2006-07-27 20:07:26 · 8 answers · asked by Habesha 1 in Sports ➔ Olympics
"In history" is likely to get very subjective answers (and a few likely to say Steve Prefontaine), but I'd hazard to say the best include these gentlemen:
Paavo Nurmi was a Finnish distance runner known as one of the "Flying Finns". During the 1920s, Nurmi was the best middle and long distance runner in the world, setting world records on distances between 1500 m and 20 km and winning 9 Olympic gold medals & 3 silver.
Emil Zátopek was a Czech athlete and Olympic gold medalist in long distance running. Zátopek was the first athlete to break the 29-minute barrier in the 10 km run in 1954. Three years earlier, he had broken 1 hour for running 20 km. He won 4 Olympic gold medals & 1 silver and was the only man to achieve the Olympic distance triple (winning the 5k, 10k and Marathon) in one Olympics in 1952.
Lasse Virén is a former Finnish athlete and winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics in the 5 km and 10 km runs, becoming the only man to win both events in successive Olympic games.
But Haile Gebrselassie is a long distance runner from Ethiopia. He is considered by many to be one of the best distance runners of all time, having set multiple world records and winning several major championships, including:
1993 World Championship, 10K gold medal & 5K silver medal
1995 World Championship, 10K gold medal
1996 Summer Olympics, 10K gold medal
1997 World Championship, 10K gold medal
1997 IAAF World Indoor Championship 3 km, gold medal
1999 World Championship 10K gold medal
1999 IAAF World Indoor Championship 1,500m, gold medal, 3,km gold medal
2000 Summer Olympics 10K, gold medal
2001 World Championship 10K, bronze medal
2001 IAAF World Half Marathon, gold medal
2003 IAAF World Indoor Championship 3km, gold medal
2003 World Championship 10K, silver medal
2006-07-28 05:39:36 · answer #1 · answered by chairman_of_the_bored_04 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Forrest Gump
2006-07-28 21:00:42 · answer #2 · answered by buccaneersden 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Zatopek was great but the best to me was Abebe Bikila.
He defended his Olympic gold in the '64 Olympics 6 weeks after an appendectomy
2006-07-28 20:44:28 · answer #3 · answered by Matthew S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are talking about marathon, the two best athletes are: Paul Tergat of Kenya and Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_(sport)#Distance
If you are talking about "long distance", then, take a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-distance_track_event#Notable_long-distance_track_athletes
2006-07-28 03:29:56 · answer #4 · answered by K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yea.. Forest Gump..he rules
2006-07-29 18:38:13 · answer #5 · answered by Royal Racer Hell=Grave © 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rono from Kenya
2006-07-28 16:05:15 · answer #6 · answered by moglie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The best of all time is probably, Haile Gebrselassie. The best american is probably Steve Prefontaine.
2006-07-28 16:04:40 · answer #7 · answered by labamba32 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
me, sometimes.
2006-07-29 23:53:07 · answer #8 · answered by Karwolo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