World’s Greatest Track Match: Bolt vs. Bekele

Kenenisa Bekele - world record holder in the 5000 & 10000 meters

Usain Bolt would win against Kenenisa Bekele – according to a recent poll on All-Athletics.com.

All-Athletics.com asked their readers who would win a Bolt vs. Bekele 600m race.

Usain Bolt holds the world’s record for the 100 and 200 meter dash and Kenenisa Bekele is the world record holder in the 5000 and 10,000 meter races.

So why wasn’t the matchup between the greatest sprinter in the world and the greatest distance runner in the world done at the 800 meter race distance?

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt

There are no 600 meter races in the world of Track & Field.  If you’re going to have the world best sprinter go against the world’s greatest distance runner then it should be done at the middle distance range of 800.

At the 800 I would place my money on Kenenisa Bekele, at the 400 the odds would be in favor of Bolt.

At any rate in the All-Athletes.com poll the Jamaican superstar is thought to be the favorite in the 600 meter race over the great Ethiopian star.

Results of the poll:

48% – Usain Bolt would win
42% – Kenenisa Bekele would win
10% – They think it is a stupid idea

I for one thought it to be a Stupid Idea!

http://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/kenenisa-bekele-worlds-greatest-distance-runner/

http://waynejoseph.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/usain-bolt-set-new-world-record-9-58-seconds/

Kenenisa Bekele – World’s Greatest Distance Runner

Kenenisa Bekele holds world records in the 5000 and 10000 meter races

      Kenenisa Bekele won two gold medals at the 2009 World Championships, held in Berlin. His double victories in 5,000 m (13:17.09) and 10,000 m (26:46.31) were unprecedented and by doing this became the first man to take both the long distance track gold medals at the same World Championships. In spite of his unrivalled success in athletics, he did not experience the mainstream appeal that others such as Haile Gebrselassie did.

Current world records

• 5,000 m world record 12:49.60 (Birmingham, on 20 February 2004)
• 5,000 m world record 12:37.35 (Amsterdam, on 31 May 2004)
• 10,000 m world record 26:17.53 (Brussels, on 26 August 2005, breaking his previous record of 26:20.31 from 8 June 2004)
• 2,000 m indoor world record 4:49.99 (Birmingham, on 17 February 2007)
• 2 mile indoor world best 8:04.35 (Birmingham, on 16 February 2008)

K. Bekele

• Long-Distance Prodigy
• The son of a farmer, Kenenisa Bekele was inspired to begin running by the athletic feats of fellow Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie. After setting a world junior record for the 3,000m in 2001, Bekele achieved his first senior success at the 2002 World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, where he became the first man to win the long and short races at the same championships. Bekele retained both titles in 2003 and again in 2004.
• At the 2003 World Championships of Athletics, Bekele won the 10,000m and finished third in the 5,000m. In the run-up to the Athens Games, during a 10-day period, Bekele broke Gebrselassie’s world records in both the 10,000m and the 5,000m.
• At the Olympics, he entered the 10,000m along with his idol, Gebrselassie, and a third Ethiopian, Sileshi Sihine. The Ethiopians took charge halfway through the race. When Gebrselassie began to fade, Bekele slowed down to allow him to catch up.
• Eventually Bekele and Sihine pulled away from the other runners, while Bekele finally drove to victory by running the last lap in 53 seconds, setting an Olympic record in the process. Eight days later, he faced 1,500m champion Hicham El Guerrouj in the final of the 5,000m. Bekele took the lead from Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya on the final lap, but with 60m to go, El Guerrouj caught him and won by two-tenths of a second, while Bekele won the silver medal.

Top 20 Male Performances at World Track & Field Championships

Long jump champion, Dwight Phillips

All-athletics.com has ranked the top 20 male performaces at the IAAF World Championship Track & Field Meet from Berlin.

