Pre's attitude of "run every race at a fast pace" was immature and frankly unintelligent

Well the last lap was not executed perfectly but the kid hadn’t had that much international experience yet. Also maybe he thought trying for Gold was more meaningful to him than running for Bronze. He was still learning. If our races were on YouTube the armchair QBs would have plenty to critique.

I take your point. If he hadn’t surged on the back stretch on the last lap and had conserved some energy he might have held onto the bronze. But do you really want to tell a 21 year old kid kicking on the back stretch of the last lap of the Olympic final that he should settle instead of going for it? Had he done that, children like Gault might have had justification to claim that Pre didn’t understand winning. As it happens, he demonstrated that he understood winning very well, gave it his all going for the gold, and fell short. No shame in that.

I've sent so many races lost because a runner kicked too hard too early. Against similar level competitors racing is about tactical intelligence and not just physical ability. Some don't get that. Pre showed at Munich that he didn't.

Gammoudi also went too early in Munich, to my way of thinking. Pre probably responded to that move.

Viren kept his head and held back.

If the legend around him of always being a fearless frontrunner who 'had more guts than anyone else' is false, then there is no one to blame but the man himself for spreading that idea of false bravado that he himself did not even follow in reality.

Every single one of you now pointing out that he didn't actually practice what he preached are only hurting his legend and in fact demonstrate exactly why so many of us find it immature to lionize that aspect of his persona.

Please share evidence that he preached this.

This is a bad take. He knew of the guys in the race, but how often had he raced them? Also, he was no doubt peaking for the race and when you're peaking, especially when you're 21, you sometimes can be surprised at how fast your limit really is. The guy ran a great race. As I said in an earlier post, he may have stepped on the gas too hard and redlined, but he was obviously also doing his best to drop everyone. Sometimes the other guys are just better or better on that day.

This is one where more experienced, higher level racers (which would include a 21 year old Pre) are going to have an insight that others don't. I think some of the responses on this thread reflect a lack of racing experience and insight. I had ONE middle distance race in my college career that was almost perfect. It's very difficult to get everything right. That doesn't mean that a person doesn't understand racing to win. That being said, there's always room to learn.

Leo Manzano was one of my favorite runners to watch race. He was tactically very smart, but still didn't win everything. I hate to even mention him in such a downer of a thread, but he was such a good racer that I want to point out that him not winning every time didn't mean that he didn't know what he was doing.

You could just search up "Steve Prefontaine quotes" on Google, or... plenty of examples here.

Another false statement. Why do you people insist?

When he went for it early in the back straight of the last lap I thought he wasn't going to last into the home straight. He was flat out - as though he had only another 50m to run. He misjudged his own capacity and that of those with him. He wasn't running against college athletes.

That’s actually a great point and yes he did. He knew and everyone else knew that his finishing kick would probably never win him an international race so he ran a racing style that suited him and gave him the best chance of success.