd either way. Of course overall dominance, accomplishments, top ability and versatility is the main metrics and Bekele is clearly the best when you consider all those.

1: Bekele

2: Geb

3: Kipchoge

The Ineos 1:59 shouldn't be in that list. Not hard to finish 1st if you're the only competitor.

He ranks 14th.

Meanwhile the humble goat is wondering “so what am I then?”.

His average race time is now slower, so this hurts his legacy.

Wise Old Man wrote:

What is the essence of being the GOAT? Is it the greatest accomplishments over the greatest variety of events? For the distance men, this is undoubtedly Bekele. Is being the GOAT being the greatest at a single event, greater than others have been at any other event? If so, Kipchoge is probably the GOAT. Is Kipchoge a greater marathoner than Bekele was a 5/10K runner on the track? Close call, but after today, I say yes! Kipchoge was a very accomplished track runner, likely equal to KB’s accomplishments in the marathon, but EK is better at the marathon than anybody has been at any other event, better than KB at the track 10K and better than El G at the 1500. Therefore EK is the distance GOAT.

I thought it's the "greatest accomplishments over the greatest variety of events" and thus, as you say, Kenenisa Bekele is the GOAT. The challenge of this discussion is partly defining GOAT. Eliud Kipchoge is clearly the greatest marathoner of all time.

All of this is really funny.

I started this thread as a big joke for if Kipchoge was the best or not in the marathon now and people are actually trying to debate it.

We will never see another Kipchoge again

Imagine winning World Champs in the 5k and then 18 years later, still winning Olympic gold. 18 years.

Yoda I Am wrote:

Kipchoge = Marathon GOAT he is

Bekele = 10k GOAT he is

Cheptegei = 5k GOAT he is

El G = 1500m GOAT he is

All won Olympic golds and held/hold world records in their respective events

Cheptegei is NOT better than Bekele at the 5k.

yes he has the world record (which he broke after a year long hiatus-had Bekele taken the entire 2004 off, he'd have run crazy time on his return). One swallow does not a summer make.

Can Cheptegei run the same WR time in a grueling Diamond League circuit period? NO!

Bekele is super talented and very fast.

As a matter of fact, had Sileshi in his prime been in the Tokyo Olympics 5k, he'd have won it in the sprint most likely.

Discussions like this are funny. If Bekele had retired after his 2:03, he wouldn’t have left us with years of a sour taste of this “will he won’t he” level of performance. It is really tainting his legacy to be inconsistent, left off Olympic teams, etc

Clerk wrote:

Discussions like this are funny. If Bekele had retired after his 2:03, he wouldn’t have left us with years of a sour taste of this “will he won’t he” level of performance. It is really tainting his legacy to be inconsistent, left off Olympic teams, etc

+1

Agree 100%. Every passing year, Bekele’s stock falls and Kipchoge’s rises. KB flashes brilliance rarely now, like his run in Berlin, but mostly we are left seeing an out of shape, unmotivated athlete, more likely to DNS/DNF than one to again demonstrate his dominance. EK just keeps rolling and impressing. KB should retire and rest on his laurels, because if he keeps at it the way he’s going now recency bias will take him out of his goat status. The luckiest thing that happened to him was that he was left off the Ethiopian marathon team. If he ran yesterday EK would have embarrassed him. KB likely would have been a DNF, further tarnishing his legacy and adding further legitimacy to EK being > KB.

People forget that Samuel Wanjiru had his career cut short by accident/suicide. However at Beijing, under similar difficult conditions to Tokyo, he ran away from the field much earlier and finished in a faster 2:06. I consider one of the greatest marathons ever run. It would have been interesting watching those two go head to head.