Big thanks for putting this up. Once again Coe didn't man mark the talent. At his peak never saw anyone get up with and beat Cram. Always thought he could have taken the 1500m and the mile forever if he had the perfect race and perfect pacing. Ducked under 3.30 (and not exhausted) for 1500m and that was well beyond Coe. Tragic he never had an Olympic title. A travesty.
No he didn't, but that's because Cram was running in lane 1 and Coe ran wide on both the last bends, particularly the penultimate one where he was blocked by Gonzales. Coe ran like an idiot and gave Cram the advantage. Look how wide Coe ran almost every bend. He probably ran more like 1520m. You can't do that with someone like Cram in the field.
Often ran in idiot mode. Relied on fantastic talent rather than brain power. At the end of his career never knew where his body was. Asking it to do things it could no longer do. I rate him top two in terms of talent, but the myth of Coe was all early doors. World class excuse maker. Helped by nonsense commentators pretend that it was all still there.
@@SirPeter6464 2nd fastest time in the world over 800m in his last full season (89) and silver medal in the World Cup 1500m the same year, only narrowly defeated by the World Champion, Bile, showed that he could still do things better than most, even if not as good as in his peak years.
@deano27671 Dobrisky tends to run even pace for last 400m (15.5 secs or so per100m) so that doesn't work as a sprint finisher. He won a bronze in 76 with no Africans. He was nowhere in 1980. How is he more revered than McLeod who won Gold in principle?
I believe McLeod would have won Gold regardless of Cova's 'duplicity' had he not got caught out when Vainio broke. But this was one of the reasons why Foster was more revered. McLeod was more of a sitter, whereas in many of his races Foster took the bull by the balls and got stuck in. Also, Foster would go for world records (something McLeod never did), breaking 2 of them (2 miles & 3000m) and almost doing the same for the 5,000m and 10,000m. He also held the Olympic 5,000m record for 8 years.
I don't think McLeod's sprint finish was as good as Cova's during this period so doubt he would have done better than silver on the track. Schildheure beat Cova in Europa Cup in 83 (just) prior to Stefano Mei in 86. I'll take your word on the Foster approach to running, us Brits always appreciate guts over style - not that it is a bad thing.
Not quite. Abdi Bili beat him at the world championships in 87 when he was front running. Mind you I rate that the best finish ever in a world middle distance event. Look it up.
@rc2869 Yes, really dreadful! He just witters on relentlessly and is such a sycophant. I think the only reason the BBC don't sack him is because he's such good friends with Cram. When he commentates, anyone would be excused for thinking that Mo Farah isn't the best distance runner in the world! He also said the other week that Lisa Dobrisky had the best "last 100m sprint finish" of any British athlete, Male or Female, EVER!!? What a muppet.
hey, thanks for posting ! Do you or anyone else here know where i can watch the 5000 and 10000 european championships of 2002 ? I'm looking for it for a long time and haven't found anything about it. Thanks.
Utterly relies on the public ignorance of the event. World class athlete who sounds like he has been dragged out of a sports bar to make random comments.
Big thanks for putting this up. Once again Coe didn't man mark the talent. At his peak never saw anyone get up with and beat Cram. Always thought he could have taken the 1500m and the mile forever if he had the perfect race and perfect pacing. Ducked under 3.30 (and not exhausted) for 1500m and that was well beyond Coe. Tragic he never had an Olympic title. A travesty.
the brits were incredibly tough in the 80s - fun races to watch
wow, incredible that Cram won this race so effortlessly despite him and Coe having similar races (positioning etc).
Yes, you'd have thought he'd learnt his lesson!
Cram held the the gap all of the way round the last lap Coe never closed on him atall.
@rc2869 I agree. I take it you're referring to the suspected "dubious" practises of the Italians and Cova's gold ahead of McLeod in 84?
No he didn't, but that's because Cram was running in lane 1 and Coe ran wide on both the last bends, particularly the penultimate one where he was blocked by Gonzales. Coe ran like an idiot and gave Cram the advantage. Look how wide Coe ran almost every bend. He probably ran more like 1520m. You can't do that with someone like Cram in the field.
Often ran in idiot mode. Relied on fantastic talent rather than brain power. At the end of his career never knew where his body was. Asking it to do things it could no longer do. I rate him top two in terms of talent, but the myth of Coe was all early doors. World class excuse maker. Helped by nonsense commentators pretend that it was all still there.
@@SirPeter6464 2nd fastest time in the world over 800m in his last full season (89) and silver medal in the World Cup 1500m the same year, only narrowly defeated by the World Champion, Bile, showed that he could still do things better than most, even if not as good as in his peak years.
@@deano27671 All is relative. Set high standards. Thought his lack of junior career helped him a bit. As did his low milage training.
@deano27671 Dobrisky tends to run even pace for last 400m (15.5 secs or so per100m) so that doesn't work as a sprint finisher. He won a bronze in 76 with no Africans. He was nowhere in 1980. How is he more revered than McLeod who won Gold in principle?
I believe McLeod would have won Gold regardless of Cova's 'duplicity' had he not got caught out when Vainio broke. But this was one of the reasons why Foster was more revered. McLeod was more of a sitter, whereas in many of his races Foster took the bull by the balls and got stuck in. Also, Foster would go for world records (something McLeod never did), breaking 2 of them (2 miles & 3000m) and almost doing the same for the 5,000m and 10,000m. He also held the Olympic 5,000m record for 8 years.
I don't think McLeod's sprint finish was as good as Cova's during this period so doubt he would have done better than silver on the track. Schildheure beat Cova in Europa Cup in 83 (just) prior to Stefano Mei in 86. I'll take your word on the Foster approach to running, us Brits always appreciate guts over style - not that it is a bad thing.
Cram just wound it up from 300 out, and whenever he did that, he won.
Not quite. Abdi Bili beat him at the world championships in 87 when he was front running. Mind you I rate that the best finish ever in a world middle distance event. Look it up.
@rc2869 Yes, really dreadful! He just witters on relentlessly and is such a sycophant. I think the only reason the BBC don't sack him is because he's such good friends with Cram. When he commentates, anyone would be excused for thinking that Mo Farah isn't the best distance runner in the world! He also said the other week that Lisa Dobrisky had the best "last 100m sprint finish" of any British athlete, Male or Female, EVER!!? What a muppet.
hey, thanks for posting ! Do you or anyone else here know where i can watch the 5000 and 10000 european championships of 2002 ? I'm looking for it for a long time and haven't found anything about it.
Thanks.
Brendan Foster - terrible commentator
Utterly relies on the public ignorance of the event. World class athlete who sounds like he has been dragged out of a sports bar to make random comments.