Most of us agree Bekele is the GOAT, right?

Jesse Owens

Not doped. No special equipments. Phenomenal pressures. Huge lack of support. Jesse is GOAT.

Drops mike.

The crowd cheers. Modern elite runners break out in tears.

LRC-SJW team sulks at home devastated.

I’d go

Bekele

Geb

El G

Kipchoge

Tergat

Morceli

Farah

Kemboi

Easy to forget but Tergat was a great cross country champion, something that eludes Farah for instance. Kemboi and Farah feel similar to me but I’ll give advantage to Mo as he had the ability to double. Both got lucky to dodge some of the strongest challengers, and ran good times but not world records. Bekele is the GOAT because great on every surface, world record holder and forget about beating him at 5-10K, XC in his prime. You won’t .

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

I’d go

Bekele

Geb

El G

Kipchoge

Tergat

Morceli

Farah

Kemboi

Easy to forget but Tergat was a great cross country champion, something that eludes Farah for instance. Kemboi and Farah feel similar to me but I’ll give advantage to Mo as he had the ability to double. Both got lucky to dodge some of the strongest challengers, and ran good times but not world records. Bekele is the GOAT because great on every surface, world record holder and forget about beating him at 5-10K, XC in his prime. You won’t .

Agree-no doubt Kenny B as the GOAT but Tergat was a great runner in his own right-if it weren't for Geb he would have a few Olympic golds-that 2000 10000m duel was classic!

Bekele is no worse than 2nd best all time marathoner

There’s probably nothing he can do to take the shine off Kipchoge at this point. Time is short, and Eliud has accomplished so much. Maybe if he breaks 2 hours in a regular marathon.

Bekele is GOAT distance runner

Nobody has yet disputed that Augustine Choge is the only runner ever to break 1:45, 3:30, 7:30, 13, and 60. How can that not be the greatest? Elite all the way from 800 to HM.

issue of muscle memory wrote:

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.

You trollin or do you actually believe there's such a thing as muscle memory...because you know there's not right?

I personally think he's the GOAT, but Gebrselassie and El Guerrouj are pretty close. These three are way ahead of everyone else. Kipchoge is the marathon GOAT without a doubt, but overall I wouldn't put him any higher than 4th.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Nobody has yet disputed that Augustine Choge is the only runner ever to break 1:45, 3:30, 7:30, 13, and 60. How can that not be the greatest? Elite all the way from 800 to HM.

Choge looks more like Mo Farah (3:29/12:53/26:47/59:07/2:05:11) than Bekele and he doesn't have Farah's gold medals.

Mo Farrah has 4 Olympic gold medals (one more than Bekele). He has 6 WC golds. One gold medal can be a bit of a fluke. 10 is not.

He's not Bekele - who both won and ran outrageous times, but he is certainly in the running for top 5 and he is absolutely in the top 10.

While Centrowitz is not close to top 5 or top 10 all time, but he is a fantastically solid and consistent runner. One of the top 5 USA all-time (I gotta go with Ryun). He's better than Webb, IMO. Steve Scott (who, IMO, ran in the toughest time period for1500/mile) might be better, but if Centro keeps at it (and gets some more good results) he can equal or surpass him.

Licketysplit wrote:

father time wrote:

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?

Thank You ..... Komen bordeline top 10 in the past 30 years. Very short career with 1 global gold in a race the best 5000m of the runner didn't race in. The WR in an event that is rarely contested is not that impressive. If Bekele had pursued that he would have beat it. Farah's medal haul put him top 5 for sure. Understand others have run faster but that many global golds are incredibly impressive.

Definitive List of those previously nominated:

1. Bekele - enough's been said

2. Geb - Bekele-lite

3. Kipchoge - GOAT marathoner

4. Farah - 3:28 to 2:05 range, global titles, can't really be lower than this

5. Tergat - #2 for many of years behind these other guys

6. El Guerrouj - just a little lower than the others becasue never proved he had the 10k-marathon range like some of others proved across all distances.

7. Lagat - titles, fast times, long career, great range

8. Komen - his peak was just so high

9. Wanjiru - everyone knows the olympic marathon, but people forget how good his 10k credentials also were

10. Kemboi - i would have just liked to see something in the other events from him

Honorable Mention: Morceli

facts and reason wrote:

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?

If he'd won the 1500 in two Olympics and a couple of World Championships, sure. Why not?

The XC is the tie-breaker for me. His marathon record could be somewhat better, but not his track or XC dominance.

Geb was great, especially for the sport due to his personality, Eliod is rewriting our understanding of what is possible for continued greatness in the marathon, but neither matches all Bekele has done overall.

Licketysplit wrote:

father time wrote:

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?

Embarrassed to say I haven't, and upon query apparently neither have Google or FB. However, there's this other guy...

3hr-marathoner wrote:

Choge looks more like Mo Farah (3:29/12:53/26:47/59:07/2:05:11) than Bekele and he doesn't have Farah's gold medals.

Mo didn't break 1:45 or 7:30, and was also the star of the disgraced NOP.

When Choge eventually goes sub 2:05, will everyone then admit he's GOAT? He'd have sub 27 if the 10,000 were still a serious event anymore.

I think putting Morceli, El Guerroj, Lagat, and Komen on the list is sort of people talking past one another. Those four guys seem to be more in the 1500 to 5000 range where everyone else on the list is in the 5000 to Marathon range. Yes, those four crossed paths with others on the list at times but look at the overall list and its clearly a 5000 to Marathon List.

El Guerroj has no 10K or marathon times. I'd certainly put him as GOAT 1500/miler. I'd put Morceli, Lagat, and Komen on a top 5-10 miler list behind him. And If you're cranking out a 3000/2 miler list I'd shuffle it around and put Komen as GOAT with those other guys on it behind him (with some others mixed in). And yes, El Guerroj and Komen belong on 5K all time lists but do both belong on 5000 to Marathon Lists?

I do agree that Bekele, Gerbrselassie, Kipchoge, Tergat, and Farah are the easy top 5.