I loved the documentary. You have clearly put a lot of work into it, and it shows. I especially enjoyed the film footage, much of which is new to me. I would love to see you do a documentary on David Bedford. Despite being an American distance runner during the Prefontaine years, I always admired Bedford and his gutsy running despite lacking the speed many of his competitors had.
Thank you for the great comment, David. I'm glad you enjoyed the documentary. Yes, David Bedford was a very interesting and charismatic character. I'll give it some thought. I have a very long list of videos I want to make and they take me so long to do these days.
@@PrentisHancock1 That was one of the best and most enjoyable track and field videos I have ever watched. I was just 9 years of age when I saw him win the European 5000 meters, a year later I saw him win the 5000 at the 1970 Commonwealth Games. The 1972 Olympic final is probably one of the greatest races ever seen, and it was a pity that Stewart could not not have been closer at the bell, he had probably the best finishing speed over the other 3 runners. I thought I knew most things about Stewart, but I never knew about the bump with Prefontaine, that was a very interesting detail. Also great to hear the greatest sports commentator of all time David Coleman, his insights on races were amazing. I have subscribed to your channel, and anxiously await for your next video.
@@johnmain8267 Thank you for the great comment, John. I'm glad you enjoyed the documentary. I didn't know about the brush with Prefontaine either until I started digging into the making of this documentary! I saw the comment on Wikipedia and it said there was this collision on the last lap, which I didn't recall. So I had to closely re-watch the race several times before identifying precisely where it occurred. I then updated the Wikipedia page as well to reflect where the incident really happened! Thank you for subscribing. I've got a lot of historic and modern athletics videos I intend to make and I'm working on a big one now which will be complete in a few weeks, along with some shorter ones before it. Thanks again.
@@PrentisHancock1 Thanks for your reply Prentis. I forgot to mention in that `72 5000 final the other great Finnish runner Juha Vaatainen was running, but, unfortunately he had been injured all the way up to the Olympics, had he been fully fit he would have probably been the favourite. The last 400 meters of the 1971 European Championships in the 10,000 meters against Jurgen Haase being proof of his great finishing kick. So a fully fit Vaatainen on the last lap against Stewart, Viren, Gammoudi, and Prefontaine would have been very interesting. Look forward to your up coming videos
Yes, there is a video of that race on TH-cam and I've seen it. Vaatainen redefined what a 10000m finish should look like. Imagine, running six miles and then running another 400m in 53 seconds! Sound familiar? That's what Mo Farah had to learn to do consistently to win all his titles, 40 years later! Yes, Vaatainen would definitely have been favourite to win if he was fit. That would have completely changed the outcome of this race.
I think 1970 was his peak. His 1971 injuries blunted his edge by the time it came to 1972. His last lap/last 600m in the final was a bit weaker than his 1970 CG form. If he had run a last lap of 55.4 in '72, he would have beaten Viren. I think he lost some confidence and that's what cost him.
Maybe, maybe not. It's all just speculation. What really matters is what actually happened. And what actually happened was Stewart ran a 56.7 seconds last lap, whereas Viren ran a 56.5 seconds last lap with a 6 metre head start. I think this is where Stewart's claim of having lost 10 metres in his brush with Prefontaine comes from. It's the difference between him finishing 3rd and otherwise finishing first. But in reality, he gave away more than that by running wide for most of the race.
Thank you very much for this documentary. I may be an American, but I followed Stewart as much as I could in the early 70s and actually was pulling for him in '72. Overall, not too many runners from that period can claim the success he achieved.
Thanks for the great comment. For me, his 1969 European Championship performance when he stopped running in lane 2 made him a compelling athlete to watch.
I just can't let this go! I spent months researching before the making of this video and in it I made a bold claim that a more likely reason Stewart lost in the '72 Olympic final was that Viren ran most of the race tight on the bends whereas Stewart ran wide. Well, I've now found documentary evidence that this was a specific race tactic of Lasse Viren, and it is on his Wikipedia page. See section "1972 Olympics", paragraph 3. Quote: " One factor in Virén's Olympic victories, especially at the 1972 Olympics 5,000 and 10,000 metres, has received little attention: his careful running of almost all the bends (curves) near the inner edge of the first lane, which spared him tens of metres compared to his chief rivals. More specifically, Steve Prefontaine gave Virén an advantage of more than forty metres over 5,000 m in 1972, while Emiel Puttemans gave about fifty metres over 10,000 m, by running many bends wide on the outer edge of the first lane or sometimes even on the second lane. This metre-saving practice is called "bend (curve) mathematics"[4] " [4] Mauno Saari, "Lasse Viren: The Secrets of Running" / Lasse Viren - Juoksemisen salaisuudet, Finland, 1979 It is also a tactic most noticeable in El Guerrouj's running, and most noticably absent in Seb Coe''s running.
