Afrikaans
Akan
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Belarusian
Bemba
Bengali
Bihari
Bosnian
Breton
Bulgarian
Cambodian
Catalan
Cebuano
Cherokee
Chichewa
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Corsican
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Esperanto
Estonian
Ewe
Faroese
Filipino
Finnish
French
Frisian
Ga
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Guarani
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hausa
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hindi
Hmong
Hungarian
Icelandic
Igbo
Indonesian
Interlingua
Irish
Japanese
Javanese
Kannada
Kazakh
Kinyarwanda
Kirundi
Kongo
Korean
Krio (Sierra Leone)
Kurdish
Kurdish (Soranรฎ)
Kyrgyz
Laothian
Latin
Latvian
Lingala
Lithuanian
Lozi
Luganda
Luo
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Malayalam
Maltese
Maori
Marathi
Mauritian Creole
Moldavian
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Montenegrin
Nepali
Nigerian Pidgin
Northern Sotho
Norwegian
Norwegian (Nynorsk)
Occitan
Oriya
Oromo
Pashto
Persian
Polish
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Punjabi
Quechua
Romanian
Romansh
Runyakitara
Russian
Samoan
Scots Gaelic
Serbian
Serbo-Croatian
Sesotho
Setswana
Seychellois Creole
Shona
Sindhi
Sinhalese
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Spanish (Latin American)
Sundanese
Swahili
Swedish
Tajik
Tamil
Tatar
Telugu
Thai
Tigrinya
Tonga
Tshiluba
Tumbuka
Turkish
Turkmen
Twi
Uighur
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Wolof
Xhosa
Yiddish
Yoruba
Zulu
**
Yeah, I remember running back here in..
...late 1960s.
I could do a full loop
6 miles around Central Park
and...I might see..
...4, 5 other runners back then.
That was it.
In the course of a... an hour run.
And..
I would say I -- I knew every one of them back then.
And if I didn't know them by name
I -- I certainly recognized them.
Said hello to them.
There weren't many of us and, uh..
We were considered pretty odd, yeah.
Kind of, kind of weirdos
I would say, at that time.
Sure changed now.
[instrumental music]
-Runners used to be an eccentric minority.
You know, no -- nobody really took us seriously.
- I used to go out at night because
I was embarrassed
ab -- about being seen in public, running.
[speaking in foreign language]
[music continues]
[dog barking]
-I think we were looked as odd balls.
We were strangers to, to people.
Seeing people running down the block
in their underwear, I guess, you know
and white shorts.
- I once got stopped by the police
while I was out running without a shirt in a park
because they thought I was
a, a -- a pervert of some kind that..
- What's so attractive about running?
-It's so earthy, you know.
[laughing]
That's a little exaggerated.
But, uh, it's -- it's something you -- you do all on your own.
You -- you create your run.
Nobody helps you and nobody hinders you.
Uh, and you're just out there in the environment
wherever you may be.
And -- and it's just you, you and the world.
[instrumental music]
- When you run, you get this pattern
of beautiful forms and colors
the leaves in the forest and the blue sky
and you're breathing the air
and you just, you feel alive on this Earth.
And to me, it was always a miracle.
* Today
* Was a pretty day
* No disappointments
* No expectations on your whereabouts *
* And oh *
- In the spring when you, when it's, when you're in the park
and you can smell the grass growing
and, an -- and then the buzz and then
in the summer, I mean, there's nothing
like, uh, running and sweating
and then having a beer after it, you know.
[music continues]
[speaking in foreign language]
[instrumental music]
- Running was a way of self-expression.
It was very simple.
You'd almost, you need no equipment.
We ran, not naked, but close to it.
And so, it was our equivalent of going to Woodstock
and listening to music and doing something quite natural.
Um, so -- some people
express themselves through music
and some people express themselves through drugs.
I expressed myself through running!
[instrumental music]
- One Sunday, a friend of mine said
"You know, did you ever run a marathon?"
I had never run more than a mile or two miles.
And, uh, he said, uh
"Let's go down to Macombs Dam Park in the Bronx.
"And they have a marathon called
the Cherry Tree Marathon and we'll run it."
- In the mid 1960s, anyone who went running outside
the stadium was frowned upon.
Unless they were a well known athlete.
A city as big as New York could only bring together
a small group of running freaks, who met up every Sunday
to run a marathon through the streets of the Bronx.
The city's roughest area.
- I started around Yankee Stadium, around and around
and I said, "Oh, this is easy.
"This is a jog, this is easy.
You know, anybody can do this."
So, I kept going around and it was cold.
I was freezing cold and, uh, so I'm running around and around
for -- for 5 miles, 10 miles, I got up
about 15 miles and boom!
I just couldn't take another step.
And I stopped in front of a church u -- up in the Bronx
and all the people were coming out of the church
and, uh, one fellow saw me, I swear this is true, he saw me
I was, I was so, I was just frozen up and I was blue
because it was, you know, in the middle of, uh
in the middle of the winter time.
He took off his coat, then he took off his shirt
and he gave me, he wrapped his shirt around me
and he said, "You can do it, keep going! Keep going!"
So I took and I kept going.
Well, I -- I went another mile.
I just, oh, well, I couldn't walk for a week!
-It's a lot of fun to run.
But if you're going to hasten your death
that's no fun.
Running is the worst thing in the world you can do
because you're taking the chance
to shorten your life by 20 to 40 years.
[panting]
- So in those days, you were seen as
some kind of masochistic weirdo if you went road running.
The situation was even worse for women.
They were not even allowed to take part
in distance races of over 800 meters.
And things had been that way for a long time.
