"Late-race pacer" is a term that fails to honor the critical, essential role of keeping a race honest. I expect that cliche will trigger you & your ilk. Jingy is a "late-race pacer", too...at least he was in the last two 1500m championships. Did you see how close Pre came to a medal? Would your denigration of him extend to blaming him for not beating the greatest runner of his generation in his first Olympic Games? He more than "paced" He can be seen pressing the pace repeatedly, in a decidedly inexperienced & rash manner, for sure but he was no mere pacer.
I appreciate the complicated backstory around Pre. He was struggling with alcohol. Many -myself included - have nearly crashed on a rock in our lives due to addiction. Perhaps he would have changed his MO in later life; perhaps he would have continued into a deep alcoholic haze. Who knows?
But that race in Munich was Pre's signature. I expect he would have thrown a wrench in Viren's double/triple in Montreal. This was his opening salvo.
I see no dishonor in this race.
A poor strategy, sure: pushing at 700m - rookie mistake; pressing & extending at 600 & 500m to go - over-exuberance; digging to overtake Gammoudi's challenge at 300m - fatal error.
That's sport. & it's epic & beautiful. This race is one for the ages, in my opinion.
For the OP, I can only imagine the heartbreak from this loss required time - & likely a few beers - to recover from.
But this race has always been one small thing that makes me proud of my American heritage.
Is there anything factual that backs up that Pre had an actual drinking problem?
Occasionally getting rip roaring drunk, or drinking and driving was pretty normal in the 70s. Yes, it was irresponsible, but the limit for drunk driving was still even 1.0 then, as opposed to now 0.1. It was a different world.
I find it hard to believe he could do lots of world class training and racing, and simultaneously an alcoholic. Special binge drinker perhaps, but an alcoholic is something different.
Admittedly that is pretty young to be the unofficial late-race pacer for the real medal contenders in an Olympic Games.
But that race in Munich was Pre's signature. I expect he would have thrown a wrench in Viren's double/triple in Montreal. This was his opening salvo.
I see no dishonor in this race.
There was no dishonor is his Munich run but I've never bought the "he was tougher than the others" stance too many Pre fans take. He ran the way he did because it was likely the only way he was going to be competitive.
As to '76, he probably has negligible affect on Viren but might have medaled in the 10,000m had he chosen to run that event either along with or instead of the 5,000m. Lopes in the 10,000m ran essentially as Pre would have. Had he tried to run off in the 5,000m, he probably gets passed by more guys than he did in Munich.
Is there anything factual that backs up that Pre had an actual drinking problem?
Occasionally getting rip roaring drunk, or drinking and driving was pretty normal in the 70s. Yes, it was irresponsible, but the limit for drunk driving was still even 1.0 then, as opposed to now 0.1. It was a different world.
I find it hard to believe he could do lots of world class training and racing, and simultaneously an alcoholic. Special binge drinker perhaps, but an alcoholic is something different.
Honestly I doubt that his drinking was very different from so many of us in those years. What you did after a race was go have a few beers with others who had been in the race. Prefontaine drove Shorter home from that party. Shorter has said that Prefontaine didn't seem at all impaired.
I've never been sold on that BAC number which is not to say that it's incorrect. But someone whose wife worked in the Lane County DA's office at the time told me that there was funny business around that number. The first cop at the accident scene had it in for Prefontaine and some people in the DA's office think he tampered with things to make it look like Prefontaine was driving drunk. I'm taking no position on this. It's a third hand story to me but that story coupled with Shorter's comment is enough to make me question the official story.
Honestly I doubt that his drinking was very different from so many of us in those years. What you did after a race was go have a few beers with others who had been in the race. Prefontaine drove Shorter home from that party. Shorter has said that Prefontaine didn't seem at all impaired.
I've never been sold on that BAC number which is not to say that it's incorrect. But someone whose wife worked in the Lane County DA's office at the time told me that there was funny business around that number. The first cop at the accident scene had it in for Prefontaine and some people in the DA's office think he tampered with things to make it look like Prefontaine was driving drunk. I'm taking no position on this. It's a third hand story to me but that story coupled with Shorter's comment is enough to make me question the official story.
Someone heard from someone who heard from someone that the cops framed a dead man... not for a murder, but just to make him look bad? And that's enough to make you say, maybe so?
Is there anything factual that backs up that Pre had an actual drinking problem?
