Why do people bring up Prefontaine as the "gold standard"?

if bannister were racing in the mile today he would have gotten rocked too. does that make him irrelevant.

maybe a good question about whether or not there is more myth than man, but pretty terrible logic right there

So would Lasse Viren, Paavo Nurmi, Zatopek, et al.

But Pre sure wouldn't let shit like this happen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGpinp18EOk

Kids today are "chicken shit."

forget everything i said, that race was absolute crap

pre was a big mouth a-hole drunk who thankfully only killed himself.

sorry but that's the truth.

clackers wrote:

pre was a big mouth a-hole drunk who thankfully only killed himself.

sorry but that's the truth.

How do you explain the following Muhammad Ali has?

Don't even put Pre in the same sentence as Viren, Wolde, Kieno or other greats.

NO GOLD MEDAL = NOTHING

The lessen is, if he sat and kicked he might have won the god dammned thing.

Pre Lives!

Homo erected wrote:

Don't even put Pre in the same sentence as Viren, Wolde, Kieno or other greats.

NO GOLD MEDAL = NOTHING

The lessen is, if he sat and kicked he might have won the god dammned thing.

Daniel Komen, anybody?

maybe Ron Clark?

Obviously much of the hype over Pre is related to his early departure, but I think what really amazes me is that he managed to hold every AR from 2k-10k at the age of 25. Does this make him a Gold Standard in American running history? Maybe not, but that will always make him relevant in our running history. I don't think we'll ever see another American athlete do that again.

You are right on. What an incredible legacy to hold the American record in every distance from 2K to 10K, and be several years from his prime. Truly, Pre lived, and Pre Lives!!!

so that's like the 2K, 3K, 3200, 2 mile, 3 mile, 5K, 8K, 5 mile, 6 mile, and 6K? except for the 3K, 5K and 10K, all the other's might as well be swimming strokes, so big deal. also, all those times were soft. Webb would have owned Pre at every distance, but these days those records are much harder to achieve.

Footloose and Free wrote:

You are right on. What an incredible legacy to hold the American record in every distance from 2K to 10K, and be several years from his prime. Truly, Pre lived, and Pre Lives!!!

12345 wrote:

Homo erected wrote:

Don't even put Pre in the same sentence as Viren, Wolde, Kieno or other greats.

NO GOLD MEDAL = NOTHING

The lessen is, if he sat and kicked he might have won the god dammned thing.

Daniel Komen, anybody?

The "older" Daniel Komen won the WC in 1997.

I'm not sure, but if you're bringing this up over something the announcers said during the Prefontaine Classic, then you've gotta get over it. The meet is named after the guy, of course they're going to bring him up, it wouldn't be right not to.

You know what else? The fact is that the guy would still be a top American today. There's only one guy that would consistently beat him in a 5k, and thats Lagat. Yeah, Teg and Goucher and Webb and who knows who else have faster PRs, but none of them are consistently under 13:20, Pre would have been right with them.

I understand what you're saying with him being killed on the world stage these days, but its not like we have tons of guys breaking 13 or anything.

well. wrote:

The "older" Daniel Komen won the WC in 1997.

There was no WC in 1975, so that means nothing. Pre never had the chance to win a WC. The Olympics was it, and he only got one shot at it.

Sarcastic Third Tit wrote:

so that's like the 2K, 3K, 3200, 2 mile, 3 mile, 5K, 8K, 5 mile, 6 mile, and 6K? except for the 3K, 5K and 10K, all the other's might as well be swimming strokes, so big deal. also, all those times were soft. Webb would have owned Pre at every distance, but these days those records are much harder to achieve.

Footloose and Free wrote:

You are right on. What an incredible legacy to hold the American record in every distance from 2K to 10K, and be several years from his prime. Truly, Pre lived, and Pre Lives!!!

Pre ran and competed with the runners that were at the top at the time he was alive. If he was alive today and in his prime maybe he would be faster than Webb, no one knows. He made his mark in American running when he was alive. He furthered American running by bettering the records and winning races. He raised the standard for American runners when he was alive.

Yes, his early death makes him an easy and marketable idol. It is better for running overall (American running anyway) to have him as a legend in my opinion.

Noob wrote:

well. wrote:

The "older" Daniel Komen won the WC in 1997.

There was no WC in 1975, so that means nothing. Pre never had the chance to win a WC. The Olympics was it, and he only got one shot at it.

I'd go so far and say "The Olympics IS it". WC, great and everything but a gold medal there doesn't make you immortal. A gold medal at the Olympics does tho.

Sarcastic Third Tit wrote:

so that's like the 2K, 3K, 3200, 2 mile, 3 mile, 5K, 8K, 5 mile, 6 mile, and 6K? except for the 3K, 5K and 10K, all the other's might as well be swimming strokes, so big deal. also, all those times were soft. Webb would have owned Pre at every distance, but these days those records are much harder to achieve.

Footloose and Free wrote:

You are right on. What an incredible legacy to hold the American record in every distance from 2K to 10K, and be several years from his prime. Truly, Pre lived, and Pre Lives!!!

You don't have to believe that Pre is one of the gold standards for American running, but his times were far from soft in his era.

When he ran his first 10k, he finished 13 seconds off the world record.

His 5k American record was 8 seconds off the world record.

His 3k American record was 7 seconds off the world record.

So Webb's prs, 35 years later, beat Prefontaine head to head. So what? In his prime, Shaq would have likely dominated Wilt Chamberlin. Does that change the fact that Chamberlin was one of the best basketball players of all time?

Nutella wrote:

I'd go so far and say "The Olympics IS it". WC, great and everything but a gold medal there doesn't make you immortal. A gold medal at the Olympics does tho.

These days a WC medal is almost exactly equal to the Olympic. And a gold medal doesn't make one immortal. Seriously who remembers the American who got gold in the race that Pre's coach Dellinger got bronze? Everyone remembers Pre, and everyone remembers Dellinger, because he was Pre's coach not his bronze medal. Who would remember George Young, bronze in steeple, if Pre hadn't beaten him at the Olympics Trials in a AR and third fastest 5000m of all time (at the time)?