[instrumental music]
- That 1928 women's 800 meters was amazing
from many points of view.
One was that the women, in reality, ran so well.
The other aspect of it is that it was misreported
probably with a de -- degree of deliberate manipulation
by the Olympic Association that they all collapsed.
-And it told...at the time
uh, there were 11 women in the race.
5 didn't finish
5 collapsed at the finish.
- What actually happened was that 1 woman
as she crossed the finish line
leant forward and fell over.
Just as runners very often do
at the -- at the finish of races.
The film footage focuses on that
and makes it look as if there is devastation.
That was taken as the truth.
Doctors all around the world said
"Women will harm themselves.
"They shouldn't be doing this.
"They -- they carry too much fat.
They're -- they're too emotional."
And the 800 meters
was cut from the Olympic Games
until 1960.
So from 1928 to 1960, women had nothing
in the Olympic Games longer for a while than the 100 meters.
* When my baby goes out
* I don't chase her about
* My baby comes home to me.. *
- It was a whole mindset
of the '50s and '60s
that I grew up and they said
"Women weren't capable of doing it.
"They weren't capable of going to medical school.
They couldn't have a credit card in their own name."
- People whispered about
you know, "If you, if you ran you're gonna get big legs.
"And you're gonna grow hair on your chest.
"You're gonna turn into a man.
"You're gonna turn into... maybe something else.
You're never gonna get married, never have children."
-I was a nurse.
And -- and the tradition was
uh, the saying was "If -- if you ran too much
your uterus would fall out!"
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
- I didn't understand that at all, um
because I felt fabulous whenever I was running.
So I refused to believe these myths.
And I decided to play sports, be feminine
and be anything I wanted to be.
[instrumental music]
- Back then, Kathrine Switzer had no idea
running would play such a big part in her life.
She was just a typical American teenager
when her father first suggested to her
that running would help her get into shape
and boost her chances of getting on to
the school's field hockey team.
-He said, "All you have to do is
"go and run a mile a day and you'd be
the best player on that team."
And I said, "What, a mile a day, dad?
You know, it's like climbing up Kilimanjaro?"
I began running this mile every single day
and the most amazing thing happened.
Every day I ran
I felt so empowered.
I felt like, I -- fearless.
Like I could do anything.
I could conquer the world.
[music continues]
- When Switzer went to college
a few years later in 1965
she soon realized that there was no provision
for women who wanted to run.
Nonetheless, she hunted down the track coach
and asked to join the men's team.
- It was really funny to see his face
because he kind of went like this
and he said, "Uh, well, um
"I've been the coach here for 30 years
"and we've never had a girl before.
"But I have to tell you it is
"against NCAA rules
to let you run on the men's team."
- The NCAA was the federation that ruled
over college athletics in the USA with an iron fist.
But Switzer didn't care about that.
Through sheer persistence, she managed to get accepted
onto the college track team
but they asked her to train alone
with an elderly coach, Arnie Briggs.
- Arnie Briggs, he was a mailman.
And he delivered the mail in Syracuse, New York
and then he worked out every afternoon.
And he did this for one day in his life
that was extremely special to him.
And that was a day in April that he ran the Boston Marathon.
And he had run the Boston Marathon 15 times.
And he would tell me a story.
Everyday it would be another
story about the Boston Marathon.
[instrumental music]
- The 53rd annual Boston Marathon
will take place tomorrow.
Over 200 people will run the 26.2 miles
of this unique marathon.
- Kathrine Switzer had heard so much about the Boston Marathon
that she ended up asking her coach if she could run it.
Briggs flatly refused.
- And I said, "Arnie, look
"regardless of what you believe or you don't believe
"I'm not running with you any more
"until you believe that a woman
some woman, can run the marathon distance."
And he says, like this, he says
"If any woman can do it, I believe you can do it.
"But you would have to prove it to me.
"In fact, if you showed me in practice
I'd be the first person to take you to Boston."
[instrumental music]
- So Kathrine started training daily.
Gradually increasing her training time
and distance until she could run
the full 26.4 miles
of a marathon without a break.
One year earlier, another girl
living thousands of kilometers away
had exactly the same idea.
- And I wrote for my application blank
and I got a letter back from Will Cloney
who was the race director and it said
"Women are not physiologically
"able to run 26 miles
"and furthermore, under the rules
"of the Amateur Athletic Union
"they're not allowed to run
more than a mile and a half competitively."
But I convinced my mother to drive me to the start.
At first, she thought I was nuts
so I said, "Mom, it's not just for me
"it's for all women, don't you see?
"You know, this is a little chink in the armor.
This is an opportunity to change things."
- Running without an official race number
Bobbi Gibb chose to blend in discreetly
with the pack
and she kept a low profile.
The following year in 1967
the situation was very different for Kathrine Switzer.
-You know, I signed my name KV Switzer.
That's something I started doing
when I was in high school
and because my name was misspelled
and on my birth certificate and when the entry went in
with Arnie's and -- and other team members
um, they thought it was from a guy.
[instrumental music]
When we got to Boston, it was snowing
and sleeting all the way into Boston the night before.
And the morning of the race it was really coming down.
So, as we all moved to the start line together
you know, there I was in a baggy grey sweat suit
looking like hundreds of other people.
[gunshot]
- Wearing her official race bib
Kathrine Switzer ran between Arnie
her coach and her boyfriend Tom.
- Then we got to about the 2 mile mark
in the race and a ve -- very strange thing happened.
The press truck came by us.
- There happened to be 3 runners running alongside.
1, 111.
And the middle of the 3 runners
the middle one took the hood off..