I've got Viren clocked on the last mile at 4:00.8, and Stewart at 4:02.5. You can see them crossing the mile line (with the blue rostrum just behind on the infield). A lot of people take the last 4 laps as the last mile, forgetting the extra 9.344 metres which is marked by a line clearly on the track. That counts for an extra 1.6 - 1.8 seconds at that speed. Contrast with Joshua Cheptegei's Olympic 5000m win this year, in which he clocked approximately 4:01.5 for the last mile, though it was much faster overall because the first 9 laps were faster.
Excellent documentary!!! I always wondered about Ian Stewart and tried to find a biography of him. I’ve collected running books for decades. Excellent video!
Thank you for the great comment, Robert. I'm glad you liked it. Please feel free to check out my other athletics documentaries on my channel? I'll be doing more in the future.
Great documentary. Maybe someone reading this could outline how Ian Stewart actually trained (before Munich 1972 and before Montreal 1976): Mileage/sessions per week, longest single run etc.; in the winter season and in the spring/summer close to the Olympic Games.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, @anton888ist. Check out this article in AW which describes some more of Ian's races and training. athleticsweekly.com/exclusive/ian-stewarts-life-as-an-athlete-1039939561/
Very enjoyable, thank you. Regarding the 10 mile time of 45:13, it also doesn't appear in the runbritain all-time rankings either and Richard Nerurkar's time of 46:02 from 1993 is listed as no.1 performance.
Thanks for the great comment, Ian. The problem was in the 1970s, they didn't have accurate measuring methods for road distances, which weren't standardised until some years later. That's why Stewart's performance is not recognised, even if it was actually accurate. It's a shame because he was probably robbed of a substantial world best time. Some stats sites recognise Stewart's time but a lot don't. I have to admit though, I did not look at Run Britain's stats for him. If it had stood officially as the world record, it would have lasted until 1997 when Paul Koech ran 44:45.
Hi Prentis. A great memory trip for those of us who competed in the late 60's/early 70's so thank you. And hopefully it will be seen and enjoyed by a younger generation who barely know what great runners we had in that era. I'd be interested in your view about what happened to McCafferty at Munich. I recollect he was considered as one of the favourites and indeed had beaten Stewart at the Olympic trial and many other times, but after starting well he just fell away. Psychological ? Injured ? A bad day at the office ? And of course that was pretty much the last we heard of him which was sad as, like Stewart, he was an extraordinary talent (although just lacking that competitive edge of Stewart's).
Hi G.Stewart.J.Taylor, thank you for the great comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I'll be doing more like this in the near future. Hmmm, G. Stewart - any relation to Ian? :-) With regard to what I think happened to McCafferty, it's purely conjecture on my part, but here goes. First he was 27 and only 2 months shy of his 28th birthday, so statistically, he was probably past his athletic peak, though that's not always the case. Second, he was the "rock star" athlete - by this I mean he was perhaps a little less disciplined and more temperamental than Stewart. And, like you suggest, he probably had a bad day - he was not as great a championship performer. But most likely, the biggest "killer" for everyone in that field, including McCafferty and Stewart, was the asymmetric race pace. The first 8 1/2 laps were run in 66s and 67s which was never going to be any good for McCafferty nor Bedford. Stewart was a lot stronger and was just about able to salvage something from it. But if they had run 63s and 64s from the outset, that would have helped all the Brits a lot and they would have run, perhaps a sub 13:10, and bettered the world record in the process. They were easily capable, especially Viren and Stewart. It was down to Bedford to make that kind of pace but he never even tried. In the end, it was Prefontaine that destroyed them when he put in the three 61 laps, just as he said he would.
@@PrentisHancock1 Thanks. Yes, that’s a good assessment of McCafferty. Good luck with future videos - I’ll certainly be looking out for them and appreciate the work involved in putting one together.
@@PrentisHancock1 McCafferty won his 5000m heat at Munich, running a 54.7 last lap. The terrorist attack at Munich just before the 5000m Final, had a big impact on him and he just wanted to get home asap. Ian Stewart commented that McCafferty asked if the race start was being delayed - fearful that he may miss his flight home!
