Top 10 alltime!

walshb

Ok guys, from all the great T&F athletes in history, who are your alltime top 10

I am selecting mine based on longevity and success and impact on the scene.

In no particular order:

Jesse Owens
Pavo Nurmi
Emile Zatopek
Carl Lewis
Daley Thompson
Ed Moses
Sergey Bubka
Usain Bolt
Hicham El Gerrouj
Kenenisa Bekele.

Almost in are Jan Zelezny, Gebreselaisse, Lasse Viren, Wilson Kipketer, Maurice Greene, Jose Marie Perec, Seb Coe, Michael Johnson, Jonathon Edwards, Morcelli, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Carolina Kluft, Roger Kingdom and Kevin Young

Very difficult list to compile. My inclusion of Bolt (still competing) is for his utter dominanace at peak and the records he set. Unreal.

ecoli

walshb wrote: »

Ok guys, from all the great T&F athletes in hsitory, who are your alltime top 10

I am selecting mine based on longevity and success and impact on the scene.

In no particular order:

Jesse Owens
Pavo Nurmi
Emile Zatopek
Carl Lewis
Daley Thompson
Ed Moses
Sergey Bubka
Usain Bolt
Hicham El Gerrouj
Kenenisa Bekele.

Almost in are Jan Zelezny, Gebreselaisse, Lasse Viren, Wilson Kipketer, Maurice Green, Jose Marie Perec, Seb Coe, Michael Johnson, Jonathon Edwards, Morcelli, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Carolina Kluft, Roger Kingdom and Kevin Young

Very difficult list to compile. My inclusion of Bolt (still competing) is for his utter dominanace at peak and the records he set. Unreal.

regarding the longetivity might be worth nothing that this Year Bekele actually took Nurmi's record of holding both 5k and 10k world records at the same time for the most consective days

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2012/3/31/sports/11026119&sec=sports

might be worth bumping him up the list:D

having said that its a fairly good list the one athlete i feel never gets a mention in these kinda lists is Felix Sanchez. The man went three years and 40+ races without being beaten and that run only came to an end with a DNF through injury and is still competing at the highest level at 34 11 years after winning his first World Championship medal

walshb

ecoli wrote: »

regarding the longetivity might be worth nothing that this Year Bekele actually took Nurmi's record of holding both 5k and 10k world records at the same time for the most consective days

http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2012/3/31/sports/11026119&sec=sports

might be worth bumping him up the list:D

having said that its a fairly good list the one athlete i feel never gets a mention in these kinda lists is Felix Sanchez. The man went three years and 40+ races without being beaten and that run only came to an end with a DNF through injury and is still competing at the highest level at 34 11 years after winning his first World Championship medal

No particular order mine are in. I guess it's a top ten in no particular order.:)

ecoli

walshb wrote: »

No particular order mine are in. I guess it's a top ten in no particular order.:)

misread original post

walshb

Ivan Pdrosa is another one that a real case can be made for

<Snip>

M cebee

gebreselassi
Ed moses
Carl lewis
Zatopek
Bekele
Aouita
El guerrouj
Jan Zelezny
Daly thompson
Heike dreschler

Gambas

M cebee wrote: »

gebreselassi
Ed moses
Carl lewis
Zatopek
Bekele
Aouita
El guerrouj
Jan Zelezny
Daly thompson
Heike dreschler

Has to be a child of the 80's Surely Bubka would get in there too!

M cebee

ya bubka deserves a place for his dominance
Now if only gebresselase had been as smart as bubka and taken a second at a time off the wr's i'm sure he'd have made more money
Aouita had a great range from 800 to 5000

HBomb70

The lists seem a little male dominated so far ...... Jackie Joyner, Isinbeyeva and Greta Weitz would surely all be pushing for places.

walshb

Jackie Joyner Kersee really pushes a place in my list. She could easily place in the list with any of the others. She was that great an athlete.

YFlyer

walshb wrote: »

Ok guys, from all the great T&F athletes in history, who are your alltime top 10

I am selecting mine based on longevity and success and impact on the scene.

In no particular order:

Jesse Owens
Pavo Nurmi
Emile Zatopek
Carl Lewis
Daley Thompson
Ed Moses
Sergey Bubka
Usain Bolt
Hicham El Gerrouj
Kenenisa Bekele.

Almost in are Jan Zelezny, Gebreselaisse, Lasse Viren, Wilson Kipketer, Maurice Greene, Jose Marie Perec, Seb Coe, Michael Johnson, Jonathon Edwards, Morcelli, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Carolina Kluft, Roger Kingdom and Kevin Young

Very difficult list to compile. My inclusion of Bolt (still competing) is for his utter dominanace at peak and the records he set. Unreal.

