Prefontaine Page #6

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the policeman from Finland, has won it.

How do you feel about

winning two gold medals?

He ran his heart out.

He ran his heart out.

Let him go.

Viren! Viren! Viren!

Viren! Viren!

Viren!

Viren! Viren!

Viren! Viren!

Viren! Viren!

Viren! Viren!

This is the way it ended...

almost four years ago on

that night in Mexico City.

Pre?

Oh, no!

- Come on. Let's get you to bed.

- I lost it.

- Come on. You need sleep.

- No. It's my fault.

- Kid, stand up. Help me...

- It's my fault!

- I f***ed up!

- It's not your fault.

It was in '66-'67...

'67-'68.

I'm sorry.

Bedford never went out.

Son of a b*tch has been a

front-runner his whole life.

He wimps out now.

I'm such a f***in' loser.

I f***ed up!

You're not a loser.

You ran your heart out.

You got to try and let it go, Pre.

Go, Pre.

Go, Pre.

Go, Pre.

Welcome home.

Hi, baby.

There's no fans out there,

are there?

No.

Any reporters?

No one knows you're back.

You okay?

Yeah, I'm all right.

Really, I am.

I'm very proud of you, Steve.

The whole town is.

Yeah, I'm sure. They'll probably

name a street after me.

Call it "Fourth Street. "

Hey!

Pre!

Hey, Mac.

I saw your race.

Somebody forget to tell you

guys the season's over?

Something's happened to Mac.

Must've bumped his head or something.

He's lookin' awfully good.

You, on the other hand,

look like sh*t.

When'd you get back?

Tell me the rumors

aren't true, Bill.

Which rumors?

This is no time to retire.

You know, someone once said,

"He who runs against time...

has an adversary not

subject to casualties. "

I'm 62. I'm gettin'

too old for all this.

That's bullshit.

You're the best damn

coach in the world.

Who presided over the worst performance

of a U.S. team in Olympic history?

That wasn't your fault.

After all that happened,

you couldn't run those races for us.

We're the ones that blew it.

I blew it.

You could've run for the bronze.

You could've run for the silver.

You ran to win.

I couldn't ask more than

that from an athlete.

It's funny.

These days...

I don't know if I want to train like

hell and kick Lasse Viren's ass...

or stay in bed.

Look, you're not some rube

from Coos Bay anymore.

Nobody's gonna wipe your behind,

warm your milk.

We're past all that now.

If you want to run, you run.

If you don't,

then you walk away from it.

Nobody can coach desire, Pre.

Ellie!

I like your hair that way.

It makes you look older.

I mean, uh, in a good way.

Yeah, you don't look like a boy

from Coos Bay anymore either.

When we first came up here...

I thought that was the way

it was gonna be.

You and me, forever.

Things definitely don't always turn

out the way you expect them to.

You know?

I've been reading about

your running in the paper.

You're reading the sports pages?

Yeah.

After we broke up,

I resented it even more.

I thought, if he hadn't

have done all that...

then we would've just stayed in

Coos Bay and lived happily ever after.

But then I watched your

Olympic race on TV...

and I realized...

it's really what you love.

It's really who you are, Steve.

Well, it took a while,

but Pre bounced back.

Hell, he had a great senior year.

Steve Prefontaine,

University of Oregon senior...

wins his fourth straight

N.C.A.A. title...

and breaks his own

American record again.

But something was missing.

You know?

Something was different.

That spark he had before

Munich was gone.

Although the words

may be ambiguous...

Let me get another

one down here.

Hey, it's not every day you get

big track stars serving beers.

Hey, Pre, you still running?

Of course he is, you idiot. He has to go

to Montreal and kick some serious butt.

Put things right after what happened

in Munich. Right, Pre?

Am I right, Pre?

The transcripts themselves do

not make things perfectly clear.

- Get you something?

- A bottle of Bud.

I'm Mike O'Hara.

There is testimony to support

John Dean's version...

"To the President of the A.T.U.

A representative of the new Professional

Track League has recently approached me. "

I'm prepared to offer you more

than I paid Keino, Ryun...

Seagren and Lee Evans combined.

Two hundred thousand dollars.

Two hundred thousand?

"I feel for me to continue now

as an amateur...

"I must get the support

and experience...

"I need to win in Montreal in '76.

"I love my country, but does it

love me enough to allow me...

"to compete in Finland

against my real competition?

"Please let me have a chance

to become the best...

"so I can bring home the gold.

I'm waiting on your answer.

Sincerely, Steve Prefontaine. "

Screw 'em!

What's it say?

They're gonna make me run

in Russia instead of Finland.

Tell 'em to shove it and

go race Viren anyway.

If I don't run their bullshit TV money

meets in Russia, Cunningham says...

they're gonna suspend me from

any international competition

- for a whole goddamn year.

- What? - Yeah.

People say I should be running

for the gold in Montreal.

For good old

"Red, White and Blue. "

But where has it gotten me?

Living hear on food stamps,

begging for crumbs from the A.T.U.

I never protested.

I always saluted the flag.

But what about at Montreal?

Right now I feel like saying,

to hell with Montreal.

To hell with love of country.

I'm lookin' out for me.

Right now I feel like saying,

to hell with Montreal.

To hell with love of country.

I'm lookin' out for me.

An angry Steve Prefontaine

lashes out...

- Two beers.

- Don't want 'em.

That's a buck.

You ordered 'em.

- Changed my mind.

- It's okay. We can still pay.

Forget that.

I'm leavin', man.

To hell with the country, huh?

Maybe he's just scared that he'll

tank again like he did in Munich.

Well, to hell with him.

- Hey, come on! Take it outside!

- I'll kill ya!

You're a loser!

Get the hell out!

You're goin' down, man!

You're a loser!

What's wrong?

Be honest with me.

Out there at the meets...

tell me the truth...

do I still look like a runner?

Oh, God, Steve.

What is it?

I keep thinking, uh...

what if I don't win

in Montreal?

It's like...

deep down...

I want to turn pro

not for the money...

but so I'll never have

to face Viren again.

Didn't you say once that when

a guy gives you his best shot...

and you beat him anyway,

that you own him?

I didn't give him my

best shot in Munich.

Exactly.

He doesn't own me.

I got boxed in at the last turn.

I know that.

I can't beat Viren...

if I can't race him, Nancy.

Hey, Pre! Pre!

How's your training going?

Why don't you guys go buy

somebody else for a change?

Are you anxious to get back to Europe this

summer and get another crack at Viren?

The only way I'm gonna get near Viren

is if he takes his summer vacation here.

Personally, I'd like to give Viren a

5,000-meter tour of Hayward Field.

Listen up, Pre fans.

Members of the

Finnish National Team...

have formally accepted

an invitation...

from Steve Prefontaine

to come and compete...

against the Oregon Track Club

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