Usain Bolt	100m
Usain Bolt	200m
Jamaica	4x100m
Tyson Gay	100m
Ezekiel Kemboi	3000mSC
Kenenisa Bekele	10000m
Abel Kirui	Marathon
Christian Cantwell	Shot Put
Lashawn Merritt	400m
Dwight Phillips	Long Jump
Phillips Idowu	Triple Jump
Sergey Kirdyapkin	50km Walk
Trey Hardee	Decathlon
Robert Harting	Discus
Kerron Clement	400m Hurdles
Steven Hooker	Pole Vault
Ryan Braithwaite	110m Hurdles
Valeriy Borchin	20km Walk
Trinidad and Tobago	4x100m
Alonso Edwards	200m
Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong	3000mSC
USA	4x400m

New World Rankings – Track & Field – Men

Christian Cantwell, USA, wins shot put event in Berlin

     Christian Cantwell of the US won the shot put event in Berlin elevating himself as the number one athlete in the  world championship rankings. 

100 m	Usain Bolt (JAM)
200m	Usain Bolt (JAM)
400m	Yannick Fonsat (FRA).)
800m	Michael Rimmer (GBR)
1500m	Yusuf Saad Kamel (BRN)
5000m	Matt Tegenkamp (USA
10000m	Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)
110/100m Hurdles	Ryan Brathwaite (BAR)
400m Hurdles	Kerron Clement (USA)
3000m Steeple	Jukka Keskisalo (FIN)
High Jump	Silvano Chesani (ITA)
Pole Vault	Renaud Lavillenie (FRA)
Long Jump	Dwight Phillips (USA
Triple Jump	Philips Idown (GBR)
Shot Put	Christian Cantwell (USA)
Discus Throw	Robert Harting (GER)
Hammer Throw	Yury Shayunou (BLR)
Javelin Throw	Teemu Wirkkala (FIN
Race Walking	Dawid Tomola (POL)
Decathlon/Heptathlon	Eelco Sintnicolaas (NED)

 

400 hurdle champion, Kerron Clement, USA

Worlds Top 10 Greatest 5000 Meter Runners

      

Paula Radcliffe of Great Britian ranks as one of the fastest 5000 meter runners in the world Kenenisa Bekele, world record holder 5K, 12"37.35

The 5000 metres (approximately 3.1 miles) is a popular running distance also known as a 5K or 5 km, colloquially “five-K”. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics.

Listed below is the best 5K runners, male/female, in the world:

Time	Athlete	Venue	Date
12:37.35	Kenenisa Bekele  (ETH)	Hengelo	May 31 2004
12:39.36	Haile Gebrselassie  (ETH)	Helsinki	June 13, 1998
12:39.74	Daniel Komen  (KEN)	Brussels	August 22, 1997
12:46.53	Eliud Kipchoge  (KEN)	Rome	July 2, 2004
12:47.04	Sileshi Sihine  (ETH)	Rome	July 2, 2004
12:48.66	Isaac Songok  (KEN)	Zürich	August 18, 2006
12:48.81	Stephen Cherono  (KEN)	Ostrava	June 12, 2003
12:49.28	Brahim Lahlafi  (MAR)	Brussels	August 25, 2000
12:49.71	Mohammed Mourhit  (BEL)	Brussels	August 25, 2000
12:49.87	Paul Tergat  (KEN)	Zürich	August 13, 1997

 

Pos	Time	Athlete	Venue	Date
1.	14:11.15	Tirunesh Dibaba  (ETH)	Oslo	June 6, 2008
2.	14:12.88	Meseret Defar  (ETH)	Stockholm	July 22, 2008
3.	14:22.51	Vivian Cheruiyot  (KEN)	Oslo	June 15, 2007
4.	14:23.75	Liliya Shobukhova  (RUS)	Kazan	July 19, 2008
5.	14:24.68	Elvan Abeylegesse  (TUR)	Bergen	June 11, 2004
6.	14:28.09	Jiang Bo  (CHN)	Shanghai	October 23, 1997
7.	14:29.11	Paula Radcliffe  (GBR)	Bydgoszcz	June 20, 2004
8.	14:29.32	Olga Yegorova  (RUS)	Berlin	August 31 2001
		Berhane Adere  (ETH)	Oslo	June 27, 2003
10.	14:29.82	Dong Yanmei  (CHN)	Shanghai	October 23, 1997