Aouita be there before Morcelli.

walshb

YFlyer wrote: »

Aouita be there before Morcelli.

Neither made my top ten. A case could be made for either. Both excellent runners.

notsofast

Has to include Javier Sotomayor. 2.40m or higher has been jumped 24 times outdoors, Sotomayor did 17 of these, including 2.45, 2.44. and 2.43 the highest three of all time. Throw in the indoor world record of 2.43m for good measure.

walshb

notsofast wrote: »

Has to include Javier Sotomayor. 2.40m or higher has been jumped 24 times outdoors, Sotomayor did 17 of these, including 2.45, 2.44. and 2.43 the highest three of all time. Throw in the indoor world record of 2.43m for good measure.

Absolutely. Thing is, who do you replace? They are all so deserving. I would probably remove Nurmi from my list to accommodate Javier Sotomayor.

Anyone else gonna' post a list?

pre

Gebreselassi
Bekele
Lassie (the wonderdog) Viren
Zatopek
Flo Joe
Sonia o Sullivan
Sergi Bubka
Daley Thompson
Ed Moses
Moses Kiptanui

TFBubendorfer

pre wrote: »

Gebreselassi
Bekele
Lassie (the wonderdog) Viren
Zatopek
Flo Joe
Sonia o Sullivan
Sergi Bubka
Daley Thompson
Ed Moses
Moses Kiptanui

What, no Pre?

pc11

A bit biased to track, men and last 2/3 decades IMO. What about Al Oerter and Yolanda Balas for example?

Ok, that said, this would be bloody hard to narrow to ten but let me try based on the above criteria, multiple major medals and world records, and dominance excluding those with a serious suspicion of drug abuse. I'll lean towards the post WW2 era as athletics around the world was much less developed before that. Hence I exclude Jim Thorpe, Nuurmi, Viren, Koch, etc.

I think that Lewis, Geb and Bekele are automatic, probably Moses and Oerter also.

So, here are the candidates I could think of who made a truly major impact - any more?


SPRINTS
Johnson
Greene
Lewis
Bolt
Fanny BK
Owens
Lee Evans
(Flo Jo -<Snip>)


DISTANCE
Geb
Bekele
Zatopek
Rono
Kiptanui
Coe
Waitz
Paula
Kristiansen
Aouita
Bikila
El Gerrouj
and too many more!

HURDLES
Moses
Allen Johnson


LJ
Lewis
Beamon
JJK


HJ
Sotomayor
Balas
Kostadinova


PV
Bubka

TJ
Edwards
Saneyev


SP
O'Brien
Godina
Matson


DT
Oerter


HT
Sedykh

JT
Zelezny

MULTI
Thomson
JJK
Matthias
O'Brien

woodchopper

Bekele
Haile
Tergat
Coe
EL God
Sammy
Bolt
Michael Johnson
Komen
David Rushida

Yifter the Shifter comes close as does Rupp, Solinsky, Mottram snd Ovett

YFlyer

woodchopper wrote: »

Bekele
Haile
Tergat
Coe
EL God
Sammy
Bolt
Michael Johnson
Komen
David Rushida

Yifter the Shifter comes close as does Rupp, Solinsky, Mottram snd Ovett

How are Rupp, Solinsky and Mottram close contenders?

notsofast

woodchopper wrote: »

Bekele
Haile
Tergat
Coe
EL God
Sammy
Bolt
Michael Johnson
Komen
David Rushida

Yifter the Shifter comes close as does Rupp, Solinsky, Mottram snd Ovett

All male runners?

walshb

Top ten women:

FBK
Jackie Joyner
Valerie Briscoe Hooks
Tirunesh Dibaba
Sonia
Svetlana Masterkova
Gail Devers
Jose Marie Perec
Carolina Kluft
Isibayaeva

M cebee

what about a drug-enhanced top 10;)

there's one or two from these lists that are automatic

Pisco Sour

walshb wrote: »

Absolutely. Thing is, who do you replace? They are all so deserving. I would probably remove Nurmi from my list to accommodate Javier Sotomayor.

Anyone else gonna' post a list?

Sotomayor is a convicted drug cheat. He deserves no place on these lists.

