my picks geb wins the mens race in 20540 and in the womens race a new star is born as bezunesh bekele nicknamed china books her olympic spot by upsetting berhane adere and lornah kiplagat and winning in 21959. go bezunesh.
When was the last time someone set a wr in two consecutive races longer then 800 meters. That would be pretty impressive. I remember Kipketer doing it indoors at the world champs, But this is a whole different ball of wax.
highjumpfan wrote:When was the last time someone set a wr in two consecutive races longer then 800 meters. That would be pretty impressive. I remember Kipketer doing it indoors at the world champs, But this is a whole different ball of wax.
Edit: I took the "two consecutive WR's" to mean two back to back races over any distance where both were a WR, as opposed to running consecutive WR's in the same distance (which other people interpreted as). Assuming Wanjiru's 58:53 was accepted, he would probably be the last one to do the back-to-back same distance WR double.
Haile himself did it back in 1998:
26:22.75 - 10000m - Hengelo - June 01
12:39.36 - 5000m - Helsinki - June 13
And Defar did it this past summer:
9:10.47 - 2Mile - Adidas Classic - May 20
14:16.63 - 5000m - Oslo - June 15
Also in 2007, Samuel Wanjiru ran two consecutive WR's with his 58:53 in February (half-marathon) and then ran 58:33 the following month. No races in the middle. Though I thought I read that his 58:53 may not have been ratified?
Last edited by joeltetreault on Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
Jon wrote:There are rumours in Ethiopia suggesting Haile might retire after the Dubai marathon. Don't know how reliable they are...
How could someone of Haile's mentality not want to contest the Games this year?
Guevara, Bergqvist, Simpson et al do not seem to be fussed by that lil' meet in Beijing. Maybe Geb isn't either (especially seeing as he is yet to run the marathon at a major champs).
Jon wrote:There are rumours in Ethiopia suggesting Haile might retire after the Dubai marathon. Don't know how reliable they are...
Especially if he bags the $1.25 mil
He doesn't need the money.
Im not suggesting he's hurting $ wise but theres an old saying, " You can never be too thin or too rich". I dont think its just chance that Geb is running in the richest 26er on earth.
Hi Jon, knowing you over the years (how are you going by the way? ) I can trust your rumours, still makes no sense to me, but if we try to find some logic in it we could come up with something I believe.
Let's hope Gebre does a WR, I doubt it though, but it will please me immensely.
But Geb has always been about being a legend like Yifter. He's always been motivated by records and such. While certainly not an arrogant man, he wants to do things others haven't done, and he wants to make history. How many times have we heard that from him?
I'm not questioning Jon's reliability. I'm just processing this in light of what we know of Haile the athlete. Mere months away from the OG, he's run the marathon faster than a human ever has, and he's in great shape. Why now?
bekeselassie wrote:But Geb has always been about being a legend like Yifter. He's always been motivated by records and such. While certainly not an arrogant man, he wants to do things others haven't done, and he wants to make history. How many times have we heard that from him?
I'm not questioning Jon's reliability. I'm just processing this in light of what we know of Haile the athlete. Mere months away from the OG, he's run the marathon faster than a human ever has, and he's in great shape. Why now?
I agree Bek, it makes no sense to anyone who has read Gebs words. The only thing i can think of is Bek droping out of the heat at world x and the thought of Geb running an Olympic effort in a 100 degree smog alert doesnt sound fun.
I can trust your rumours, still makes no sense to me, but if we try to find some logic in it we could come up with something I believe.
