Finally, A Decent Video Clip of Frank Shorter's 1972 Olympic Marathon Victory

cool footage...but no sound!

nice vid.

Wasn't that the race where some imposter jumped in ahead of Shorter and started running around the track as if he were going to win? I'm glad they didn't show any of that.

Yes it is. I was standing on the top row of the stadium right over the tunnel entrance. I saw Shorter come running down the road from up the road and enter the tunnel. In a few seconds a fairly heavy jogger entered the stadium proper and begin to run around the track. The jerk got applause but many of us were very confused and upset. When Frank ran onto the track and turned right, he recieved limited applause. Frank began looking around in a confused way and I think he raised his arms in a confused motion. By then the imposter was around on the other side of the track and was being removed from the track.

Frank had some weird Karma with the Germans. He was born in Munich, and was preceeded into two Olympic stadia (Munich, Montreal) by German imposters.

Why are they all so skinny?

Thanks for posting this link!

Made me remember why I got into running, so inspirational.

Who is the guy in the video that went down-I think that he was wearing #657?

Thanks for link.

I do not know who fell and my program is packed away in some box.

I would like to note that we can see the great Abebe Bikila (maybe the best marathon runner of all time) in his wheel chair near the start of the tape. When Bikila was wheeled onto the grass in front of the stands the crowd all rose and gave him a long ovation before he had been introduced!

Cool video. Two Americans have won Oly gold in the marathon & both used early breaks to their advantage; Shorter & Benoit.

Cool also to see the names Clayton, Hill & Foster 1-3, three marathon giants, on an early leader board. Abebe Bikila waving from his wheelchair before the start. KMoore w/hair flowing racing along in second for a spell.

I remember very clearly sitting at home watching Shorter run away from the field and, as Orville noted, a German ran into the stadium ahead of the American. Erich Segal, of Love Story fame and an avid runner, was doing some commentary and get excited and agitated w/sight of the German, telling the tv audience he was an imposter and 'you Frank are the winner'.

Scott,

Eric Segal ran the Boston Marathon numerous times. He was 63rd of 369 entrants in Boston in 1964 with a time of 2:56:30. I was 66th that year in 2:57:25

Beautiful, thank you.

so is frank the most efficient runner ever? he looks so smooth at 5 minute pace.

chitown wrote:

so is frank the most efficient runner ever? he looks so smooth at 5 minute pace.

Great video....and yes, he looks likes he's out for an easy run.

I remember reading in Lore of running that his measured VO2 max was only like 73, where as most elite distance runners are around 80. Also considering how thin Shorter was in his prime days, we can assume he was extremely efficient.

chitown wrote:

so is frank the most efficient runner ever? he looks so smooth at 5 minute pace.

I'd have to guess that Derek Clayton was more efficient. He had a significantly lower VO2 Max than Shorter, weighed much more but ran his marathons much faster.

Who is the Irish guy at the starting line with the long hair, white bandanna and sweet stache?

Clayton more so wrote:

I'd have to guess that Derek Clayton was more efficient. He had a significantly lower VO2 Max than Shorter, weighed much more but ran his marathons much faster.

As a technical matter, Clayton may have been more efficient, but he sure *looked* awful. Shorter looks like he is jogging at 5-minute pace.