Greatest Athletics Coach of all time?

donothoponpop

(split from this thread)

robinph wrote: »

I've heard of that Irish dude before in another program I think.

Brother Colm O'Connell set up the St Patrick High School in Iten. Check out some of their alumni:
St. Patrick High School (almuni) All time 800 m. bests
1. Wilson Kipketer - 1:41.83 (96) / 1:46.5 in (90)
2. Benson Koech - 1:43.17 (94) / 1:44.77 World Jun in 92 - School Record
3. David Kiptoo - 1:43.38 (96) / 21.5, 47.5 & 52.4H in 1985
4. Mike Boit - 1:43.57 (76) / 1:48.7 in 1969
5. Joseph Tengelei - 1:43.57 (95) / 46.8 in 1988
6. Cosmos Sielei - 1:45.38 (73) / 3:56.2 for 1500m in 1969
7. Japheth Kimutai - 1:45.4 (96) No. 2 on school list with 96 time
8. Kipkoech Cheruiyot - 1:46.46 (86) / 1:47.8 in 1984
9. Peter Rono - 1:46.66 (88) / 3:39.2 for 1500m in 1985

(Irish Times article about Brother Colm)

robinph

Not sure it was any of those alumni, but was a program about some Kenyan I presume and they then covered a bit about him. Did he train anyone else?

donothoponpop

robinph wrote: »

Not sure it was any of those alumni, but was a program about some Kenyan I presume and they then covered a bit about him. Did he train anyone else?

A whole worldclass heap of others. Check out this thread from LetsRun on some of his training methods , with some more names mentioned. Ecoli (who I hope will come along and fill us in some more:)) reckons he is the most successful coach of all time.

ecoli

donothoponpop wrote: »

(split from this thread)



Brother Colm O'Connell set up the St Patrick High School in Iten. Check out some of their alumni:
St. Patrick High School (almuni) All time 800 m. bests
1. Wilson Kipketer - 1:41.83 (96) / 1:46.5 in (90)
2. Benson Koech - 1:43.17 (94) / 1:44.77 World Jun in 92 - School Record
3. David Kiptoo - 1:43.38 (96) / 21.5, 47.5 & 52.4H in 1985
4. Mike Boit - 1:43.57 (76) / 1:48.7 in 1969
5. Joseph Tengelei - 1:43.57 (95) / 46.8 in 1988
6. Cosmos Sielei - 1:45.38 (73) / 3:56.2 for 1500m in 1969
7. Japheth Kimutai - 1:45.4 (96) No. 2 on school list with 96 time
8. Kipkoech Cheruiyot - 1:46.46 (86) / 1:47.8 in 1984
9. Peter Rono - 1:46.66 (88) / 3:39.2 for 1500m in 1985

(Irish Times article about Brother Colm)

One more to add to that list of 800m guys, current 800m World Record holder David Rudisha, Steeplchase WR holder Stephen Cheyrono, 2 top 10 ranked 1500m runners of this year in Augustine Choge (part of the 4x1500m world record team) and Asbel Kiprop, and on the women side current World Champion at 5000m Linet Masai and Olympic 800m Silver medallist Janet Jepkosgei.

These are just to mention a few. Currently the two fastest 800m times of all time are held by his athletes

Basically the saying goes a great athlete makes a great coach but with Brother Colm O Connell this is proven wrong as he has consistenly produced athletes of a wide variety of events.. The man has had more World records and global titles than most countries have ever produced. The fact that before arriving in Kenya he had little interest in athletics is pretty shocking.

Former head master at St. Patricks in Iten he has now retired and currently works exclusively with athletes and is still producing World class runners close to four decades later

RoyMcC

It's quite a story this and goes to show (again) that you don't need a string of certificates and 'levels' to become a great coach. So much of it is instinct, observation and empathy with the athlete. O'Connell clearly acquired his technical knowledge 'on the job'.

