Catherine the Greatest
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BEIJING –- Time to start a long-running debate.
Does Catherine Ndereba’s silver medal in Sunday’s Olympic marathon make the Kenyan the leading women’s marathoner of all time?
I say yes.
But I must admit you can make a good case for Paula Radcliffe as well, even if her Olympic marathon record includes a 23rd Sunday, when she gamely limped to the finish after a summer of vainly trying to overcome a stress fracture in her thigh and a failure to finish four years ago in Athens, when she dropped out two miles from the end.
She has two Olympic silver medals. She is the only woman to win two world titles (and she finished second once). She is the only woman to win four Boston Marathon titles. She also won Chicago twice, setting a world record in 2001. At age 36, she has run a record 10 marathons faster than 2 hours 26 minutes.
Why Paula?
She has the three fastest times in history. Ndereba has the fourth. She was first to Ndereba’s second in three major races when both were at their peak: the 2005 world championships, the 2003 London Marathon and the 2002 Chicago Marathon.
Ndereba, a 5-foot-3, 99-pounder, long has been called Catherine the Great.
It should be Catherine the Greatest.
-- Philip Hersh
