Esse texto de hoje é uma contribuição do treinador Márcio Puga, um dos melhores do Rio de Janeiro. Como ele próprio diz, “essa história de ranking dos melhores da história sempre é de uma injustiça deliciosa”. A Athletics Weekly fez uma lista com os maiores fundistas de todos os tempos, tentando estabelecer critérios objetivos. Atribuiu pontos conforme a posição de cada atletas nas competições mais relevantes, incluindo a quebra de recordes mundiais (e temporadas terminando como recordista ou número 1 do ranking, por exemplo).

Puga, inclusive, faz um adendo: “Antes de ler a relação abaixo, chute quantos quenianos figuram entre os dez melhores homens e mulheres nessa relação”. Depois, me explicou que o adendo veio junto com o e-mail que recebeu. Os critérios completos usados para o ranking estão no texto completo (link acima). Ah, mais um adendo (esse meu): Tricolor doente, Puga comemora o tetracampeonato do Fluminense e deve estar insuportável (no bom sentido, claro, como o Marcos Paulo Reis, que veio com essa: “Faltam 41 rodadas para o pentacampeonato”), diga-se de passagem (e tem de festejar mesmo). Voltando à corrida, onde Puga também brilha, confira os top 10:

Homens

1) Kenenisa Bekele (Etiópia) – 285 points
Olympics: 3 gold, 1 silver.
World Champs: 5 gold, 1 bronze.
World Cross: 11 gold, 1 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 8 (5.000 m), 8 (10.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 5 (5.000 m), 6 (10.000m).

2) Paavo Nurmi (Finlândia) – 258 points
Olympics: 4 gold, 3 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 3 (1.500 m), 9 (5.000 m), 14 (10.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 4 (1.500 m), 6 (5.000 m), 7 (10.000 m), 1 (steeplechase).

3) Haile Gebrselassie (Etiópia) – 222 points
Olympics: 2 gold.
World Champs: 4 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze.
World Cross: 1 bronze.
Big city marathons: 4 wins.
Seasons as world record-holder: 8 (5.000 m), 7 (10.000 m), 3 (marathon).
World No.1 rankings: 5 (5.000 m), 6 (10.000 m).

4) Emil Zátopek (Tchecoslováquia) – 168 points
Olympics: 4 gold, 1 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 1 (5.000 m), 6 (10.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 5 (5000m), 7 (10,000m), 1 (marathon).

5) Hicham El Guerrouj (Marrocos) – 162 points
Olympics: 2 gold, 1 silver.
World Champs: 4 gold, 2 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 14 (1.500m).
World No.1 rankings: 7 (1.500m).

6) Hannes Kolehmainen (Finlândia) – 156 points
Olympics: 3 gold, 1 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 10 (5.000 m), 8 (10.000 m), 5 (marathon).

7) Lasse Virén (Finlândia) – 133 points
Olympics: 4 gold.
Seasons as world record-holder: 1 (5.000 m), 1 (10.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 2 (5.000 m), 2 (10.000 m).

8 ) Saïd Aouita (Marrocos) – 120 points
Olympics: 1 gold.
World Champs: 1 gold, 1 bronze.
Seasons as world record-holder: 7 (1.500 m), 8 (5.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 3 (1.500 m), 5 (5.000 m), 1 (10.000 m).

9) Paul Tergat (Quênia) – 118 points
Olympics: 2 silver.
World Champs: 2 silver, 2 bronze.
World Cross: 5 gold, 1 bronze.
Big city marathon wins: 2.
World record seasons: 1 (10.000 m), 3 (marathon).
World No.1 rankings: 1 (marathon).

10) Vladimir Kuts (Rússia) – 114 points
Olympics: 2 gold.
Seasons as world record-holder: 7 (5.000 m), 4 (10.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 3 (5.000 m), 3 (10.000 m).

Mulheres:

1) Tirunesh Dibaba (Etiópia) – 178 points
Olympics: 3 gold, 2 bronze.
World Champs: 4 gold, 1 bronze.
World Cross: 4 gold, 2 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 4 (5.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 5 (5.000 m), 5 (10.000 m).

2) Ingrid Kristiansen (Noruega) – 176 points
World Champs: 1 gold.
World Cross: 1 gold, 2 bronze.
Big city marathon wins: 8.
Seasons as world record-holder: 1 (5.000 m), 8 (10.000 m), 12 (marathon).
World No.1 rankings: 1 (5.000 m), 3 (10.000 m), 1 (marathon).

3) Tatyana Kazankina (Rússia) – 145 points
Olympics: 2 gold.
World Champs: 1 bronze.
World Cross: 1 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 17 (1.500 m), 9 (3.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 3 (1.500 m), 1 (3.000 m).

4) Grete Waitz (Noruega) – 140 points
Olympics: 1 silver.
World Champs: 1 gold.
World Cross: 5 gold, 2 bronze.
Big city marathon wins: 11.
Seasons as world record-holder: 1 (3.000 m), 4 (marathon).
World No.1 rankings: 2 (3.000 m), 6 (marathon).

5) Wang Junxia (China) – 128 points
Olympics: 1 gold, 1 silver.
World Champs: 1 gold.
Seasons as world record-holder: 2 (3.000 m), 19 (10.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 2 (3.000 m/5.000 m), 2 (10.000 m).

6) Paula Radcliffe (Grã-Bretanha) – 100 points
World Champs: 1 gold, 1 silver.
World Cross: 2 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze.
Big city marathon wins: 7.
Seasons as world record-holder: 9.
World No.1 rankings: 1 (10.000 m), 3 (marathon).

7) Lyudmila Bragina (Rússia) – 98 points
Olympics: 1 gold.
World Cross: 1 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 3 (1.500 m), 7 (3.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 2 (1.500 m), 3 (3.000 m).

8 ) Meseret Defar (Etiópia) – 92 points
Olympics: 2 gold, 1 bronze.
World Champs: 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze.
Seasons as world record-holder: 2 (5.000 m).
World No.1 rankings: 4 (5.000 m).

9) Derartu Tulu (Etiópia) – 87 points
Olympics: 2 gold, 1 bronze.
World Champs: 1 gold, 1 silver.
World Cross: 3 gold, 1 silver.
World No.1 rankings: 3 (10.000 m).

10) Catherine Ndereba (Quênia) – 81 points
Olympics: 2 silver.
World Champs: 2 gold, 1 silver.
Seasons as world record-holder: 1 (marathon).
World No.1 rankings: 1 (marathon).