Who Is the Greatest Male Runner Of All Time?
Posted April 16th, 2008 at 9:45 AM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, SoundOFF, Columns
Who is the greatest male runner of all time? If you ask ten different track aficionados, you’ll probably get ten different answers, but I thought I’d take a look at some statistics to try and arrive at my own conclusion. I based my analysis on the fastest 50 performances of all time in every Olympic running event from 100 meters all the way up to the marathon. I tallied the number of times each name appeared in any of the events (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10000m, Marathon, 110mH, 400mH, 3000mSC) and then added the totals if any athlete had top 50 performances in more than one event. Most of the athletes who had 10 or more top-50-alltime performances have done so in more than one event.
Of all the runners who had 10 or more top-50 performances, which nations were most represented? Not surprisingly, the United States was represented by the most with 6 athletes, followed by Ethiopia with 2 and then 6 countries with 1 athlete each: Denmark, Jamaica, Kenya, Morocco, Qatar, and Trinidad. Based on that information alone, you can probably guess some of the names on the list.
I know I’ll get some comments from people who will write that “greatness” cannot be determined solely on times, that the number of championships/Olympic medals won should be calculated, as should longevity, the sheer number of victories plus any other of a number of criteria. I agree. It’s almost a shame to have to exclude legendary runners like Paavo Nurmi, Emil Zátopek, Lasse Virén and Jim Ryun. But time has passed those runners by. Besides, you have to admit that this particular type of analysis is pretty interesting.
One athlete I have to point out and offer up as being worthy of some kind of special achievement award for running greatness based on this analysis is Edwin Moses, who ended up 5th on the list. Moses still has 17 of the 50 fastest 400 meter hurdles times of all time. The fact that he ran his last top-50 race way back in 1988, yet he’s still on the top-50 list a total of 17 times some 20 years later, is noteworthy in itself. Surely he should get some bonus points just for being so awesome in his own time that twenty years worth of world-class hurdlers haven’t managed to bump him off the top-50 list.
Some other noteworthy athletes on the list are Wilson Kipketer (800m), Allen Johnson (110mH), Asafa Powell (100m), Jeremy Wariner (400m) and Paul Kipsiele Koech (3000mSC). All deserve special mention for devoting their great careers to just a single event yet being so great at that one event that they have racked up quite a few top-50 performances in that event.
So who is the greatest? That would have to be Michael Johnson. He holds 9 of the 50 fastest 200 meter times of all time and almost half (23) of the 50 fastest 400 meter times of all time. Eight years after he retired, he’s still the world record holder in both the 200 meters and the 400 meters. Nine men in history have broken 44 seconds for 400 meters on 42 occasions. Johnson has done it 22 times. Twenty-six men have broken 19.9 seconds for the 200 meters on 73 occasions. Johnson has done so 13 times.
Need some additional proof? Okay, here goes: He led the world in the 200m in 1990, 1992, 1995 and 2000. In fact, in 1990 he owned 7 of the top 10 200m times in the world, in 1991 and 1992 he had 9 out of 10. In 1995 he had 6 out of 10. In the 400m, he had 5 of the top 10 times (including the top 4) in 1995, 1998 and 2000. He led the world in the 400m in 1991 and from 1993 through 2000. Those statistics are dizzying. To top it all off, no other man has run within 3/10ths of a second of his world record in the 200m, which is 19.32. Tyson Gay (who finished 10th in our survey) has come closest with a 19.62.
The second greatest runner of all time is Hicham El Guerrouj. He is still the world record holder in the 1500m with a time of 3:26.00. He also has the 2nd fastest time of all time with a 3:26.12. He owns 24 of the top 50 times in the 1500m, including 7 of the top 10 and 13 of the top 20. He also dabbled in the 5000m and owns the 23rd and the 48th fastest times of all time in that event. Although the Mile wasn’t part of this analysis, El Guerrouj does own 7 of the top 10 times in that event and 11 of the top 50. If we were to include the Mile, El Guerrouj would overtake Johnson with a total of 37 top-50 alltime performances, 5 more than Johnson; however, since imperial distances are passé in the sport of track & field, El Guerrouj has to settle for 2nd.
Third place goes to the indomitable two-lapper, Wilson Kipketer, who owns 20 top-50 alltime performances, all in the 800m. He is the current world record holder in that event with a time of 1:41.11. He has run 7 of the top 9 800m times in history.
Next time, I’ll analyze the women. Here is the list of the best male runners of all time, based on their number of top 50 performances of all time in the Olympic individual running events. The bracketed numbers are the number of top-50 performances of all time that they have achieved in their running careers:
1. [32] Michael Johnson (USA) 200m, 400m
2. [26] Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) 1500m, 5000m
3. [20] Wilson Kipketer (DEN) 800m
4. [18] Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 5000m, 10000m, Marathon
5. [17] Edwin Moses (USA) 400mH
6. [15] Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) 5000m, 10000m
7. [14] Allen Johnson (USA) 110mH
7. [14] Asafa Powell (JAM) 100m
9. [13] Jeremy Wariner (USA) 400m
10. [12] Ato Boldon (TRI) 100m, 200m
10. [12] Tyson Gay (USA) 100m, 200m
10. [12] Saif Saeed Shaheen (QAT) 3000mSC, 5000m
10. [12] Paul Kipsiele Koech (KEN) 3000mSC
14. [10] Maurice Greene (USA) 100m, 200m
Source: [alltime-athletics.com]
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Tags: allen johnson, asafa powell, Ato Boldon, best runner ever, best runner of all time, Edwin Moses, haile gebrselassie, hicham el guerrouj, Jeremy Wariner, Kenenisa Bekele, Maurice Greene, michael johnson, Paul Kipsiele Koech, Saif Saeed Shaheen, tyson gay, wilson kipketer
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The Final Sprint