Greatest Track & Field Athletes

[Tim]

Criteria: Influence, achievements, sportsmanship

Greatest 100 metres sprinters

Men
1. Usain Bolt (Jamaica)
2. Carl Lewis (United States)
3. Jesse Owens (United States)
4. Justin Gatlin (United States)
5. Yohan Blake (Jamaica)

Women
1. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica)
2. Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica)
3. Florence Griffith Joyner (United States)
4. Gail Devers (United States)
5. Wyomia Tyus (United States)

Greatest 200 metres sprinters

Men
1. Usain Bolt (Jamaica)
2. Michael Johnson (United States)
3. Tommie Smith (United States)
4. Don Quarrie (Jamaica)
5. Noah Lyles (United States)

Women
1. Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica)
2. Florence Griffith Joyner (United States)
3. Irena Szewińska (Poland)
4. Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica)
5. Allyson Felix (United States)

Greatest 400 metres sprinters

Men
1. Michael Johnson (United States)
2. Jeremy Wariner (United States)
3. LaShawn Merritt (United States)
4. Wayde van Niekerk (South Africa)
5. Alberto Juantorena (Cuba)

Women
1. Marie-José Pérec (France)
2. Cathy Freeman (Australia)
3. Marita Koch (East Germany)
4. Olga Bryzgina (Soviet Union)
5. Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas)

Greatest 800 metres middle-distance runners

Men
1. David Rudisha (Kenya)
2. Peter Snell (New Zealand)
3. Mal Whitfield (United States)
4. Wilson Kipketer (Denmark)
5. Alberto Juantorena (Cuba)

Women
1. Maria Mutola (Mozambique)
2. Caster Semenya (South Africa)
3. Ana Fidelia Quirot (Cuba)
4. Pamela Jelimo (Kenya)
5. Keely Hodgkinson (Great Britain)

Greatest 1500 metres middle-distance runners

Men
1. Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)
2. Sebastian Coe (Great Britain)
3. Noureddine Morceli (Algeria)
4. Fermín Cacho (Spain)
5. Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway)

Women
1. Faith Kipyegon (Kenya)
2. Tatyana Kazankina (Soviet Union)
3. Hassiba Boulmerka (Algeria)
4. Maryam Yusuf Jamal (Bahrain)
5. Svetlana Masterkova (Russia)

Greatest 5000 metres long-distance runners

Men
1. Mo Farah (Great Britain)
2. Lasse Virén (Finland)
3. Paavo Nurmi (Finland)
4. Emil Zátopek (Czechoslovakia)
5. Mohammed Gammoudi (Tunisia)

Women
1. Meseret Defar (Ethiopia)
2. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia)
3. Gabriela Szabo (Romania)
4. Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya)
5. Wang Junxia (China)

Greatest 10,000 metres long-distance runners

Men
1. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)
2. Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)
3. Paavo Nurmi (Finland)
4. Mo Farah (Great Britain)
5. Lasse Virén (Finland)

Women
1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia)
2. Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia)
3. Fernanda Ribeiro (Portugal)
4. Wang Junxia (China)
5. Ingrid Kristiansen (Norway)

Greatest marathon runners

Men
1. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya)
2. Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia)
3. Carlos Lopes (Portugal)
4. Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya)
5. Waldemar Cierpinski (East Germany)

Women
1. Catherine Ndereba (Kenya)
2. Rosa Mota (Portugal)
3. Grete Waitz (Norway)
4. Joan Benoit (United States)
5. Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain)

Greatest 110 metres hurdlers

Men
1. Allen Johnson (United States)
2. Grant Holloway (United States)
3. Roger Kingdom (United States)
4. Colin Jackson (Great Britain)
5. Lee Calhoun (United States)

Greatest (80) 100 metres hurdlers

Women
1. Shirley Strickland (Australia)
2. Yordanka Donkova (Bulgaria)
3. Ludmila Engquist (Soviet Union; Sweden)
4. Gail Devers (United States)
5. Sally Pearson (Australia)

Greatest 400 metres hurdlers

Men
1. Edwin Moses (United States)
2. Félix Sánchez (Dominican Republic)
3. Karsten Warholm (Norway)
4. Glenn Davis (United States)
5. Kevin Young (United States)

Women
1. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (United States)
2. Sally Gunnell (Great Britain)
3. Dalilah Muhammad (United States)
4. Melaine Walker (Jamaica)
5. Lashinda Demus (United States)

Greatest 3000 metres steeplechase runners

Men
1. Ezekiel Kemboi (Kenya)
2. Soufiane El Bakkali (Morocco)
3. Saif Saaeed Shaheen (Qatar)
4. Conseslus Kipruto (Kenya)
5. Brimin Kipruto (Kenya)

Women
1. Peruth Chemutai (Uganda)
2. Winfred Yavi (Bahrain)
3. Gulnara Samitova-Galkina (Russia)
4. Habiba Ghribi (Tunisia)
5. Beatrice Chepkoech (Kenya)

Greatest 4 × 100 metres relay nations

Men
1. United States
2. Soviet Union
3. Jamaica
4. Canada
5. Great Britain

Women
1. United States
2. Jamaica
3. East Germany
4. Soviet Union
5. France

Greatest 4 × 400 metres relay nations

Men
1. United States
2. Great Britain
3. Jamaica
4. Bahamas
5. Kenya

Women
1. United States
2. East Germany
3. Soviet Union
4. Jamaica
5. Russia

Greatest 20 kilometres racewalkers

Men
1. Volodymyr Holubnychy (Soviet Union)
2. Jefferson Pérez (Ecuador)
3. Maurizio Damilano (Italy)
4. Peter Frenkel (East Germany)
5. Daniel Bautista (Mexico)

Women
1. Liu Hong (China)
2. Qieyang Shenjie (China)
3. Olga Kaniskina (Russia)
4. Yang Jiayu (China)
5. Olimpiada Ivanova (Russia)

Greatest 50 kilometres racewalkers

Men
1. Robert Korzeniowski (Poland)
2. Jared Tallent (Australia)
3. John Ljunggren (Sweden)
4. Raúl González (Mexico)
5. Bernd Kannenberg (West Germany)