@Tommytempo1 - Oh, wow, I did not know those details! That explains a lot and also confirms how he was so emotionally temperamental. I'd read about Stewart's emotional state after the terrorist attack but I had not considered looking up McCafferty's.
Great documentary! Fifty years on can still vividly recall our whole family absolutely SCREAMING for Stewart in the closing stages of the 5,000m at Munich - he finished faster than Viren and had he not become detached on the penultimate lap would probably have made it - as for McCafferty I heard years later his wife rubbished his display when he arrived back in Scotland and suggested he hung up his spikes which he pretty much did there and then! Strange run by Bedford that day too... What other docs have you done and how do I access your channel? Once again many congrats on a superb watch!
Thank you for the great comments, Mike! You make some interesting points. Stewart blamed himself for his collision with Prefontaine 700m out when it wasn't really something he could have controlled but claimed it cost him 10 metres - the difference between his actual finishing position and him beating Viren. More true, perhaps, and I've mentioned this in other comments, is that he ran wide on the bends, whilst Viren was tight on the bends, so Stewart ran about 30 - 40m further than Viren. I read about McCafferty destroying some of his memorabilia, much to Stewart's dismay when he subsequently found out. I didn't know McCafferty's wife was involved! It would be quite sad if his wife disrespected him for his performance at the Munich final. Another commenter, Tommytempo1, said that McCafferty was shaken up by the terrorist attack the day before the race and that he wanted to go home. This would have affected his performance. I've done one other long video on Tom Byers which you might like; feel free to check it out? Just click on my name under the video then click on my videos tab. I do a mixture of athletics and gardening videos. I've also done some smaller videos on Henry Rono, and Rick Wohlhuter. I'll be doing more athletics videos in the future but I'm currently restricted by my poor technology and a lack of time. I might be doing some small gardening videos in the near future before I eventually get back to bigger athletics documentaries and topics, of which I have many in mind! Thanks again for your kind comments, Mike. Best wishes, Prentis.
Hi George, Do you mean more documentaries like this one? Yes, I'm sorry, new major pieces like this are some months away. I have had a few technology issues and I also have a full time job I have to focus on. This documentary on Ian Stewart took me several hundred hours of dedication to make. I have several documentaries planned and the next one will be on Steve Ovett.
3:35 - I erroneously said he won the indoor AAA 3000m title in 1969. He did in fact finish 3rd behind Ian McCafferty. Every now and again the odd error slips past us!
This was actually a documentary on Lasse Virén, the second of the three great in the V-line of Finnish distance runner who absolutely dominated the 1970's and 1980s. Have you seen the 1980 Moscow 10000m final? It's between Finland and Ethiopia and no one other country plays any part in it whatsoever (so no Britain, or any of its colonies either...)
Thanks for the comment, Theo. Though I'm a little confused as to what you are referring to? What was a documentary on Lasse Viren? Yes, I have seen the 10,000m in 1980. I remember Yifter the Shifter very well.
Anybody else think that employing team tactics in an Olympic distance running event is not sporting? That is what Ethiopia did in that 10,000M final, specifically against Viren. Study the race. Every time Viren tried to pick up the pace, Yifter's teammate got in front and slowed things down again. It surely interfered with Viren's rhythm. (and NO, I am not saying Viren wins absent the team tactics. Viren was past it in 1980) But I am saying that a distance running event should be about the individual winning entirely on his/her own, without assistance. Much more satisfying that way.
@@garysmith3913 Virén was working for his team mate too, namely for Kaarlo Maaninka, who finished second in the race. It was the Finnish strategy to keep the pace high, so that the Ethiopians' kick would be neautralized, while the Ethiopians, as you said, aimed for a slower tempo. On that day, however, Yifter was simply too strong.
would like to see if you could do a doco on the late Dick Quax. I have often wondered what he and Dixon would have done differently if they could go back and rerun the 76 -5000 meter final from 600 meters out.
Thanks for the comment, John. Dick Quax was a great athlete - I'll give it some thought. He definitely got his tactics wrong in the final, as he positioned himself poorly in the last two laps. He could definitely have beaten Viren if he had a better race strategy. Dixon could never have won it though, as he didn't have a decent final kick.