Pisco Sour

For women's distance running alone you could pick 10 absolute legends:

1) Vivian Cheruyiot
2) Tirenish Dibaba
3) Meseret Defar
4) Derartu Tulu
5) Gete Wami
6) Paula Radcliffe
7) Gabriela Szabo
8) Fernando Ribeiro
9) Grete Waitz
10) Sonia O'Sullivan

Pisco Sour

woodchopper wrote: »

Yifter the Shifter comes close as does Rupp, Solinsky, Mottram snd Ovett

:rolleyes::eek:

M cebee

rupp and mottram
Ouch!

YFlyer

Mark Carroll would be ahead of those 3 amigos

Pisco Sour

YFlyer wrote: »

Mark Carroll would be ahead of those 3 amigos

Mottram isnt even the best Australian middle/long distance runner. Absolutely no mention of Herb Elliot in his list. Undefeated over 1500m in his career if I'm not mistaken.

YFlyer

Well I got to admit Mottram has better times, except for the 3000m, than Carroll.

walshb

04072511 wrote: »

Sotomayor is a convicted drug cheat. He deserves no place on these lists.

Well, I had put him in a list originally that was snipped for the reasons you mention.

woodchopper

YFlyer wrote: »

Well I got to admit Mottram has better times, except for the 3000m, than Carroll.

How many medals has Mark Carroll won at World Championships

woodchopper

YFlyer wrote: »

Mark Carroll would be ahead of those 3 amigos

Mark Carroll would be lapped by Galen Rupp in a 10k

woodchopper

M cebee wrote: »

rupp and mottram
Ouch!

Both of these guys are miles better than Viren or the Zat pack. They would destroy them in a race. Dont be giving me any of this technology/diet rubbish as an excuse for faster times because Coe was running great times around that period. If Rupp was around then he'd be a 3 time Olympic 10000 meter champion

Pisco Sour

woodchopper wrote: »

Both of these guys are miles better than Viren or the Zat pack. They would destroy them in a race. Dont be giving me any of this technology/diet rubbish as an excuse for faster times because Coe was running great times around that period. If Rupp was around then he'd be a 3 time Olympic 10000 meter champion

They're not fit to tie the footwear of Andreas Thorkildsen though.

Pisco Sour

woodchopper wrote: »

If Rupp was around then he'd be a 3 time Olympic 10000 meter champion

If my aunt had balls...

woodchopper

04072511 wrote: »

They're not fit to tie the footwear of Andreas Thorkildsen though.

Who?

Pisco Sour

woodchopper wrote: »

Who?

Newsflash, theres more to our sport than people who run long distances.

Your comments cant be taken seriously given what you said about the training and dedication needed to be a top quality "stick thrower".

Dodge

If this is the way the thread is going Ecoli is going to be busy with the scissors

woodchopper

Dodge wrote: »

If this is the way the thread is going Ecoli is going to be busy with the scissors

All I have done is express an opinion and asked who this Andreas guy is. Anyway Ecoli is off in the LV. This is a forum of debate remember

woodchopper

04072511 wrote: »

Newsflash, theres more to our sport than people who run long distances.

Your comments cant be taken seriously given what you said about the training and dedication needed to be a top quality "stick thrower".

If you bothered to read my top ten then you would see a 100M, 200M, 400M, 800M, two 1500 runners, 5000, 10000, and marathon runners in my list. Not just long distance athletes. Again your hypothesis is not backed up with sufficient evidence.

By the way athletes like Trey Hardee, Aston Eaton and Brian Clay are terrific all round athletes not just a one trick throwing pony

Pisco Sour

woodchopper wrote: »

If you bothered to read my top ten then you would see a 100M, 200M, 400M, 800M, two 1500 runners, 5000, 10000, and marathon runners in my list. Not just long distance athletes. Again your hypothesis is not backed up with sufficient evidence.

Yes I did read your top 10. All men, and all people who run. Nobody who jumps hurdles (Ed Moses one of the greatest in any event in my books), nobody who throws something, nobody who jumps over stuff, or jumps far. It's a pretty one dimensional list, which you are fully entitled to make of course, and it's a pretty decent list for what it is, but your comments after it took any credibility away from it.

woodchopper wrote: »

By the way athletes like Trey Hardee, Aston Eaton and Brian Clay are terrific all round athletes not just a one trick throwing pony

Jack of all trades, master at none.

