Runner
"Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before.' It's more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative." Steve PrefontaineIt was 1975, and track & field was in the midst of its glory days. Among hundreds of excellent athletes, one man stood out. He won nearly every race he ran and was the star of every meet he went to. When he ran, people would stand up, clap their hands, and chant his name - Steve Prefontaine. In this paper I will argue that during his short life Steve Prefontaine who was referred has a cocky little American, by British broadcasters () during the 1974 Olympics, changed forever the world of Track & Field in many different ways. Steve Prefontaine took on the sports establishment, advocating and defending the rights of the amateur athlete and indeed, of all competitors regardless of the arena of their battles. Today, more than
Steve Prefontaine never let the AAU get to him, he on the other hand always found a way to get back at them. He used his fame has a runner, and his popularity in the sport to defy the AAU. Steve Prefontaine challenged the AAU by organizing a track meet without the sanction of the governing body. Pre's challenge resulted in the AAU's "backing down" and sanctioning the meet rather than attempting to ban Pre and the other potential Olympians he recruited to participate (8). Steve Prefontaine was not afraid to speak his mind against injustice, and for his most famous stance against the American Amateur Union (AAU) for their poor treatment of amateur athletes. The AAU was the governing body, charged with selecting and administering the Olympic team every four years (2). Doing that meant enforcing eligibility rules that, among other things, prevented athletes such as Prefontaine, from accepting contract offers, or certain sum of money if it were to be awarded to due an athletic result. But Prefontaine to the used the media to speak freely about what he and all athletes and to go
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 728
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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