Pre is the most overrated runner in history.

Pre is certainly the most overrated runner of all time but his status is due to reasons other than his actual results.

Can you all just understand that and get over it?

Fame is undefinable. Other factors come into play. Paris is Hilton is famous. Despite having no talent whatsoever but ambition enough to show up on time for "work" to promote herself to make millions of dollars that she doesn't need.

Pre definitely was talented and accomplished but died young and never would be considered among informed people as even one of the greatest 500 runners in world history. Just one of maybe the 10-15 best American runners.

He had a "star" quality that derived from a combination of his looks and style. But don't forget at one time he held every American distance record on the track from 2000 to 10,000 and was consistently a top 10 world rank runner for four years before he died at only 24 years old.

He had a small cult following during his career but I think that was only limited to the Eugene area.

You just can't look at his pr's and blow him off as overrated. He ran 3:54 for the mile when the world record was 3:51 in a low key meet where he offered to pace Dave Wottle who ran 3:52. He broke Shorters 10k AR in a solo race at Hayward Field.

He was just cool and a lot of people were inspired by him. One just happened to be the future CEO of Nike.

He didn't drop out of races when he got a little push by a a 120 pound African in the last curve like a Chris Solinsky. He didn't drop out of race after race when he wasn't feeling right like Galen Rupp or German Fernandez.

He ran to win the Gold in the Olympics as a 21 year old. Because that was the goal and he blew a medal by taken the lead with a mile to go and then making 3 desperate moves over the last 600. If you can't watch that race and admire him despite the suicidal foolish moves that last lap you won't understand why he had a rarity that entirely lacks in this sport.

Of course it was a much weaker era without the Africans but it was a better sport as a fan to me than watching the better runners of today

is trolling good for runners wrote:

5/10. Not much on the originality scale, but you'll likely generate some angry respnses, so good work there.

Too generous. I say it is more like a 1.7/10. Now if he had created a thread that pre was the most underrated runner of all time, that would be something special.

[quotejack kesey wrote:

I'm dying to hear which illegal drug they popped centro for. Was he on roids, epo, hgh, all of the above?[/quote]

NotAustin18 has the inside dope on NOP doping. Perhaps he'll weigh in here.

It's funny how all the posters here and runners in general love Pre but hardly do they mention Billy Mills. Mills not only was Olympic champ, was a Marine Officer and all around great American.

Over there in the States Pre clearly has a status that goes beyond his actual achievements. His career was cut short - possibly before its peak. It is very easy to envisage a medal for Pre in the 1976 10k - not gold , Pre was never going to beat Viren when Viren was ready to race. In the UK , runners of a certain age still venerate Dave Bedford for similar reasons - even though his career was arguably less successful than Pre's. People admire an aggressive approach to races combined with hard training and a life style that appears human. These runners appear normal - take away the talent and the fast times and they could almost be us!

[quote]runner who professes wrote:

Pre was fast for his day, he didn't sit and he went for the win, not time. He, Shorter and Rodgers made running matter.

While one can surely argue that Shorter and Rogers had better careers and were key in the running boom, those of us who were there know no other US distance runner -- with the possible exception of Jim Ryun -- ever reached the superstar status of Pre within both the running community and the general public.

I remember Marty Liquori setting the American 2 mile record in the summer of '75 shortly after Pre's death and all anyone was saying was that he wouldn't have won that race if Pre was in it

So Pre ran hard from the gun. It's the point of a race to win. Regardless of tacttic.

my2redskincents wrote:

So Pre ran hard from the gun. It's the point of a race to win. Regardless of tacttic.

Are you replying to my post?

I miss the part where I said anything about running hard from the gun or about not recognizing the goal in any race is to win.

I really wonder about you guys. Always arguing with voices in your head

No one ranks him as a top 20 runner of all time, or something like that. He was an electrifying college runner for awhile and that inspired people to run. I think this is a false premise that one needs to say he's overrated. If we started a thread about the best distance runners many more names would dominate the list. He's not overrated. I could see if there was a consensus that he was one of the greats in olympics or international track, but he's not considered that.

He's an American Icon. I think that's fair since he dominated the ncaa at his time.

Dominate NCAA running or win Olympic gold in the 10,000m? I'll go with the gold hardware anytime!

A fair assessment. I love to watch that 72 Olympic 5000. He was mad to push the pace against Viren. As someone who has been in a race or two (not at that level though), I gotta admire his form of madness as a racer.

ryan foreman wrote:

Roger Bannister is.

End of thread.

Correct.

Pre who?

PAUL R wrote:

No one ranks him as a top 20 runner of all time, or something like that. He was an electrifying college runner for awhile and that inspired people to run. I think this is a false premise that one needs to say he's overrated. If we started a thread about the best distance runners many more names would dominate the list. He's not overrated. I could see if there was a consensus that he was one of the greats in olympics or international track, but he's not considered that.

Runner's World put him in the top ten.

duck v. beaver wrote:

http://trackfocus.com/oregon/steve-prefontaine-and-the-civil-war-football-game

This was awesome.

I'm among those tired of hearing about Pre. There are plenty of current athletes to talk, write, and read about.

Umm....ever heard of Jordan Hasay?