Pisco Sour

woodchopper wrote: »

All I have done is express an opinion and asked who this Andreas guy is. Anyway Ecoli is off in the LV. This is a forum of debate remember

This Andreas guy is a 2 time Olympic Champion. Yes that is 2 more Olympic gold medals than Rupp, Solinksky and Mottram combined. I could add up major championship medals for you also, but the comparisons would be embarrassing so I'll spare your blushes there.

woodchopper

04072511 wrote: »

Yes I did read your top 10. All men, and all people who run. Nobody who jumps hurdles (Ed Moses one of the greatest in any event in my books), nobody who throws something, nobody who jumps over stuff, or jumps far. It's a pretty one dimensional list, which you are fully entitled to make of course, and it's a pretty decent list for what it is, but your comments after it took any credibility away from it.



Jack of all trades, master at none.

So Jessica Ennis is not a great athlete since she is not a master but rather a jack of all trades?

And Im the one who lacks creditibilty. Talking out of your hat as usual sunshine

walshb

04072511 wrote: »

Newsflash, theres more to our sport than people who run long distances.

Your comments cant be taken seriously given what you said about the training and dedication needed to be a top quality "stick thrower".

I may have missed it, but have you yourself posted a list?

Pisco Sour

woodchopper wrote: »

So Jessica Ennis is not a great athlete since she is not a master but rather a jack of all trades?

And Im the one who lacks creditibilty. Talking out of your hat as usual sunshine

She is a great athlete, but because she excels at her event. Not because her event involves more variety. Your "one trick pony" comment is remarkably insulting. If you want to call somebody who competes in one event to a high standard a "one trick pony" then I dont see a problem with calling somebody who competes in 10 events to a very average level a "jack of all trades, master at none".

Besides, how is Thorkildsen anymore of a one trick pony than Craig Mottram?

Pisco Sour

walshb wrote: »

I may have missed it, but have you yourself posted a list?

I posted a female distance runners only one. Women were being excluded here, and theres too many to choose from so I decided to focus on one category.

ultrapercy

04072511 wrote: »

She is a great athlete, but because she excels at her event. Not because her event involves more variety. Your "one trick pony" comment is remarkably insulting. If you want to call somebody who competes in one event to a high standard a "one trick pony" then I dont see a problem with calling somebody who competes in 10 events to a very average level a "jack of all trades, master at none".

I think digits and chopper are the same person with a cronic split personality problem.

walshb

04072511 wrote: »

I posted a female distance runners only one. Women were being excluded here, and theres too many to choose from so I decided to focus on one category.

So, you did not post your real list?

If women are being excluded, so what?

I have several women that almost make my top ten. I have several great men too.

ultrapercy

walshb wrote: »

So, you did not post your real list?

If women are being excluded, so what?

I have several women that almost make my top ten. I have several great men too.

There may be more than just two of them in there.

Pisco Sour

walshb wrote: »

So, you did not post your real list?

If women are being excluded, so what?

I have several women that almost make my top ten. I have several great men too.

It's a very hard list to make, and there could be 100-200 who would be perfectly valid picks:

I'll give it a go anyway, in no order:

1) Edwin Moses - 112 consecutive victories, 2 Olympic Golds (would have been 3 but for boycott
2) Carolina Kluft - In my eyes the greatest heptathlete of all time.
3) Usain Bolt - For transcending the sport
4) Derartu Tulu - Not just for winning 2 Olympic Gold medals but for her impact on African female distance running (you could argue Hassiba Boulmerka for the same reason, and Grete Waitz could also be listed for similar sentiments)
5) Emil Zatopek - 5000, 10000, Marathon treble will never be done again
6) Fanny Blankers Koen - Will we ever see somebody even attempt a 100, 200 and Sprint Hurdles in a single games again, not to mention win them all. Sally has the A-Standards for all, but she'll only focus on the one.
7) Jan Zelenzy - Multiple Olympic Champion, and an absolutely astonishing world record
8) Sally Gunnell - World, Olympic, European and Commonwealth Champion simultaneously, and World Record holder aswell.
9) Kenenisa Bekele - Has achieved everything there is to achieve on the track and cross country - on multiple occasions. Haile would also be listed for the same reason but I've only 10 spaces to work with here so he doesn't get the "Ethiopian Male Distance runner slot".
10) Jonathon Edwards - That world record is ridiculous. Nobody has got within an asses roar of it. And he has a cheeky Olympic gold to back it up.

walshb

ultrapercy wrote: »

There may be more than just two of them in there.

In where?

To narrow down a top ten list I admit, is very difficult. One could make 5 or 6 top ten lists and all could be deserving. That is how many great great T&F athletes there were.

If a list stated that it had to be 50/50 male and female that too would be very difficult. But, why if someone believes that a woman, or a man does not belong in their list, should they feel they have to include them?

I honestly gave my list, and a woman didn't make it. Almost did. JJK is next in line among any man or woman. She is number 11.