![]() It was Pre who informed them of the situation-several members of the Israeli Olympic team had been killed and more were being held hostage by Palestinian terrorists, literally feet from where the American runners were watching the news. He remembers standing in his room watching the television reports while Steve Prefontaine, who spoke German, translated the information into English for the rest of his teammates. Standing on the porch outside his room, he looked across the courtyard of the Athletes’ Village and saw a hooded terrorist brandishing an Uzi. He recounts being awakened by gunshots on the morning of September 5, 1972, the beginning of the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games, when 11 Israeli Olympic athletes and coaches were murdered. In addition to playing matchmaker for America and distance running, spearheading the 1970s running boom and the country’s subsequent love affair with the sport, Shorter had a backstage pass to some of the most tragic and controversial events of his era. It has been 40 years since Frank Shorter stood atop the podium at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, and his career is inextricably intertwined in the cultural significance of events during and since that time. His revolutionary “surge strategy” of racing marathons-an aggressive race tactic that added brief but intense bursts of speed to an already frenetic pace-garnered the United States’ only medals in the Olympic men’s marathon until 2004, when Meb Kflezighi ran 2:11 for the silver.īut Shorter’s legacy extends beyond the impressive times and Olympic hardware. Four years later, he took home the silver medal, besting his previous Olympic time by running 2:10. In 1972, Frank Shorter became the first-and, to this day, remains the only-American to win gold in the Olympic marathon. For a few precious minutes, he offered a glimpse into one of the most storied running careers in history. It was the voice of a man who single-handedly sparked the national running boom of the 1970s, forever changing the face of American distance sport. Of a man who, during the height of his career, averaged 17 miles a day, every day, for a decade, chalking off over 60,000 miles in ten years. It was the voice of a man who had run on the world’s biggest stages with the sport’s biggest names. ![]() ![]() His voice was even, candid, matter-of-fact. His lean, fit frame cut a sharp outline against the brown slat walls as he spoke. ![]()
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