@@PrentisHancock1 Would be interesting to see a Quax profile. Personally I think that Dixon would have won in a repeat of 76 as he was a much faster mile/1500 runner and Dixon says himself the biggest mistake he made was letting Hildebrand get between him and Viren. I remember seeing Hildebrand racing in NZ against Dixon and Quax as well as some others in 77 I think. J
@@PrentisHancock1 Good effort. Rod Dixon had a great kick. He won the AAA 1500m in 1976, having run a 51.9 last lap beating Moorcroft, Clement, Coe and Quax. In the Montreal 5000m, Quax was coming back from a bout of flu and Dixon's legs were tired after running under the Olympic record in his 5000m heat. Stewart had done a lot of weight training leading up to Montreal and his physique had changed, but sadly he had lost his fast finish. The fastest last lap was probably run by Willy Polleunis of Belgium who started the lap in 10th place and finished in 6th place.
Thanks for your comment Tommytempo1!! I did not know those facts at all! I hope you don't mind me using the video clips from your channel; yours is an incredible resource.
@@PrentisHancock1 Thanks Prentis. I don’t mind at all. Yeah, Ian Stewart was a great athlete. I remember David Coleman commentating on the Montreal 5000m and saying that Stewart believed that his best chance of success at the Games was in the 10,000m. Unfortunately he dropped out of the Olympic trial for the 10,000m due to blistered feet. I think Stewart ran another 10,000m at Oslo pre-games in around 28 mins but I will have to check through some old Athletics Weeklys from that time. A famous quote from Ian Stewart is “First is First and Second is nowhere!”
I loved the documentary. You have clearly put a lot of work into it, and it shows. I especially enjoyed the film footage, much of which is new to me. I would love to see you do a documentary on David Bedford. Despite being an American distance runner during the Prefontaine years, I always admired Bedford and his gutsy running despite lacking the speed many of his competitors had.
Thank you for the great comment, David. I'm glad you enjoyed the documentary.
Yes, David Bedford was a very interesting and charismatic character. I'll give it some thought. I have a very long list of videos I want to make and they take me so long to do these days.
@@PrentisHancock1 That was one of the best and most enjoyable track and field videos I have ever watched. I was just 9 years of age when I saw him win the European 5000 meters, a year later I saw him win the 5000 at the 1970 Commonwealth Games. The 1972 Olympic final is probably one of the greatest races ever seen, and it was a pity that Stewart could not not have been closer at the bell, he had probably the best finishing speed over the other 3 runners. I thought I knew most things about Stewart, but I never knew about the bump with Prefontaine, that was a very interesting detail. Also great to hear the greatest sports commentator of all time David Coleman, his insights on races were amazing. I have subscribed to your channel, and anxiously await for your next video.
@@johnmain8267 Thank you for the great comment, John. I'm glad you enjoyed the documentary.
I didn't know about the brush with Prefontaine either until I started digging into the making of this documentary! I saw the comment on Wikipedia and it said there was this collision on the last lap, which I didn't recall. So I had to closely re-watch the race several times before identifying precisely where it occurred. I then updated the Wikipedia page as well to reflect where the incident really happened!
Thank you for subscribing. I've got a lot of historic and modern athletics videos I intend to make and I'm working on a big one now which will be complete in a few weeks, along with some shorter ones before it. Thanks again.
@@PrentisHancock1 Thanks for your reply Prentis. I forgot to mention in that `72 5000 final the other great Finnish runner Juha Vaatainen was running, but, unfortunately he had been injured all the way up to the Olympics, had he been fully fit he would have probably been the favourite. The last 400 meters of the 1971 European Championships in the 10,000 meters against Jurgen Haase being proof of his great finishing kick. So a fully fit Vaatainen on the last lap against Stewart, Viren, Gammoudi, and Prefontaine would have been very interesting. Look forward to your up coming videos
Yes, there is a video of that race on TH-cam and I've seen it. Vaatainen redefined what a 10000m finish should look like. Imagine, running six miles and then running another 400m in 53 seconds! Sound familiar? That's what Mo Farah had to learn to do consistently to win all his titles, 40 years later! Yes, Vaatainen would definitely have been favourite to win if he was fit. That would have completely changed the outcome of this race.
Ian Stewart peaked in 1972. Missed achieving his dream , but what a great runner he was.
I think 1970 was his peak. His 1971 injuries blunted his edge by the time it came to 1972. His last lap/last 600m in the final was a bit weaker than his 1970 CG form. If he had run a last lap of 55.4 in '72, he would have beaten Viren. I think he lost some confidence and that's what cost him.
