What made Steve Prefontaine so great and different from everyone else?

Going out on a limb here but I'm thinking it was his finishing times in the races he ran.

I am a fan of most US athletes including Pre. I try to just appreciate the best in every athlete. I believe that the present day population would generally not be fans if he was running for Oregon now. The LR community is very hard on runners for every tactic that they employ if they do not win. People don’t like front runners because they die out and they don’t like people who sit and kick.

Reality Bites! wrote:

Brookfield wrote:

One of things that made Pre different is exemplified in the Munich final. Had Pre been satisfied just to Medal the bronze was his. instead, he laid it on the line to go for Gold....I think for most of today’s elite athletes “Getting on the Podium” is the primary goal. A medal is where the money & glory are.

To Pre just medaling was not good enough. He wanted to win!! I suspect to him there was not much difference in finishing 4th, 3rd or 2nd. Gold was all that mattered. This was his differentiator & part of why he remains such a compelling figure 40+ years after his untimely passing.

He actually did earn the Bronze in that race. Does anyone seriously believe Viren was clean?

Does anyone seriously believe Pre didn´t use steroids?

ovoindian wrote:

What was it about Pre that enabled him to win many races during his time in high school and run really fast times like breaking the national 2 mile record in high school? How was he different from every other high schooler?

What was his mindset in a race like?

Please respond with your thoughts and opinions.

Yeah, what drove him to accidentally kill himself drunk driving?

1) Genetics ...

and a very distant second . . .

2) Mental toughness

ovoindian wrote:

What was it about Pre that enabled him to win many races during his time in high school and run really fast times like breaking the national 2 mile record in high school? How was he different from every other high schooler?

What was his mindset in a race like?

Please respond with your thoughts and opinions.

The movie "Without Limits" starring Donald Sutherland as Bill Bowerman is a pretty good movie that will give you a feel of what it was like back then and who Pre was. Sutherland was critically acclaimed for his portrayal of Bowerman in that movie.

Raddison wrote:

The single most factor that turned him into a legend was the fact he died young and so his full potential will never be known. We are left with a what if scenario, how would he have done in Montreal in 1976, would he still be a medal threat in Los Angeles in 1984?

As such he joins a long list of people whose untimely death adds to their mystique, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Duncan Edwards, James Dean, Keats, Shelley, Mozart. And probably the greatest what if of them all, Alexander the Great.

Hard to imagine Pre a threat in LA at the age of 33.

Predictor wrote:

I am a fan of most US athletes including Pre. I try to just appreciate the best in every athlete. I believe that the present day population would generally not be fans if he was running for Oregon now. The LR community is very hard on runners for every tactic that they employ if they do not win. People don’t like front runners because they die out and they don’t like people who sit and kick.

Oh man, the boards would crash and might never be revived if Pre were around today.

Luv2Run wrote:

Hard to imagine Pre a threat in LA at the age of 33.

He may have been had he moved up to the marathon. Carlos Lopez won in LA at the age of 37.

Of course it is all speculation. My personal belief is he would have quit in favour of partying, similar to George Best of soccer. Best retired at the age of 27 and was generally considered to have not reached his peak. Even so he was voted #8 in the top 100 soccer players of the 20th century. A famous quote of Best is, "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds (women) and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."

If Pre had lived I feel that quote would have applied to him as well.