Greatest 800m runnr of all time

[Guest]

Who is the greatest male 800m runner of all times.

Those who would have to be considered since WWII include: Kipketer, Coe, Cruz, Juantorena, Snell, Whitfield.

Who am I missing?

All who have seen my posts know who I'd pick: Seb Coe.

Squire if you are still out there how do you have them stacked?

[6 5.5hjsteve]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

well you should also at least mention the pre-WW II guys such as Ted Merideth, Doug Lowe, and Rudolf Harbig among others, but I'll go with :

1. Snell. Broke major new WR ground in '62 with his 1:44.3m/1:45.1y, after first upset OG '60 gold,then verified it with a 2nd OG gold in '64 in a time bettered only by himself previously, with a 1:45.1m. End of story.

2. Coe. Never won an OG but did everything else. A close but clear 2nd behind Snell and a clear lead ahead of 3rd.

A distant 3rd:

3. Whitfield. 2 OG golds has got to be worth at least a bronze. Demerits for no WR but those 2 golds count for a lot.

And then a big pack just on Whitfield's heels of 5 or six guys such as Kipketer, Harbig, Lowe, et al.

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

I'd have to go with Snell.

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

Does anyone know much about Ralph Doubell (New Zealand? He's from down under somewhere I know for sure) the Olympic 800 meter champ in 68' in a WR. I don't recall hearing much about him anywhere else.

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

Mutola

[6 5.5hjsteve]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

He's an Aussie

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

Doubell dominated indoors on around his Oly win. Pretty to watch with seemingly effortless (seemingly) acceleration and finish

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

<And then a big pack just on Whitfield's heels of 5 or six guys such as Kipketer, Harbig, Lowe, et al.>

Steve, I could scarcely believe this was from you. Though Whitfield was great with two Oly golds, I would rate him overall lower than both Kipketer and Harbig. Even clockwise Whitfield was below Harbig's best ~15 years later. And if you saw some of Kipketer's great runs - start with his last indoor world record from 1997 - you can't deny his greatness. For what it is worth, I believe Robertyo Quercetani (arguably as knowledgable a bloke as anyone else on T&F matters), rates Kipeketer right near the top of all-time 800m runners.

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

<Robertyo Quercetani >

Obviously Roberto (Luigi) Quercetani.

[6 5.5hjsteve]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

Ajax, on 2nd thought I agree with you. I hereby demote Whitfield into a tie with Lowe for 4th and 5th, and I'll move Kipketer up to 3rd by himself. I'll leave Harbig in 6th. Yes his 1:46.6 was a monster improvement but what else did he do in the 800 ? Don't know. I could check, but did he win the EC in 1938 ? But even that's not enough to pull him up with the other 3 IMHO.

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

Mal Whitfield - can't ignore back-to-back 800 golds.

[6 5.5hjsteve]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

answering my own question, yes Harbig won the EC in '38, in 1:50.6. But he stays in 6th place. WW II ended his career; sadly it ended his life as well.

Question: were there any other star performers that lost their lives or their health, precluding a post-war comeback ?

[Guest]

Greatest 800m runnr of all time

In no particular order:

Kipchoge Keino
Peter Snell
Alberto Juantorena
Sebastain Coe
Mal Whitfield
Johnny Gray
Jim Ryun
Ralph Doubell
Herb Elliott

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

I can't remember Keino EVER running an 800...

[Guest]

Re: Greatest 800m runnr of all time

Bijan,

I think alot of your list is correct, but not Ryun or Keino.

According to the archives on this Web site, Keino was never even ranked in the World top 10 in the 800, and like Kuha1 I can't think of any instances in which he ran the event.

Ryun doesn't belong either; besides his #1 ranking in 1966, he was never world-ranked at the distance; achieving the #1 ranking for one year is insufficient to put him on the list.

These guys were both milers...