did wrote:
Eating My Humble Pie wrote:
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Presumably Kipchoge will run at Tokyo 2020. Do you think Bekele will? Or will he spend the next 12 months preparing for another assault on the WR at Berlin next year?
SDSU Aztec wrote:
Assuming they are both healthy and fit, it would be by far the best match-up in marathon history and similar to Ali-Frazier (the first fight). If Bekele doesn't run in Tokyo it would be like Coe or Ovett skipping Moscow to focus on WR's in the 1500/Mile. The best competing against each other is what makes sports great. I would be disgusted if one them skipped Tokyo.
celery wrote:
I agree. I hope he goes after the Olympics (assuming Ethiopian officials aren't stupid) rather than WR. The problem with WR attempts is the weather and any number of other things can go wrong. But if he beat's Kipchoge head to head at Olympics, even if conditions suck and its a slow time, it counts for more.
Big Red wrote:
Happy to see Bekele return to his best. I hope both he and Kipchoge are fit and ready for the Olympic showdown next year. It is amazing that this rivalry is still a hot topic 16 years after the 2003 WC 5000 meters!
Bad Wigins wrote:
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However, the IAAF should now make it mandatory that Kipchoge quit the draft-assisted nonsense and go head to head vs Bekele in a fast flat marathon to settle things for good and all.
UA Runner wrote:
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I sure hope he goes for it, rather than running the Olympics. It would be the perfect chance.. get some of his training buddies to help pace, no Kipchoge at Berlin 2020 (potentially), and hopefully find another 5~10seconds.
Bruin1996 wrote:
Awesome race by Bekele. I really hope for a marathon vs overall distance runner GOAT showdown at London? and/or Tokyo next year for the Olympic gold! A race for the ages between GOATs
A lot of good commentary above. The (obvious?) consensus is that Kipchoge is the marathon goat and Bekele is the overall goat.
I posted the following on another thread already but this one has more responses so I copy/pasted it here:
Can you imagine a Tokyo Olympic marathon with a (healthy 100%) Kipchoge VS Bekele matchup?!?! It would / will be unreal.
Two other thoughts:
- Outside of the Olympics I doubt we'll get another chance at that matchup.
- How much would Bekele have to do to become the marathon goat? Minimally: (1) beat Kipchoge in Tokyo, and (2) set the WR. But there would have to be some additional criteria.... perhaps:
(3) run a faster aided marathon time than whatever Kipchoge runs at Ineos159 (assuming Ineos159 yields a faster results than Breaking2)
(4) win a couple more fast marathons?
(5) win all the WMM?
I'm not sure Bekele has enough time to become the marathon GOAT. The minimum requirements you laid out are definitely good, but even if he meets them I still might give Kipchoge the edge due to his incredible win streak + his run in Monza that opened the floodgates to the crazy sub 2:03 clockings we've started seeing. Bekele would have to take gold in Tokyo and demolish Kipchoge's current record for me to entertain the possibility of him being the marathon GOAT.
I would have liked to see Bekele take the record today, because I suspect Kipchoge will lower it again after he crushes the 2 hour mark in Vienna. In any case, the marathon just got a lot more exciting. Let's hope Bekele can stay healthy. He looked phenomenal today.