5,000 metres, Men

The 1971 European Champion was Finland’s Juha Väätäinen, who also won the 10K at that meet, the first dominant distance runner since the 1940s. But in the Olympic year, the best times had been posted by his countryman Lasse Virén. Väätäinen would compete in the 5,000 final but finish only 13th. Ethiopia’s Miruts Yifter was a contender but missed his heat when he mistook an entry gate and could not get into the stadium for the race. America’s Steve Prefontaine was expected to challenge and was a media favorite, because of brash predictions and front-running tactics. He vowed he would win the gold medal and would run the final mile under four minutes in doing so. The final was started at a slow pace. But with four laps remaining Pre began to follow his prediction, moving to the lead and pushing the pace dramatically. He ran the next three laps in 62.8, 61.0, and 60.4 and dropped everybody but Virén and the defending champion, Mohamed Gammoudi. Virén took the lead right at the bell lap and held off Gammoudi on the backstretch, pulling away to win fairly easily, running his last 400 in 56.0. As Pre had predicted, the final mile was run almost exactly in 4 minutes. But he had nothing left in the stretch and was passed at the last minute by Britain’s Ian Stewart, who won the bronze medal, Pre finishing in fourth. Over the next three years, Pre established himself as America’s greatest ever distance runner on the track, and would likely have challenged for a gold medal in Montréal. But in May 1975, coming home from a party, he overturned his sports car and was killed when he was crushed beneath it. Virén completed the 5K/10K double in München, having won the 10,000 a few days earlier.