Lasse Viren
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"Dream barriers look very high until someone climbs them. Then they are not barriers any more."
When I think of Lasse Viren, I think of a champion. I think of the ultimate peak racer. I think of a silky smooth stride. I think of pamper-like racing shorts. I think of magic; I think of "the fall" that epitomized the man.
Viren was the consummate Flying Finn. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, Viren entered the 10,000 meters having raced over 40 times prior to the race, including setting a World Record of 8:14.0 over 2 miles. He entered the race with personal bests of 7:43.2 (3000m), 13:16.4 (5000m), and 27:38.35 (10,000m). In other words, he was pretty much a mixture of Dathan Ritzenhein, Ryan Hall, and Bob Kennedy- he displayed the range necessary to win the gold.
When I think of Lasse Viren, I think of fartlek training; of training three-times a day; of training by heart-rate; of a youth with tremendous potential fulfilled. Running Times has a great breakdown of Viren's training prior to '72 here: http://www.runningtimes.com/issues/04sep/viren.htm .
Viren would go on to win the 10,000 meters at the 1972 Munich Olympics in a World Record, 27:38.4, after falling early on in the race, only to get up, surge and catch the pack, and then drop a last 800m in about 1:55 to win going away. Viren would retun later in the week to compete in the 5000 meter race against the now famous "Prefontaine Race", where Pre started a long drive from home a mile out.. only to be over-taken by the Flying Finn, as he won in an Olympic Record time, 13:26.4.
But the 23-year old policeman was not done. He would disappear for a couple of years only to re-emerge in 1976 at the Montreal Olympics. There he would win the 10,000 meters once again, easily winning the race in 27:40.38 over Carlos Lopes of Portugal. However, in perhaps his most amazing feat (other than "the fall"), Viren entered the 5000m and lined up against the most fearsome set of kickers of his time: Quax and Dixon of New Zealand. I want to stop writing so you can take in the picture. Here is Viren, coming off a 10,000m victory and the 5000m heats, fatigued, tired, but understanding that he must run the legs off the fresher athletes, that he must drive from way out in order to win. And what does he do? Viren smoothly accelerates to a disgusting 2:29 final kilometer to hold off the kicks of Quax, Dixon, and Hildenbrand (FRG) in a most amazing drive to the finish. The finish line was a complete disaster with the world class athletes strained and pushed to the limit. Viren was a master-strategist, as he won in another Olympic Record time of 13:24.76.
But he was not done, again. Viren wanted to emulate history's greatest champion of all, and perhaps history's greatest athletic feat... the feat of the legendary Emil Zatopek, who won the 5000, 10,000m and Marathon events at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games.
But, alas, Viren would finish 5th in the Marathon in 2:13:10 against the world's best (including American Frank Shorter's 2:10:45 Silver Medal).
Lasse Viren would retire soon after the Moscow Olympics in 1980, where he tried to produce his peaking prowess once more over 10,000m, but this time he faded to 5th in a respectable 27:50.5. But by then, he had cemented his legendary status as a double-double winner of Gold Medals, just completely dominating the 5000 and 10,000m at the 1972 & 1976 Olympic Games. Mirus Yifter, the winner of the 1980 Olympic 10,000m race was able to duplicate Viren's 5000 & 10,000 victories in one Olympic Game, but he could not repeat the feat four years later, leaving Viren as the ultimate Olympic Distance Champion, in my mind.
Forget the Reindeer milk, Viren has sisu running through his veins.
1 Comments:
Amen Brotha! As Coach Easton says in "Running Brave":
See what happens when you mix a little bit a talent with a lot of hard work.
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