Prefontaine Page #5

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- I'm okay.

- I was so worried.

On the plane it was

so awful, so awful.

The guards won't let us in.

Oh, Steve!

It's all right.

I'm okay.

Pre, can you give us a sense

of the mood inside...

Goddamn it!

Leave me alone!

Peter Jennings here in

the Olympic Village.

One of the helicopters now proceeds

out over the Olympic site.

You cannot exit this gate.

You must leave the area immediately.

I'm sorry. I gotta get him out of here.

He'll be staying with me.

I'll call you at the hotel, Mom.

The Israeli hostages and

the Arab commandos...

who have held them hostage

for this entire day...

have now left,

gone to a makeshift helicopter pad

at the back of the Olympic Village.

I've just been told that

the German police...

thought they had

the Arabs isolated...

opened fire on them,

whereupon, reportedly...

the Arabs threw a hand

grenade into the helicopter...

- Ohhh. - blowing up the helicopter

and killing all the hostages.

All of the hostages are dead.

- Most of the Arabs are dead, three of

them are in hospitals, - What happened?

and one of them may

still be on the loose.

It's over.

Everybody's dead.

They're all gone.

The Israeli Olympic team

is destroyed...

much of it, some of their officials.

But what will happen to the

Games of the 20th Olympiad?

None of us know what will happen

to the course of world history.

I know this is hard, but you

gotta put this behind you.

Behind me?

The Games are over.

- The Games will resume.

- Yeah, right.

They'll resume, and they'll

run the 5,000 meters.

So what?

I'm not running.

Calm down.

Calm down?

Come on.

Can't you see?

It's all ruined now.

With the "Happy Games. "

What a joke!

I've been dreaming about

this since I was 16.

This is not how it's

supposed to be!

They'll start back up

tomorrow or the day after.

That's great. Great.

That's just great.

Over the dead bodies

of those athletes...

we're gonna go on like

nothing happened.

Run races and salute the flag!

Pre, look at me.

You think that Viren and Yifter

and Bedford are talking like this?

You think they're wringing their hands

and packing their bags over this thing?

They came here to win

a goddamn race!

Now, maybe Viren's a sensitive

humanitarian back in Finland...

but right now I'll bet there's a

little voice in his head, saying...

"Hey, I just got an extra day's rest

for the 5,000. "

An extra day's rest?

That's not fair.

- Pre, listen...

- Wait a second!

- They can't let any of the 10,000 guys

off the hook... - Pre, listen to me!

Now, you've got to

keep your focus!

You're running phenomenal

intervals right now...

and believe me,

those guys know it too.

They're afraid of you.

Don't be afraid of them.

I'm not afraid of them.

I'm not afraid of anybody.

One day away from the biggest

race in your life...

what's going through your mind?

I just want to run my race

and get it over with.

Still predicting victory?

Pre?

I'm just doing the best I can.

The basketball federation

has upheld...

Russia's controversial

victory in basketball.

Things continue to go downhill

for the United States in Munich.

All competitors for the 5,000 meter

race, your event is next.

Make sure your numbers are visible on

the front of jersey and right hip of shorts.

Make sure your numbers are clearly visible

on front of jersey and right hip of shorts.

Officials will check your number

at the entrance to the stadium.

Go, Pre!

Go, Pre!

This unquestionably,

I would say, Erich...

is the quality field

of the Olympics.

There are, perhaps, seven,

eight, nine or ten men in this field...

that could easily take

the gold medal.

Prefontaine told me the other night,

or about a week ago...

"What I'm gonna try to do is work it out

so it'll be a pure guts race at the end...

and if it is, I'm the only

one who can win. "

I'd like to make this statement;

I think Steve Prefontaine...

will be the Olympic

5,000 meter champion.

I think he will break the world's

record at 5,000 meters...

but I think he will have

to do it in Montreal.

Because today,

Steve Prefontaine, 21 years old...

is running up against

the very big boys.

All right, you know the plan:

You're gonna draft behind Bedford

until the last three laps...

then you're gonna go out

and take over the race.

Put the crap in all those

damn kickers' legs, Pre.

Feel like someone threw a

shot put down your throat?

It'll all go away when

the gun sounds.

I can't look.

He'll do fine, Elfriede.

He'll do just fine.

Here they are at the line.

There's no field more talented than the

field that is running in the 5,000 meters.

Auf die Platzen.

A very slow pace, Jim.

Sixty-nine-second quarters.

A very slow pace.

This kind of slow pace

favors the finishers...

like Ian Stewart, Lasse Viren...

- Where is Bedford? David

Bedford of Britain. - Who?

Bedford's always been a front-runner,

but he's way back.

Only six laps to go, Erich.

This is a little dangerous...

even for Steve Prefontaine,

to let it go this slowly.

This is not good.

If it's so slow, why doesn't Pre

just take over?

'Cause then everyone will

just draft right behind him.

Leading drains you

more than following.

I've never seen Pre

do anything but lead.

Go, Steve!

Sixty-seven on that last quarter.

The kickers are licking their chops.

Now Prefontaine moving up.

And Steve Prefontaine

is going to take the lead.

- One mile to go.

- Four laps to go.

Steve! Steve! Steve!

Viren is moving up on the outside.

Go, Pre! Go, Pre!

Go, Pre!

Here's Viren going for the lead.

This is when Viren

makes his long drive.

This could be the break

from the other group.

You have Viren, Puttemans, Stewart,

Gammoudi and Prefontaine.

No man at the age of

21 has ever won...

this long, tough and

thinking man's race...

the 5,000 meters.

Prefontaine going

for the lead again.

Just 600 yards to go, and he's

trying an all-out kick.

Come on, Pre!

Look at that magnificent

little son of a b*tch.

He knows he can't out-kick Viren,

so he's going to sprint 600 yards.

Pre is running a gutsy race.

What a kick he's putting on.

It's gonna be a last lap fight.

It seems impossible that Prefontaine

can out-kick Viren or Gammoudi.

Viren!

Viren!

Viren is going for his second

gold medal of the Games.

Mohammed Gammoudi

is right with him.

And so is Steve Prefontaine!

The kid is showing all

the guts in the world.

Go, World!

Kick their asses!

He's hanging in there

with the kickers.

Prefontaine going for the

lead with Gammoudi.

You can do it!

Come on!

Viren is still there.

We're coming to you live

from the Munich Stadium.

Nobody in the world knows how it's going to

turn out until they head down the stretch.

Coming to the last turn!

Here comes Prefontaine!

Let's go!

Come on, baby!

And here it comes.

The Brit's try to pass Prefontaine

for the bronze. It's going to be close.

That man is one of the world's

greatest runners in a long time.

At the age of 23, Lasse Viren,

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