Photo: Larry Sharkey, Los Angeles Times / CC BY 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Prefontaine is one of those athletes whose myth outgrew his short life, and I find that genuinely moving rather than tragic clickbait. A kid from tiny Coos Bay who rewrote every American record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters, then died at 24 with the 1976 Olympics still ahead of him. What grabs me is his style: he refused to sit and kick, he led from the front and dared the pain to catch him. That honesty is rare. Decades on, runners still invoke his name, and I think it is because he ran like he had nothing to hide.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Steve Prefontaine
- Name (Japanese)
- スティーブ・プリフォンテーン
- Reading
- すてぃーぶ・ぷりふぉんてーん
- Born
- January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aquarius / Rabbit
- Origin
- Coos Bay, Oregon, United States
- Height
- 175 cm
- Occupation
- long-distance runner / athletics competitor
2. Background
- High school
- Marshfield High School
- University
- University of Oregon
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://www.prefontainerun.com/
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%20Prefontaine
Frequently asked questions
When was Steve Prefontaine born?
January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975.
Where is Steve Prefontaine from?
Steve Prefontaine is from Coos Bay, Oregon, United States.
What does Steve Prefontaine do?
Steve Prefontaine works as long-distance runner, athletics competitor.
How tall is Steve Prefontaine?
Steve Prefontaine is 175 cm.
Long-distance runner — see all → · Athletics competitor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-10
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.