General Athletics Knowledge: GOAT – Greatest Of All Time Whilst the blue ribbon event in Athletics is the men’s 100m, my personal favourite event is the 400m hurdles. This event is often regarded as being the most difficult and painful event in the arsenal of track and field. Combining incredible speed, muscular endurance and technical ability, there never is a generic 400m hurdler, as an athlete may exploit one or in the case of the greatest of all time, all of these attributes. Whilst Usain Bolt is almost unquestionably the greatest man to ever grace the pure speed of the 100m, there seems to be a four-way tie for the Greatest Ever Athlete in the 400m hurdles. Firstly, there is Edwin Moses, the former world record holder with a personal best of 47.02 seconds. Moses won two World Championships, went 107 consecutive races undefeated and won the 1976 Montreal and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and most likely would have won the 1980 Moscow games if the United States had not boycotted. Edwin Moses’ 1984 Olympic Victory https://youtube/watch?v=CDW10utt4lY Secondly, we have the World Record holder Kevin Young. Young boasts the only sub-47 second time in history with a record of 46.78 seconds. Whilst he won the 1992 Olympic Games in his record time and followed this up with a victory in the 1993 World Championships, Young quickly fell out of form and never returned to his peak ability. Thus he cannot be singled out as being the Greatest ever. Kevin Young’s 1992 Olympic Victory and World Record https://youtube/watch?v=dH_6YE8TNrQ Thirdly, Over the past 4 Olympics (12 Years) there have only been two men that have won the 400m-hurdle crown. Angelo Taylor is one of them. As a 22 Year old in 2000, Taylor won the 400m hurdles title from lane one, in 2008 he won the title again as a 30 year old, at the time becoming only the third man in history to win two Olympic 400m hurdle titles. Yet, Taylor also made the semi-finals of the 2004 games and finished 5th in the 2012 London Olympic games at the age of 34 and boasts a pb of 47.25 seconds. His consistency, speed, and ability to run well on the Grandest stages of them all makes him a perfect candidate for the GOAT. Angelo Taylor’s 2008 Olympic Victory https://youtube/watch?v=OQFtiNqfQXg Finally, we have Felix Sanchez. Whilst Angelo Taylor won the Olympic titles in 2000 and 2008, Felix Sanchez won the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 in a time of 47.63 seconds, after previously winning the 2001 and 2003 World Championships. Whilst Sanchez went through periods of good and bad form, (22nd in the 2008 Olympic Games), the events that unfolded during the 2012 Olympic Games most significantly define his career. Whilst fellow competitor Javier Culson had spent the season undefeated, at the 2012 London Olympic Games Felix Sanchez pulled off the impossible. At the age of 34 just before his 35th birthday, Sanchez ran the fastest time since his Olympic win 8 years earlier, to take back the Olympic 400m hurdle crown, once again in the same time of 47.63 seconds. Sanchez became the fourth man in history to win two 400m hurdles Olympic titles, and at the same time became the oldest man the ever with the 400m hurdles at an Olympic Games. That day a legend was made. Felix Sanchez’s Historic Victory https://youtube/watch?v=M99AfnmEXhU
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 11:54:10 +0000
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