Occasionally getting rip roaring drunk, or drinking and driving was pretty normal in the 70s. Yes, it was irresponsible, but the limit for drunk driving was still even 1.0 then, as opposed to now 0.1. It was a different world.
I find it hard to believe he could do lots of world class training and racing, and simultaneously an alcoholic. Special binge drinker perhaps, but an alcoholic is something different.
I know some people who were in Pre's inner circle from his Oregon days. They all say that he was a party-hearty beer drinker like so many other college kids were in those days.
With what we know about alcoholism... Pre was probably in the "alcohol abuse" stage... but was probably not physically addicted by age 24. Many college age alcohol abusers are able to stop or control their drinking as they get older.
"Late-race pacer" is a term that fails to honor the critical, essential role of keeping a race honest. I expect that cliche will trigger you & your ilk. Jingy is a "late-race pacer", too...at least he was in the last two 1500m championships. Did you see how close Pre came to a medal? Would your denigration of him extend to blaming him for not beating the greatest runner of his generation in his first Olympic Games? He more than "paced" He can be seen pressing the pace repeatedly, in a decidedly inexperienced & rash manner, for sure but he was no mere pacer.
I appreciate the complicated backstory around Pre. He was struggling with alcohol. Many -myself included - have nearly crashed on a rock in our lives due to addiction. Perhaps he would have changed his MO in later life; perhaps he would have continued into a deep alcoholic haze. Who knows?
But that race in Munich was Pre's signature. I expect he would have thrown a wrench in Viren's double/triple in Montreal. This was his opening salvo.
I see no dishonor in this race.
A poor strategy, sure: pushing at 700m - rookie mistake; pressing & extending at 600 & 500m to go - over-exuberance; digging to overtake Gammoudi's challenge at 300m - fatal error.
That's sport. & it's epic & beautiful. This race is one for the ages, in my opinion.
For the OP, I can only imagine the heartbreak from this loss required time - & likely a few beers - to recover from.
But this race has always been one small thing that makes me proud of my American heritage.
I enjoyed reading this intelligent post.
I don't think Pre would have been equipped with a wrench in Montreal. He would have had a tough time medaling, imo.
Is there anything factual that backs up that Pre had an actual drinking problem?
Occasionally getting rip roaring drunk, or drinking and driving was pretty normal in the 70s. Yes, it was irresponsible, but the limit for drunk driving was still even 1.0 then, as opposed to now 0.1. It was a different world.
I find it hard to believe he could do lots of world class training and racing, and simultaneously an alcoholic. Special binge drinker perhaps, but an alcoholic is something different.
Honestly I doubt that his drinking was very different from so many of us in those years. What you did after a race was go have a few beers with others who had been in the race. Prefontaine drove Shorter home from that party. Shorter has said that Prefontaine didn't seem at all impaired.
I've never been sold on that BAC number which is not to say that it's incorrect. But someone whose wife worked in the Lane County DA's office at the time told me that there was funny business around that number. The first cop at the accident scene had it in for Prefontaine and some people in the DA's office think he tampered with things to make it look like Prefontaine was driving drunk. I'm taking no position on this. It's a third hand story to me but that story coupled with Shorter's comment is enough to make me question the official story.
There may not be any actual basis for it, but I have always heard stories that there was a second vehicle that played a role in Pre's crash.
Honestly I doubt that his drinking was very different from so many of us in those years. What you did after a race was go have a few beers with others who had been in the race. Prefontaine drove Shorter home from that party. Shorter has said that Prefontaine didn't seem at all impaired.
I've never been sold on that BAC number which is not to say that it's incorrect. But someone whose wife worked in the Lane County DA's office at the time told me that there was funny business around that number. The first cop at the accident scene had it in for Prefontaine and some people in the DA's office think he tampered with things to make it look like Prefontaine was driving drunk. I'm taking no position on this. It's a third hand story to me but that story coupled with Shorter's comment is enough to make me question the official story.
Someone heard from someone who heard from someone that the cops framed a dead man... not for a murder, but just to make him look bad? And that's enough to make you say, maybe so?
I doubt it. Wanting it to be true makes it enough
There's the story from the guy whose wife worked in the DA's office. There's a story of a second car at the place where he wrecked. And there's Shorter's comment that Prefontaine didn't seem impaired. Yes, it's enough to make me wonder. I don't really want it to be true or false. I found the story from the DA's office interesting and not all that far fetched.
