Steve Prefontaine Research Paper Essay Example
Steve Prefontaine Research Paper Essay Example

Steve Prefontaine Research Paper Essay Example

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  • Pages: 4 (859 words)
  • Published: September 23, 2017
  • Type: Research Paper
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America's Greatest Distance Runner During the time which I have been involved with the sport of Track and Field, I found interest in those who have ran in the Olympic Games and excelled within their sport. Track and Field has an enormous history dating back to 776 B. C. Where the Greeks first organized the sport. Millions of runners have competed ever since the first Olympic Games in order to achieve the same goal, to go beyond their physical limits. One runner within the pack stands out above them all, America's greatest distance runner, Steve Preparation.

Within this paper my goal is to depict an accurate ascription of Presentations life and explain what gave him such a significant impact to the world of sports within the United States. In order to achieve this goal I have divided this research paper into three sections. Th

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e first section will consist of Presentations historical achievements, childhood and professional career. The second section will consist of Presentations actions and how they shaped the world of sports forever within the United States as well as the world.

Finally, the third section will illustrate the lasting impact Preparation had to the United States and young runners everywhere. Steve Preparation was born on January 25, 1951, to Raymond and Oilfield Preparation. As a young man, Preparation never excelled at sports due to his lack of height and skinny body. Presentations love for running was found when he decided to join his high school's local track team. Preparation continued to run throughout his high school career where he later won the state title in his Junior cross country season.

After Presentations explosion

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into the world of athletics he was quickly recruited by top schools all around the country. Presentations Professional Career. Preparation officially began his professional career as a runner while he attended the University of Oregon in 1970. Under the supervision of Bill Borrower, future co-founder of the popular shoe brand, Nikkei, Preparation became unstoppable. Despite Presentations desire to compete in the mm run, Borrower urged him to compete in the mm run, a much more stamina involved race which he believed Preparation would revolutionize.

Within his college career Preparation won the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championship three times consecutively, only to sit out his senior year in order to prepare for the 1972 Munich Olympics. What is considered one of the greatest races of all time, Preparation was pitted against the greatest distance runners in the world. Lasses IVR©n, Presentations rival, took the lead in the final turn over silver medalist Mohammed Gammon.

Preparation ran out of gas with 30 meters to go as Britain's hard-charging Ian Stewart caught him from behind and moved into third place within ten meters of the finish, depriving Preparation of an Olympic medal. The aggressiveness of Presentations run is considered one of sport's greatest moments within the history of Track and Field. Preparation once commented Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy two miles. Not with me. If I lose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself. Preparation was completely convinced that he could improve his time and defeat Vireo in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. On May 30, 1975 Steve Preparation was announced dead as paramedics

arrived after Preparation had been involved in a horrendous car accident after returning from a party. The Eugene Register-Guard called his death "the end of an era". By the time of his death, Preparation was probably the most popular athlete in Oregon, who, along with Frank Shorter and Bill Borrower, was credited with sparking the running boom of the asses.

An annual track event, the Pre Classic, has been held in his honor since 1975. Preparation along with Frank Shorter and Bill Rogers is credited for sparking the "running boom" within the United States. PRESENTATIONS IDEAS/ACTIONS Preparation is undoubtedly one of America's greatest distance runners; however Preparation was fighting a completely different battle at the same time. Presentations battle against the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which demanded that athletes who wanted to remain "amateur" for the Olympics not be paid for appearances in track tests.

An amateur athlete is an athlete that is not compensated for performing within their sport. Some viewed this arrangement as unfair, because the participants drew large crowds that generated millions of dollars in revenue, with the athletes being forced to shoulder the burden of all their own expenses without assistance. At the time, the AAU was rescinding athletes' amateur status if they were endorsed in any way. Because Preparation was accepting free clothes and footwear from Nikkei, he was subject to the Aqua's ruling. Preparation combated what he believed was highly unjust in the world of sports.

It is because of Presentations actions that many athletes (even outside of Track and Field) we see today are compensated properly for their performance and appearance at games/meets. Unfortunately, Preparation never saw his

dream become a reality due to his death in 1975. In 1978, three years after he died, the U. S. Congress passed the Amateur Sports Act, which took control of track and field away from the AAU.

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