If Stewart had run that final 400m faster at Munich, Viren would have run faster. No one in the field that day was beating him. @@PrentisHancock1
Maybe, maybe not. It's all just speculation. What really matters is what actually happened. And what actually happened was Stewart ran a 56.7 seconds last lap, whereas Viren ran a 56.5 seconds last lap with a 6 metre head start. I think this is where Stewart's claim of having lost 10 metres in his brush with Prefontaine comes from. It's the difference between him finishing 3rd and otherwise finishing first. But in reality, he gave away more than that by running wide for most of the race.
Ian was an A lister in the 70s for sure, his Olympic bronze was dramatic in every sense.
Thank you for your great comment, London Scottish. I don't know why he is not heralded more than he is. That's why I made this video.
Thank you very much for this documentary. I may be an American, but I followed Stewart as much as I could in the early 70s and actually was pulling for him in '72. Overall, not too many runners from that period can claim the success he achieved.
Thanks for the great comment. For me, his 1969 European Championship performance when he stopped running in lane 2 made him a compelling athlete to watch.
I just can't let this go! I spent months researching before the making of this video and in it I made a bold claim that a more likely reason Stewart lost in the '72 Olympic final was that Viren ran most of the race tight on the bends whereas Stewart ran wide. Well, I've now found documentary evidence that this was a specific race tactic of Lasse Viren, and it is on his Wikipedia page. See section "1972 Olympics", paragraph 3. Quote:
"
One factor in Virén's Olympic victories, especially at the 1972 Olympics 5,000 and 10,000 metres, has received little attention: his careful running of almost all the bends (curves) near the inner edge of the first lane, which spared him tens of metres compared to his chief rivals. More specifically, Steve Prefontaine gave Virén an advantage of more than forty metres over 5,000 m in 1972, while Emiel Puttemans gave about fifty metres over 10,000 m, by running many bends wide on the outer edge of the first lane or sometimes even on the second lane. This metre-saving practice is called "bend (curve) mathematics"[4]
"
[4] Mauno Saari, "Lasse Viren: The Secrets of Running" / Lasse Viren - Juoksemisen salaisuudet, Finland, 1979
It is also a tactic most noticeable in El Guerrouj's running, and most noticably absent in Seb Coe''s running.
Viren was a great tactician.
This is truly a well done, comprehensive video. I hope Ian Stewart is doing well nowadays.
Thank you, Gary. I'm glad you liked it.
good job on putting this together, bringing the past (pre TH-cam) to a present day audience...
Thank you, Jamie.
This and your other on Byers superb!.
Thank you, Daz. I'll be doing more documentaries like these in the future.
That last mile in Munich was just under minutes by Viren and everyone else on 4 minutes !!!!!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!
I've got Viren clocked on the last mile at 4:00.8, and Stewart at 4:02.5. You can see them crossing the mile line (with the blue rostrum just behind on the infield). A lot of people take the last 4 laps as the last mile, forgetting the extra 9.344 metres which is marked by a line clearly on the track. That counts for an extra 1.6 - 1.8 seconds at that speed. Contrast with Joshua Cheptegei's Olympic 5000m win this year, in which he clocked approximately 4:01.5 for the last mile, though it was much faster overall because the first 9 laps were faster.
My old trainer paschol Morris wouid often tell me stories of lan! When we wouid be doing tough sessions over the lickey hills
Hey, that's great, Liam! Care to recall any you can share with us?
Excellent documentary!!! I always wondered about Ian Stewart and tried to find a biography of him. I’ve collected running books for decades. Excellent video!
Thank you for the great comment, Robert. I'm glad you liked it. Please feel free to check out my other athletics documentaries on my channel? I'll be doing more in the future.
First vid I've seen of yours, nice one! I'm going on binge.
Glad you liked it!
Great documentary. Maybe someone reading this could outline how Ian Stewart actually trained (before Munich 1972 and before Montreal 1976): Mileage/sessions per week, longest single run etc.; in the winter season and in the spring/summer close to the Olympic Games.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video, @anton888ist. Check out this article in AW which describes some more of Ian's races and training.
athleticsweekly.com/exclusive/ian-stewarts-life-as-an-athlete-1039939561/
@@PrentisHancock1 Thank you for that information! So in the winter time he ran approximately 130km a week.
Very enjoyable, thank you. Regarding the 10 mile time of 45:13, it also doesn't appear in the runbritain all-time rankings either and Richard Nerurkar's time of 46:02 from 1993 is listed as no.1 performance.