...off her head, off the head
and we.. And I said, it was a woman!
- On this bus were the two race directors.
A guy by the name of Will Cloney
and a guy by the name of Jock Semple.
-Now, one of the writers said
"Jock, there's a woman in your race!"
Jock looked.. "Stop the bus, stop the bus!"
- I heard behind me shoes, leather shoes
sounded, you know, scraping and they were going fast.
And all of a sudden I turned, like you'd turn
like, when you hear a dog chasing you.
At the last minute
and Jock Semple grabbed me like this.
[instrumental music]
He grabbed me by the shirt
and threw me back and he screamed
"Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers!"
and went to try to pull off my bib number.
And I pulled back like that.
All of a sudden, Tom, he threw a shoulder block
into Jock Semple
and I thought...that I saw
Jock go through the air.
For a split second I thought
"Should I, should I step off the course?"
And the journalists were asking these very aggressive questions
like "What are you trying to prove?"
You know, "Are -- are you a suffragette?
Are you a crusader?"
Oh, and, you know, I'm thinking
"I -- I just wanna run here.
What's -- what is this all about?"
- Despite everything, Kathrine Switzer managed
to complete the 26.4 miles
and finish the race.
But a few days later, she received a letter from
the organizers of the Boston Marathon
telling her that she had been disqualified
and banned for life from the AAU.
The American Athletics Federation.
- That was my first big brush
with discrimination.
And it opened my eyes a lot.
And I thought, you know
you've always been taught to be responsible
to finish what you start.
And it's gonna be my responsibility now
to try to give other women this opportunity.
To tell them how wonderful this running can be.
And I didn't know how I was going to do it
but when I crossed the finish line
I knew that that was a life plan.
[instrumental music]
[indistinct shouting]
-You can be somebody's wife, you can be somebody's mother
you can be somebody's lover.
You can be somebody's anything but you can't be somebody!
* Yesterday
* Any way you made it was just fine *
- Women, black people, Puerto Ricans
Mexicans and all the minorities
all of us must stand up together
and say, "No more."
* Didn't you know
* You can't make it
* Without ever even trying
* And something's on your mind isn't it? *
* Let these times
* Show you that you're breaking up the lines *
* Leaving all your dreams too far.. **
-We're gonna talk now about the exquisite, exquisite agony
of the marathon runner.
Uh, Kathy Switzer is here.
Kathy was just -- just to set the stage
she was the first woman ever to run in the Boston marathon.
She did it illegally at the start.
- In the years following her participation
in the Boston Marathon, Switzer became
the toast of the US media.
Her story went around the world
eventually reaching Switzerland
and the ears of a certain Noel Tamini.
[speaking in foreign language]
- In Switzerland, as elsewhere, women were banned
from taking part in road races
by the athletics federation.
But Tamini managed to persuade Kathrine Switzer
to come and take part in the Morat-Fribourg race.
A European version of the Boston Marathon.
Only even more inflexible.
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[men shouting]
[gunshot]
- I knew the situation in Switzerland
for women wasn't terrific
because I mean, I believe women couldn't even vote..
...in Switzerland at the time.
It was something that really appalled me.
[instrumental music]
- This time, Kathrine completed the race unhindered
but wearing a fake race number.
So once again running incognito.
From Switzerland, she dashed off
a postcard to a girl friend.
"Dear Suzy, here in Europe
"everything's going wonderfully.
"Though, I'm sorry to say that here too
I'm the only woman runner."
[music continues]
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[crowd cheering]
[speaking in foreign language]
- "Spiridon" is the name Noel Tamini chose
for the international running magazine
he started in Switzerland around the same time.
The magazine was produced on a shoestring
and from the very beginning campaigned
for the rights of all runners
and foremost the rights of women runners.
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
As well as campaigning, "Spiridon" conveyed
a whole new philosophy of running.
An ascetic, mystical
"Back to nature" ethos of sports.
[music continues]
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
- Noel had a, had a particular
in a way genius.
His pictures were terrific, you know
I, uh, I -- I haven't seen
those kinds of pictures since then, you know.
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[helicopter whirring]
- Meanwhile, in New York
the lives of the Bronx marathon freaks changed when one day
a funny little guy
no one had even seen before showed up.
He went by the name of Fred Lebow.
And he wasn't much of a runner.
[instrumental music]
- He was totally, uh, new to us.
He wasn't the fastest guy.
He -- he had a sort of a shuffle.
- Everybody who ran was serious.
Nobody jogged and, uh
people were suspicious of him at first.
They'd say, "Who is he? Who's this person?
"We -- we don't even know who he is.
"He's not one of the
the die-hard runners, you know."
-I -- I don't know, he was a strange sort of guy.
Uh, I -- I think he liked my wife.
Uh, I know he liked my wife!
He'd run after every girl in town!
- Fred came from a different background.
He came from
the fashion industry
in New York City.
Which is very fancy
and slick and, uh, business like.
And he had come to New York from, uh, Romania
and then he spent time in Dublin, Ireland
and then he came here.
Uh, and he was very successful.
-Fred at heart was a promoter.
- He said, "Listen, the sport is not going to be popular.
If we stay here in the Bronx."
-I don't know why, but he wanted to make it grow.
- "I'm going to s -- suggest that we go down to Manhattan
and we have it in Central Park."
Well, people said, "Oh, that's ridiculous!
"You know, Central Park!
"You know, wait, how can you run in Central Park?
Nobody ever ran in Central Park."
-We were happy running just, uh
every Sunday, meeting with people
and running races and, uh
making it bigger, huh!
That didn't, uh, that wasn't my concern.
