This is a twist on that other thread of Greatest Athletes of the Century. But what are your thoughts on the track athletes (of any country) who have had the greatest impact on the sport of T & F. Not just the performances but all aspects of the sport.
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Greatest Track Athletes of Any Century
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Re: Greatest Track Athletes of Any Century
Zatopek, Ryun, Rono, to name a few. These guys truly took the standards of their day to new levels.
Rono's performances in 1978 have to stand out as one of the most incredible displays of running prowess ever. Too bad he could never make more of his talent.
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Re: Greatest Track Athletes of Any Century
>>AS unpopular as he is with some people,
>Carl
>Lewis was a tremendous force in
>the
>professionalization of the sport.
I may
>be in a minority -- which surprises me -- in
>feeling this way, but I always felt that far from
>being obnoxious and arrogant, Carl was almost
>always gracious and generous.
I always liked him. He was in the last half of his sprinting career when I first got involved in track, so he was a natural "hero". He often said things that rubbed people the wrong way, but those people needed it anyway. Most of the time, he turned out to be right. Like criticizing the sport's management in the USA -- boy, he was right on! And when he turned down the IAAF's invitation for the Athlete of the Century award to make a stand on drugs, most people didn't understand that he gave up some pats on the back in order to try to influence the new heads of the IAAF and IOC. Could you have imagined Cassell ever doing that?
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Re: Greatest Track Athletes of Any Century
Lasse Viren was unbeatable at 5k and 10k at two different Olympics. Thats about as good as anyone has ever done or could hope for.
There simply was no way to beat the guy at the OGs in those events. You couldn't set fast enough a pace to break him and couldn't out sprint him.
Although it would have been great seeing Pre try and break him in 1976.
Say what you want about possible blood doping but Lasse brought peaking to an absolute art form.
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