Thanks for the great comment, Ian. The problem was in the 1970s, they didn't have accurate measuring methods for road distances, which weren't standardised until some years later. That's why Stewart's performance is not recognised, even if it was actually accurate. It's a shame because he was probably robbed of a substantial world best time. Some stats sites recognise Stewart's time but a lot don't. I have to admit though, I did not look at Run Britain's stats for him. If it had stood officially as the world record, it would have lasted until 1997 when Paul Koech ran 44:45.
Hi Prentis. A great memory trip for those of us who competed in the late 60's/early 70's so thank you. And hopefully it will be seen and enjoyed by a younger generation who barely know what great runners we had in that era. I'd be interested in your view about what happened to McCafferty at Munich. I recollect he was considered as one of the favourites and indeed had beaten Stewart at the Olympic trial and many other times, but after starting well he just fell away. Psychological ? Injured ? A bad day at the office ? And of course that was pretty much the last we heard of him which was sad as, like Stewart, he was an extraordinary talent (although just lacking that competitive edge of Stewart's).
Hi G.Stewart.J.Taylor, thank you for the great comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I'll be doing more like this in the near future. Hmmm, G. Stewart - any relation to Ian? :-) With regard to what I think happened to McCafferty, it's purely conjecture on my part, but here goes. First he was 27 and only 2 months shy of his 28th birthday, so statistically, he was probably past his athletic peak, though that's not always the case. Second, he was the "rock star" athlete - by this I mean he was perhaps a little less disciplined and more temperamental than Stewart. And, like you suggest, he probably had a bad day - he was not as great a championship performer. But most likely, the biggest "killer" for everyone in that field, including McCafferty and Stewart, was the asymmetric race pace. The first 8 1/2 laps were run in 66s and 67s which was never going to be any good for McCafferty nor Bedford. Stewart was a lot stronger and was just about able to salvage something from it. But if they had run 63s and 64s from the outset, that would have helped all the Brits a lot and they would have run, perhaps a sub 13:10, and bettered the world record in the process. They were easily capable, especially Viren and Stewart. It was down to Bedford to make that kind of pace but he never even tried. In the end, it was Prefontaine that destroyed them when he put in the three 61 laps, just as he said he would.
@@PrentisHancock1 Thanks. Yes, that’s a good assessment of McCafferty. Good luck with future videos - I’ll certainly be looking out for them and appreciate the work involved in putting one together.
@@PrentisHancock1 McCafferty won his 5000m heat at Munich, running a 54.7 last lap. The terrorist attack at Munich just before the 5000m Final, had a big impact on him and he just wanted to get home asap. Ian Stewart commented that McCafferty asked if the race start was being delayed - fearful that he may miss his flight home!
@Tommytempo1 - Oh, wow, I did not know those details! That explains a lot and also confirms how he was so emotionally temperamental. I'd read about Stewart's emotional state after the terrorist attack but I had not considered looking up McCafferty's.
Great documentary! Fifty years on can still vividly recall our whole family absolutely SCREAMING for Stewart in the closing stages of the 5,000m at Munich - he finished faster than Viren and had he not become detached on the penultimate lap would probably have made it - as for McCafferty I heard years later his wife rubbished his display when he arrived back in Scotland and suggested he hung up his spikes which he pretty much did there and then! Strange run by Bedford that day too... What other docs have you done and how do I access your channel? Once again many congrats on a superb watch!
Thank you for the great comments, Mike! You make some interesting points. Stewart blamed himself for his collision with Prefontaine 700m out when it wasn't really something he could have controlled but claimed it cost him 10 metres - the difference between his actual finishing position and him beating Viren. More true, perhaps, and I've mentioned this in other comments, is that he ran wide on the bends, whilst Viren was tight on the bends, so Stewart ran about 30 - 40m further than Viren.
I read about McCafferty destroying some of his memorabilia, much to Stewart's dismay when he subsequently found out. I didn't know McCafferty's wife was involved! It would be quite sad if his wife disrespected him for his performance at the Munich final. Another commenter, Tommytempo1, said that McCafferty was shaken up by the terrorist attack the day before the race and that he wanted to go home. This would have affected his performance.