[instrumental music]
- Lebow nagged them until he succeeded in getting
the marathon moved from the Bronx to Central Park
in the heart of Manhattan.
A massive change, but perhaps less so than it seemed.
- It was basically a nothing race.
Not many runners, not very well organized
in, in terms of water and other things.
Uh..
...old fashioned running.
- I mean, it was just on the schedule and
I had worked the night before and we had 3 children
and, um, I think my wife just wanted to get out of the house.
But, uh, yeah, it was a very lucky, lucky day for me.
You know, no matter what happens
I won the 1st New York City Marathon.
- For several years, the New York Marathon was held
in Central Park, in these very amateurish conditions.
Then came 1972.
- Frank Shorter appears to be running to victory
winning an unexpected gold medal for the USA.
It's incredible.
He seems to be just jogging in the streets.
-That was, uh, definitely a, a game changer
for, for marathon running in this country
or long distance running in general.
- I think Shorter really appealed to the American public
because he made it look so beautiful.
I won't say easy, but, uh, but he made it look
he made it look like poetry and this was a sport
that, until then, its image had been suffering
grimacing, exhaustion, collapse
something that was dangerous.
That really ignited both the running movement as a whole
but most specifically, the marathon.
Suddenly Americans wanted to run the marathon.
- For the bicentennial of the United States of America
the annual marathon race organized by the New York
Road Runners Club with its usual setting in Central Park
and take to the streets of the city's 5 boroughs.
-We all loved Boston so much because it was in the streets.
And Fred said "We could do that in New York"
and everybody thought it would be impossible.
-"Say what? Say when, how?"
Well, and -- and I think there was a tremendous amount
of kind of skepticism that you could actually run a race
through 5 boroughs and have runners go from start to finish
without some kind of catastrophic event happening.
[intense music]
- At that time the city was in decline because financially
in crime, and it wasn't, wasn't a good time for the city.
- New York City, for months, it teeters
on the brink of bankruptcy.
-We are facing up to the financial crisis
confronting this city and the state.
-That was the payroll, we don't get the -- the check for the day
we don't get nothing.
Don't ask me about the people with -- with children and
the thing is.. I -- I don't even know what..
- People had, were in despair, you know.
Their -- their moral was low
and, uh, he said, "Oh, listen!
"We'll run through the streets. We'll lift the whole world up.
We'll lift up New York City."
But Fred Lebow knew that merely running through the streets
of New York wouldn't be enough to put his marathon on the map.
Despite the limited means at his disposals
he somehow managed to get the 2 stars of US running
the Olympic gold medalist, Frank Shorter
and the US record holder Bill Rodgers
to take part and provide the necessary glitter.
-He knew that..
...he needed to get Frank Shorter.
Frank Shorter was the 1 runner that everybody knew
he was beyond the sport.
-I've always maintained one of the reasons I told Fred Lebow
that I would come run in the race was
I had to see for myself that they could
close down streets in 5 boroughs
in New York City...uh, on a Sunday.
[instrumental music]
[crowd cheering]
- It was like a dream unfolding to see
runners come off the bridge and go through Brooklyn.
- The Hasidic Jew population came out of the synagogues
standing on the sidewalk, and they were just..
Y -- you know..
And that's when I realized it was going to work.
I did.
[music continues]
- Everybody saw this.
When it was just a marathon
in Central Park not too many people watched and they could
just say to themselves "Crazy runners taking up the park!"
Now it was out on the streets and you see it.
It's just so inspiring to see a marathon
to see that first runner coming in, looking so small
and then he passes you and you realize
how fast he's running.
It's a tremendous statement about human spirit.
And it makes you want to do it too. Lebow knew this.
-385 yards. No one was mugged.
No one was hit by a taxi.
And city of New York and Bill Rodgers
the marathon was a resounding success.
Dick Schaap, NBC NEWS, in Central Park.
- And it lifted the city, it united the city
you know, because each borough, you know
and it gave people hope.
And, uh, before you know it..
...everything started to get better, you know and financially
it wasn't the only reason, but it was part of it.
- I did have that perspective of seeing this detached
in a way that I'm..
...I'm watching... a -- a miracle happen.
[music continues]
-Oh, yeah.
The Central Park, uh, in many ways is a legend
you know, to the, to the sport.
This park here around the reservoir
was not used for running before that, hardly at all.
In the 1970s there was crime, it was, it was dangerous
you wouldn't walk in the park, you wouldn't walk in here.
- I'm not a track coach but I just figured out
how she can break, Kathrine can break 3 hours.
-How?
-You run alone in Central Park at night!
[laughing]
-And then as the runners came, the, the crime
and all, all the other problems disappeared.
And then the politicians and people said
"Well, let's, let's re -- rejuvenate the park.
Let's put some money into it. Let -- let's make it better."
[instrumental music]
- On most days when you ran, it was so crowded.
Sometimes you could hardly move.
And on the reservoir or on the street
you would routinely pass
Jackie Onassis, Robert Redford
Dustin Hoffman, uh, famous people running
in the same grubby shorts and T-shirt.
- Why are 10-15, 20 million Americans out
jogging and running these days?
-Well, I think they're getting smart finally.
-Well, it used to be, people used to run
only for competition, or because they had to, in gym classes
or whatever, and now people are understanding that
not only is running for fitness, running can be fun.
-Um...I just want to get the body back into shape.
- How does it feel? -It just feels terrific.
It doesn't feel so good when I am going around..
...but it feels great when I'm finished.
-Take a person like me..
When I was 35 years old
I weighed 15 or 16 stones.
I smoked 40 or 50 cigarettes a day.