Who have been Ireland's other great coaches? Kim McDonald maybe, Dan Kennedy. Does Ricky Simms count? There must be (or have been) others. Not the lads doing a great job at club level but those that have made their mark at world level.

woodchopper

Is there even such a thing as the worlds best coach. Firstly the world record holder for the steeple was trained by Renato Cavona. Talking of great coaches My good friend Gabrele Rosa must come to mind. Himself and Claudio have trained countless 2.05 marathoners.

RoyMcC

They don't sound Irish though :rolleyes:

ss43

ecoli wrote: »

One more to add to that list of 800m guys, current 800m World Record holder David Rudisha, Steeplchase WR holder Stephen Cheyrono, 2 top 10 ranked 1500m runners of this year in Augustine Choge (part of the 4x1500m world record team) and Asbel Kiprop, and on the women side current World Champion at 5000m Linet Masai and Olympic 800m Silver medallist Janet Jepkosgei.

These are just to mention a few. Currently the two fastest 800m times of all time are held by his athletes

Where are you getting this info?

Cherono/Shaheen was coached by Canova and then went his own way.
Asbel Kiprop is not coached by him either. He's based in the IOC camp. I don't think he coaches any women of note. Jepkosgei is coached by Claudio Berardelli. Linet Masai is coached and managed by Ricky Simms according to here http://runningtimes.com/Print.aspx?articleID=18870

ecoli

ss43 wrote: »

Where are you getting this info?

Cherono/Shaheen was coached by Canova and then went his own way.
Asbel Kiprop is not coached by him either. He's based in the IOC camp. I don't think he coaches any women of note. Jepkosgei is coached by Claudio Berardelli. Linet Masai is coached and managed by Ricky Simms according to here http://runningtimes.com/Print.aspx?articleID=18870

Shaheen in his early years before Renato was with Br. O Connell

http://www.iaaf.org/news/athletes/newsid=52483.html

Also Jepkosgei was coached by O Connell before Beradelli

http://books.google.ie/books?id=NckDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=jepkosgei+%2B+colm&source=bl&ots=9MqCUtt-ke&sig=CJjLsHbJpRPghevGNJiLt9p8vqw&hl=en&ei=uNwaTd7oFoeDhQfSspm3Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&sqi=2&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=jepkosgei%20%2B%20colm&f=false



Also this article lists the other two as under his coaching

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/athletics/Irish-Godfather-of-Kenyan-athletics-Colm-OConnell-keeps-churning-out-champions-/articleshow/5347049.cms

However this last one could be slightly unreliable as cant find others to back it up

ss43

ecoli wrote: »

Shaheen in his early years before Renato was with Br. O Connell

http://www.iaaf.org/news/athletes/newsid=52483.html

Pretty sure he was with Kim MacDonald once finished school and then Canova so it's a bit misleading to say O'Connell coached WR holder given that he wasn't involved near the record. Similarly, Kipketer had a European (Polish I think) coach for his senior career.

ecoli wrote: »

Also Jepkosgei was coached by O Connell before Beradelli

http://books.google.ie/books?id=NckDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA106&lpg=PA106&dq=jepkosgei+%2B+colm&source=bl&ots=9MqCUtt-ke&sig=CJjLsHbJpRPghevGNJiLt9p8vqw&hl=en&ei=uNwaTd7oFoeDhQfSspm3Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&sqi=2&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=jepkosgei%20%2B%20colm&f=false

It says "all the while, he has trained many more champions on the side" and then lists them. Attending his camp in the school holidays does not mean they are (or were) coached by him. By that logic, any distance runner in ireland who attended a national training day would have been coached by Jim Davis or Anne-Keenan Buckley.

ecoli wrote: »

Also this article lists the other two as under his coaching

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/athletics/Irish-Godfather-of-Kenyan-athletics-Colm-OConnell-keeps-churning-out-champions-/articleshow/5347049.cms

However this last one could be slightly unreliable as cant find others to back it up

Articles written under him drop every Kenyan whose ever done anything's name as being coached by him despite the fact that he coaches a group of about five or six athletes at the moment - Rudisha, Choge, Songok, Mangata and maybe one or two others.