Steve Prefontaine 1972 Munich Olympic 5000m Final

In my opinion, this is one of the most exciting races of all time. Brought to you by prexemplar.com

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[Barney Stinson]

I completely disagree. Pre ran one of the greatest races ever by an American. He ran this race the only way he knew how, all out for the win. He didn't care about the consequences of it, he went out there and ran his own race. No matter what he ran a fantastic race. Those who kicked on him ran a strategic race proven to win, Pre ran a Steve Prefontaine race proven to be all out balls out. And he ran one hell of a race.

[Ethan Lindermuth]

i watch this video every day, and every time i still think Pre is going to win. Legend.

[Nick H]

Good race, I felt bad for pre through its the worst feeling in the world to lose in the last 30m of your race

[deltango12345]

About Viren, doping always comes at stake when talking about him -- but any winner were a suspect in the 70s. Anyway, he was the best in this race. Four years latter he would win again the gold medal. He was a letal athlete in the last lap, one of the best the world ever seen in olympic games. So Prefontaine did not lose with a nobody, not even by a long shot.

[deltango12345]

Agree!

[deltango12345]

Prefontaine wastes too much energy in bursts during the race. We had the guts, but missed some cleverness, so to speak, for this level of competition. In a film about his live, it seems that he didn't have a chance to competing in Europe, which would be a way of better knowing his opponents. Perhaps a more mature Prefontaine, with more experience, could have fought for the golden medal in 1976. We will never know.

[Cat Coe]

Also due to lack of experience, and maybe even pride, he kicked at 250m just to keep up with Ghammoudi. Had he known how fast Ghammoudi was, he would have just be behind or at least box Viren in giving him more chances against Viren.

Most likely though, Viren would have gotten out of the box, and still win. But he could be on par with Ghammoudi who was also "bankrupt" by 80m. Pre would have at least a Bronze.

But typical Pre, he ran with his heart, not his head. Lack of experience.

[Cat Coe]

Pre did what his coach asked him to do. Bowerman's oversight is to think that Stewart, Viren, et al couldn't do a 4min mile or close to it in the last mile, which they did. Pre lacked d European exposure to know how good others were due to AAUs meddling. Had he known their caliber, Pre would have hammered with 5 or 6 laps to go instead of 4 to truly burn the kickers at a 4:02 pace. Or they should have gone for a sub 4min mile which is what you'll get today in top meets in a 5,000m race.

[ParkerWestMusic]

I'm sorry, I missed when you were 21 and were 4th in the world.