I drank too much.
I started running and it was as if I were operating
a time machine in reverse, suddenly I felt better
than I had felt probably in 20 years
and now, at the age of 46 I'm sure I feel as good as
I felt when I was 15 or 16 years old.
[speaking in foreign language]
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
- Some are grandparents, some are grandchildren.
Some are fast, some are not so fast.
Nevertheless they all share 1 goal
to get to the finish line in Central Park
and to make that journey as painless
and enjoyable as possible.
- Fred was among the 1st, I have to say
if not the 1st, who began to see
uh, the benefit of doing this
uh, over and above accomplishment.
What he did, is he set the stage for that and he created
an atmosphere that was very welcoming to people
who just wanted to participate.
Where the great benefit of sports is to be with others.
And that's the beauty of the marathon, you start together
you start with the best, you know
you race with them and you finish.
- He had a wonderful analogy for what was appealing
about the marathon.
And that was, "We all wanna be on the stage.
"Not everyone can be a champion, an Olympic athlete
"a performer on a Broadway stage, but for that 1 day
"you're on your own stage, 26.2 miles.
And you're doing it, by the power of your own 2 feet."
[instrumental music]
- Inspired by the New York City Marathon
people everywhere took up running.
In Europe, the magazine "Spiridon" grew into a massive
grassroots movement that swept the continent.
Noel Tamini and his friends had grasped that the desire
to run free was catching.
Their example and their impassioned style spawned
new races here, there and everywhere.
The orange "Spiridon" running shirts started appearing
all over with the famous slogan "Run With Us."
[speaking in foreign language]
- Because despite appearances, people were still
by no means totally free to run.
And the athletics federations continued to impose
their outdated rules on road races and runners.
But not for much longer.
Revolt was in the air.
In Europe, it was epitomized by the Marvejols-Mende road race
a half-marathon that had originated in the heart
of the French countryside, a wildcat event
maintained despite being banned
by the National Athletics Federation.
[instrumental music]
[speaking in foreign language]
- As long as only a handful of eccentrics wanted to run
road races, the federations and the athletics establishment
had more or less turned a blind eye to them.
But with the movement growing, much more was at stake.
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
- Road runners were not the only ones butting heads
with the governing bodies.
Track runners also had to remain amateurs
if they wanted to take part in the Olympic games.
In the USA, where they were not allowed to earn a single cent
from their sport, on pain of being disqualified for life
the situation was dire for leading athletes.
But they gritted their teeth and submitted to
the federations' bullying.
All that changed when Steve Prefontaine
burst on to the scene.
-Well, I think there's gonna have to be a reworking
of the whole amateur athlete as a whole.
Um, there's a lot of things that I think that should be changed.
I don't think that we have time to go in -- in them all
because I could talk probably for a couple of hours on 'em.
- Pre, uh, was the
was the champion of runners' rights.
He wanted equality for runners.
Every other athlete in the world got paid
for doing their sport, runners did not.
And he thought that that was this huge injustice.
[instrumental music]
- But Prefontaine was not just a powerful spokesperson
he was first and foremost
an exceptionally talented runner.
At just 21, he already had a 2 year unbeaten run
and held all the US track records
from 2000 to 10,000 meters.
[instrumental music]
- Steve Prefontaine was maybe
the most exciting athlete I've ever seen.
He had a ferocity that was just in his personality
and in his eyes, and in his, in his actions
and in his attitude that I've never seen anywhere.
-Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods
there is something that whatever they have, Pre had it.
- A performer, he was a performer.
There was no question.. no doubt.
People were louder for him.
More people connected with him than with anyone who would come
before then and as it turns out, anyone who's come since.
- The combination of his track success
his charisma and his outspokenness made Prefontaine
the people's champion.
Crowds went wild for him
especially on his home track
in Eugene, Oregon, where his appearances sparked hysteria.
[gunshot]
- Prefontaine in a surprise move there.
He said he didn't enter this race to be second!
[audience chanting]
[instrumental music]
- Season after season, ever bigger crowds flocked
to see Prefontaine win, generating colossal revenues..
...but not for Pre himself.
To remain an amateur, he had to scrape by and live
in a trailer while others cashed in on his performances.
-I'd like to possibly go to the '76 Games
if financially possible, um
but right now, I'm just kinda floating along and..
- The workers were getting peanuts
and the director was, uh
making, uh, reasonable money
for himself and for the federation..
...and it didn't feel good.
It didn't feel good at all, it felt like slavery.
-Running doesn't pay your bills.
Uh, you've, you have gotta make a -- a lot of sacrifices
uh, to be an amateur sport in this country
considering it's so professionally oriented.
-He was a consummate, uh, spokesperson
for the sport of running, not just Prefontaine
and who am I, but he was, he reached out and the AAU battle
started right away, because here's a guy who was not
gonna follow the old archaic
out-of-touch rules of the old governing body.
- In his campaign for a better deal for runners
Prefontaine soon found support in the shape of a small running
shoe company that had just started up
in his home state of Oregon.
As soon as he was out of college, they recruited him
to help with their PR operations.
- The image of Prefontaine as a rebel, as running free
with his long shaggy hair and his big moustache
and kind of fighting the establishment.
I mean, that was, that was there, that was..
...true, I think to an extent.
And then Nike..
...as a small company, uh, embraced this.
- The company was small, there may have been
less than 15 people.
I don't know, I don't remember, very small.
-The first logo that we came out with was a script logo
and you know, a script, lower case script logo
and the, and the beginning of the N had a
had a little lead into it
which looked like another leg and it looked like
an M as much as it did an N
and so a lot of people misread it
and asked that very question, "Who is Mike?"
