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Steve Prefontaine’s last race was 40 years ago today

U.S. Olympic distance running icon Steve Prefontaine ran his final race on May 29, 1975, and won, a 5000m at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

Hours later, he died after driving his orange 1973 MGB convertible into a rock embankment now known as “Pre’s Rock,” a shrine seen by runners visiting Eugene from around the world. (More on the circumstances of Prefontaine’s death in a (Eugene) Register-Guard story from this week here).

Prefontaine finished fourth in his only Olympic race, the Munich 1972 5000m, but he was at the time of his death and is perhaps even more today one of the most inspirational Olympians not to win a medal, for a nation that especially celebrates podium finishers.