I've done one other long video on Tom Byers which you might like; feel free to check it out? Just click on my name under the video then click on my videos tab. I do a mixture of athletics and gardening videos. I've also done some smaller videos on Henry Rono, and Rick Wohlhuter. I'll be doing more athletics videos in the future but I'm currently restricted by my poor technology and a lack of time. I might be doing some small gardening videos in the near future before I eventually get back to bigger athletics documentaries and topics, of which I have many in mind!
Thanks again for your kind comments, Mike. Best wishes, Prentis.
when are we going to see an autobiography its long over due
Hi George, Do you mean more documentaries like this one? Yes, I'm sorry, new major pieces like this are some months away. I have had a few technology issues and I also have a full time job I have to focus on. This documentary on Ian Stewart took me several hundred hours of dedication to make. I have several documentaries planned and the next one will be on Steve Ovett.
3:35 - I erroneously said he won the indoor AAA 3000m title in 1969. He did in fact finish 3rd behind Ian McCafferty. Every now and again the odd error slips past us!
This was actually a documentary on Lasse Virén, the second of the three great in the V-line of Finnish distance runner who absolutely dominated the 1970's and 1980s. Have you seen the 1980 Moscow 10000m final? It's between Finland and Ethiopia and no one other country plays any part in it whatsoever (so no Britain, or any of its colonies either...)
Thanks for the comment, Theo. Though I'm a little confused as to what you are referring to? What was a documentary on Lasse Viren? Yes, I have seen the 10,000m in 1980. I remember Yifter the Shifter very well.
Anybody else think that employing team tactics in an Olympic distance running event is not sporting? That is what Ethiopia did in that 10,000M final, specifically
against Viren. Study the race. Every time Viren tried to pick up the pace, Yifter's teammate got in front and slowed things down again. It surely interfered with Viren's rhythm. (and NO, I am not saying Viren wins absent the team tactics. Viren was past it in 1980) But I am saying that a distance running event should be about the individual winning entirely on his/her own, without assistance. Much more satisfying that way.
@@garysmith3913 Virén was working for his team mate too, namely for Kaarlo Maaninka, who finished second in the race. It was the Finnish strategy to keep the pace high, so that the Ethiopians' kick would be neautralized, while the Ethiopians, as you said, aimed for a slower tempo. On that day, however, Yifter was simply too strong.
He ran for Scotland, but was a true Brummie.
would like to see if you could do a doco on the late Dick Quax. I have often wondered what he and Dixon would have done differently if they could go back and rerun the 76 -5000 meter final from 600 meters out.
Thanks for the comment, John. Dick Quax was a great athlete - I'll give it some thought. He definitely got his tactics wrong in the final, as he positioned himself poorly in the last two laps. He could definitely have beaten Viren if he had a better race strategy. Dixon could never have won it though, as he didn't have a decent final kick.
@@PrentisHancock1 Would be interesting to see a Quax profile. Personally I think that Dixon would have won in a repeat of 76 as he was a much faster mile/1500 runner and Dixon says himself the biggest mistake he made was letting Hildebrand get between him and Viren.
I remember seeing Hildebrand racing in NZ against Dixon and Quax as well as some others in 77 I think.
J
@@PrentisHancock1 Good effort. Rod Dixon had a great kick. He won the AAA 1500m in 1976, having run a 51.9 last lap beating Moorcroft, Clement, Coe and Quax. In the Montreal 5000m, Quax was coming back from a bout of flu and Dixon's legs were tired after running under the Olympic record in his 5000m heat. Stewart had done a lot of weight training leading up to Montreal and his physique had changed, but sadly he had lost his fast finish. The fastest last lap was probably run by Willy Polleunis of Belgium who started the lap in 10th place and finished in 6th place.
Thanks for your comment Tommytempo1!! I did not know those facts at all! I hope you don't mind me using the video clips from your channel; yours is an incredible resource.
@@PrentisHancock1 Thanks Prentis. I don’t mind at all. Yeah, Ian Stewart was a great athlete. I remember David Coleman commentating on the Montreal 5000m and saying that Stewart believed that his best chance of success at the Games was in the 10,000m. Unfortunately he dropped out of the Olympic trial for the 10,000m due to blistered feet. I think Stewart ran another 10,000m at Oslo pre-games in around 28 mins but I will have to check through some old Athletics Weeklys from that time. A famous quote from Ian Stewart is “First is First and Second is nowhere!”
Don't spoil Stewart's reputation by reference to Mo Farrah!!
Why? What's wrong with Mo Farah? Just because he never won the World Cross Country title? Thanks for watching!