-It was youthful.
It was, uh, kind of carefree
because you didn't worry about too much.
Everybody was involved with running
in 1 way or another.
We were trying to do anything we could to help the sport get
better and I mean, put on a road race, um
battle the governing bodies
support Pre, whatever it was
the collectiveness of that added value
big time to the running boom.
- So Prefontaine was able to count on Nike's help when
in 1975, he decided to take matters into his own hands
and organized the very first competitive athletics circuit
set up by athletes for athletes.
Overt challenge to the Amateur Athletic Union
which had always forbidden athletes
from competing in unofficial events.
And to make sure it was a success
Pre also invited Finland's leading runners
to come to the USA.
-The athletes have enough hassles without being
uh, uh, told what to do, when and where and
and throwing in new rules now and then to, to, uh
benefit themselves instead of the athletes.
- You know, at the end of the day the most important
thing you get out of all this international competition
is the friendships.
These are our friends, this is, here's where we are
this is really cool, come see this
we wanna share this with you.
That was the atmosphere, um, for these competitions.
- Pre's independent circuit came to a triumphant end
on May 29, 1975 in Eugene.
Pre won the 5000 meters ahead of his friend
Olympic medal-winning marathon runner Frank Shorter
and was already planning the next step
in this struggle for athletes independence.
- He was willing to, uh, go to the mat with those people
and did, and, uh, he stood up to them.
He was a rebel.
But he was always fighting for the
the cause of the athletes.
And putting himself at risk sometimes.
-Until today, Steve Prefontaine was ahead
of everyone in this country as a long-distance runner.
He held the American records in the 3000 meter, the 2 mile
the 3 mile, the 5000 meter, the 6 mile
and the 10,000 meter races.
Early today, his sports car jumped a curb
on an Oregon highway and flipped over.
He was alone, and he was killed. He was 24.
-Never a shock...as it is possible for me to ever again
anything like that now.
His incredible... life just gone.
-He was our glory and we were his.
And it's up to us now to hold in mind clearly..
...to remember him as he touched us
and infuriated us and challenged us.
Time holds him..
...green and dying..
...though he sang in his chains like the sea.
-I was lost in my own thoughts.
I was lost in my own thoughts.
Um..
I don't know.
-At the end of it, these various people, uh, you know
talked about him and then, um
you know, now we'll have a moment of silence and picture
him running his last lap of what would have been a world record.
And..
Yeah, you...uh, it
it was a pretty, pretty emotional day.
[audience applauds]
- As we all know, part of what
caused that revolution
in road running, was Prefontaine.
His standing up to the AAU
was the first part of it
but the second part was
his death really caused people
to assess what was important
and to them it was freedom
and being able to make a living doing what you love to do.
You know, having somebody who was the most famous person
in American track and field..
...take a stand, made it easier
in the years to come for others to do the same.
-Bill Rodgers, the best marathon runner in the country
proved that again today by wining the Boston Marathon
for the third time, even broke his own record
today he ran 2 hours, 9 minutes and 27 seconds
- We all wanted to be professionals.
We wanted to be respected like other athletes
or anyone in America who had a job
gets paid for it, you know.
Or anywhere in the world, if you're good at it, you're paid
so why were we so different?
And we didn't feel we were.
-The hundreds of thousands of people who will watch
the New York marathon run a week from Sunday
will watch a race exploding
in controversy, more from Reggie Harris.
- Next weekend more than 16,000 runners will participate
in the New York City Marathon.
Technically all of them are amateur athletes
and amateur runs for competition not for money.
But the New York Times reports coaches of some top marathoners
say under the table prize money is being offered
to get big name runners to show up.
That would violate rules
of the International Amateur Athletic Federation
or IAAF which sanctions the New York City Marathon
and if prize money is being paid
it would jeopardize the amateur status of many athletes
who hope to compete in the 1984 Olympics.
The New York Road Runners Club Fred Lebow
declined to confirm or deny
the Times' allegations, but he says it's time
for marathoners to win big prize money.
-I, I believe a -- a runner like Bill Rodgers
who, uh, uh, who trains twice a day
uh, every single day of the year
is as much an athlete as a Reggie Jackson.
-Uh, Fred Lebow was paying runners from the start
at the New York City Marathon.
Uh, not openly but they were getting paid.
-There's been a lot of dispute about under the
under-the-table payments for these so called world class.
Do they get paid?
-Well, I'm not, we're not going to ignore this situation
uh, but this has been going on for a long time
in track and field, whether runners get paid or not.
It's a subject that's under very deep discussion right now
within the Athletic Congress
and the world bodies on this subject.
- They could lose their amateur sta -- standing, that's right?
-That's right and we wouldn't do anything
that would jeopardize their eligibility
to compete internationally.
-I understand that.
- I hope you're not paying for anyone.
That's what the -- the maj.. Hope you're not.
Oh, he said, "No, no, I would never do that.
I never pay for any.."
Meanwhile, he was paying everybody.
And they.. They said, "I hope you're not giving away
all the money. This is supposed to be.."
"Oh, not at all, no, I would never do that."
Meanwhile, all these people started appearing
from all around the world.
Everywhere, Australia, Japan, Europe, France
oh, my God, they -- they all were coming.
- In the late 1970s, the practice of making
under-the-table payments to top athletes
became commonplace in the road-race community
whose members were the first to raise their voices
against the federation's hypocritical attitude.
The farsighted Fred Lebow who had never been afraid
to be provocative
decided it was time to clear the air.
He wrote a book that openly referred to those payments.
- "The total prize money we paid over the years
"to the highest finishers in New York
reached a million dollars."
- New York mayor, Edward Koch
gave the road runners a new deal.
For every dollar the club now spends
on appearance fees and prize money
it must also give a dollar to the city.
In effect, the publication of Lebow's book
may have cost the road runners more than $300,000 this year.
-Uh, in retrospect, I
if I knew the ruckus it would cause
I would have not published the book in the first place.
It turned out as the most expensive book ever published.
- We paid millions of dollars to the city
for the police protection
um, for 26 miles.
But that -- that's been going on for some years
although those fees have been going up.
- Nowadays, running has become a race
just as much for money as for glory.
In Chicago today, the winners of the marathon
got $45,000 each!
-Early '80s, they were saying..
"We don't care about your rules, we're gonna take
we're gonna give money and take money."
And, uh, and they, th -- they threw down the challenge
and the, the amateur officials couldn't answer it.
And before, before long
the -- the entire sport was open to
whatever you can get, take it.
[guitar music]
- Male track-and-road champions were not the only ones
to throw off their shackles at the end of the '70s.
Women had also gradually won the right
to run on roads alongside men.
But there were still far fewer women than men
running in races
until Kathrine Switzer heard of a madcap scheme
proposed by a major cosmetics firm
to create a women-only international
running race circuit.
-Wow, this will be the avenue to get women into running.
Not saying, "Hey, come join us in the marathon
"where there are 2 women and there are 800 men
"because you're gonna feel slow and -- and -- and not welcome.
Come in a women's-only race."
[instrumental music]
- More than 400 runners
competed in the first all-female 15-kilometer run
in Arizona this morning.
- 650 women setting out to do
what was once considered the impossible.
- More than a 1000 women compete in a half-marathon.
- I don't think we've even seen the tip of the iceberg.
It's, it's really incredible.
[music continues]
- We had to overcome centuries of beliefs
that women have inherent weakness
and passivity as Aristotle said.
And it's been really all those years to make a -- a change
a cultural revolution, a social revolution.
And I say, "We need an intellectual one as well."
- It was just an amazing feel to give that back
to so many women around the country
and really, around the world.
[speaking in foreign language]
- They were so poor that they'd never had anybody that said
that they could be somebody.
And when they finished a 5K race or a 10K race
and we gave them a T-shirt and a medal
and a lipstick gift...and said
"You are somebody," they-they understood
this sense of empowerment and fearlessness
and they really, really... changed their lives completely.
[instrumental music]
- You know, whether she made the best time or what
for her it's an improvement, and that's what counts.
I just, uh, would like to thank 'em for the opportunity.
I think it's a fantastic thing.
- It became phenomenally good for the corporation
because they were getting very excellent publicity
doing something that was unusual
in capturing the public imagination.
And everybody agreed that women did deserve
an opportunity in the Olympics.
[music continues]
- It's gonna be a new world record
for Grete Waitz!
- Perhaps the greatest marathon ever run, Joan Benoit!
- Every year, the women's marathon time keeps going down.
In 10 years, it has dropped almost 45 minutes.
This was the first year in more than 10 years
that the men's record has dropped
and that was just by a few seconds.
- In the early '80s
1500 meters was still the longest distance
the International Athletic Federation
would sanction for a women's race.
And although women were now free to run
many people were still prejudiced against the idea
of women running long distances in the Olympic Games
even more so, for the marathon.
[speaking in foreign language]
-Yeah. Yeah, that's what we need.
-Marathon in the Olympic Games! - Yeah.
[instrumental music]
- In 1980, 4 years before the Los Angeles Olympics
Kathrine Switzer cleverly chose
to hold her circuit's annual marathon in London
where the International Federation, the IAAF
had its headquarters.
- A sunny, warm day dawns in London
for the 3rd annual Avon Women's International Marathon.
This is a turning point for women's running.
The representation of 27 countries at the starting line
now surpasses the International Olympic Committee's requirements
for a new event.
[instrumental music]
[music continues]
- We had excellent performances
we had... incredible media coverage
we had the endorsement of the IAAF.
And the IAAF then made a recommendation to the IOC
to get the women's marathon in the Olympic Games.
I remember when Monique Berlioux stood up
and made the announcement.
She said, um
"This was not an easy decision
but it was a very important decision."
And I turned to my, my friend who was in the audience with me
and I said
"Nobody's gonna understand how important this moment is
"until the first woman comes through that tunnel
and into the Olympic stadium."
[instrumental music]
- Joan Benoit is running in a direction
away from the rest of the pack as well.
- You know, Al, people speculated
that it would either be a tactical race
or that Joan Benoit was gonna
eventually take it out very hard.
And here she is. It looks like she's gonna make her move really early.
[music continues]
- You know, when it came time for the Los Angeles Olympics
um, ABC asked me to be a commentator
for the women's marathon.
[crowd cheering]
- Right now anticipating
the imminent arrival of Joan Benoit
as she gets into some welcome shade
and then very surely, out again into that sunlight once again.
- I was trying at this point n -- not to get emotional.
I was trying to be very, very calm.
And as she entered the tunnel, Al Michaels turned to all of us
and he went..
[no audio]
"Let the crowd take it."
[indistinct chattering]
[crowd cheering]
[instrumental music]
To me, that moment was, was as important
as giving women the right to vote
because it represented the physical equivalent
of total acceptance into society
and that people around the world
not just those 90,000 people in that Olympic stadium
but people around the world, in their millions
were watching on television
and realized that somebody had just run
26 miles, 385 yards, 42.2 km
the most difficult event in the Olympic Games
and run it with heroic courage and grace and speed.
And it changed forever people's attitudes
about what women's capability was all about.
- A dramatic step forward for women in sports
for women athletes all around the world
indeed, for women in general.
It attracted the attention
of, literally, hundreds of women's groups.
How much does that particular historic fact
have to do with the degree of elation you feel right now?
-Well, again, Jim, I don't think it's set in
and as I said earlier, there are so many people
I have to thank, uh, this marathon for.
If it hadn't been for the work
of countless women pioneers in this sport
we wouldn't be here today.
And let's hope that in 1988
we can also run a 5 and 10K
because we showed today that women can be
very competitive over this distance.
- We were just wrapping up our coverage
and just about ending this show
and I was feeling, you know, relieved
when all of a sudden
out of the tunnel and into the stadium came
the very, very crippled-over image
uh, figure of Gabriela Andersen-Schiess
from Switzerland.
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[crowd cheering]
[speaking in foreign language]
And I thought, "Oh, no.
Oh, no, uh, this can't be happening."
Because they're going to make a media frenzy
of a woman in a distressed condition.
So, when she finished and was carted off
I just sort of left the studio thinking
"I don't know what's gonna happen now with the women's marathon."
- Still on the Los Angeles Olympics
we've had an update on the health of Gabriela Andersen-Scheiss
the female marathon runner who touched hearts everywhere
the day before yesterday
when she finished the race in a state of total exhaustion.
And it's good news!
It seems she was just severely dehydrated
and has made a very quick recovery.
In fact, she's already back in training.
-Afterwards, uh, my husband, Roger Robinson, uh
wrote one of the best statements about it.
He said, "One of the most amazing things
"about the 1984 Women's Olympic Marathon
"the inaugural, was
"it allowed women
to be exhausted in public."
Maybe that's what equality is also all about.
[helicopter droning]
- Today, the New York City Marathon
has become the world's most famous race.
And this Sunday, 24,000 lucky people
will have the opportunity to run
its 26.4 miles
a challenging distance for any level.
- Even in the height of what we would call the running boom
the early running boom, the first running boom
Fred used to say, "This is nothing.
This is nothing. Just watch."
[instrumental music]
- Fred really wanted the whole world of running to grow
and the New York Road Runners
to be a leader in that.
And so bigger was always better.
- When I read that there are 34 million Americans
who run or jog
I wondered where the rest of the 60 million are
that should be running
or at least race-walking.
-New York suddenly realized they had this, this event
that was bringing money in for the city on an economic basis
which they had never really dreamed about.
-And other cities started seeing that this was happening
and along came
London, Chicago
Los Angeles, Honolulu.
[instrumental music]
[speaking in foreign language]
- In the 1990s, cities throughout the world
understood that there was big money to be made
from organizing marathons
even though New York remained, by far, the most glamorous.
-I happen to think, uh, that New York City's very special
and I'm proud that it is the, uh
marathon, uh, capital of the world now.
-Many marathons around the world have copied
much of what we are doing
from bar codes to, to computer scanning
to, uh, uh
timing and scoring devices
uh, but the one thing that no marathon in the country
or the world can match
is the vitality of this city.
-He would have these plans in his mind
that it would be increasing the sponsorship
increasing the number of people who could run.
- He said, "Look, I want every runner here
"who comes to this marathon to have the best experience.
"I wanna make sure they have a cover
"I wanna make sure they get the, the food.
"I wanna make sure they have, uh
that they're taken care of in every way." You know?
-"Oh, well, let's have coffee and donuts
at the starting line."
"But, Fred, that's not a healthy thing to do."
[laughs]
"But they'll love it!"
- "We'll have the race, uh, uh, on Wall Street."
"Wall Street? How can you have a race there?"
Then he got the back, going-backwards race
people running backwards.
-Press agents were out in force
at the Empire State Building
staging a publicity stunt so silly
but we decided to cover it.
-"Let's run up the Empire State Building!"
[laughs]
What, what, what a great idea it turned out to be
but at the time..
- They'd given people jingle bells
so that they can make noise when they run.
And people are dressed in Santa Claus outfits
and reindeer and they have antlers on.
A-and..
And I'm going, "W -- what happened to my sport?"
[dogs barking]
- What next?
-There's just a lot more to do.
[instrumental music]
- Nobody is indispensable
but as far as the marathon is concerned
Lebow comes as close to being indispensable
as anybody.
- He was like the Pied Piper.
You know, the, the story of the Pied Piper
who plays his flute and the rest of us follow.
Those were his workers, but those were also the runners
and the other people who took advantage
of the events he put on.
They loved what he built
and so, that was his gift
that he could bring us all into his vision..
...and that he could create from his vision
an event that appealed to millions of people
whether you ran or whether you watched.
That was Fred's genius.
[instrumental music]
* Run
* Run and you'll be thinner
* Run to give your heart a thrill *
* Run
* Run to be a winner
* Not just run-of-the-mill
* Keep up the pace and we promise *
* You'll hit new highs
* Stay in the race
* And your spirit's will rise
* Rise rise
* Run *
-Well, I sure hope you like
our new, uh, award ceremony program.
It surprised me.
- I was at the dinner. It was a big dinner.
You know, you used to have the big dinner for awards, you know?
And, uh, he, uh, got up to speak.
And up to that point there was nothing, you know
I mean, he was fine, you know?
And he got up to speak
and right in the middle of his speech
he stopped talking.
You know, he forgot what to, what to say
you know, he, which he never did, you know, ever.
I was concerned about it, so I sent him, actually, on my own
right the next day up to my hospital
to get an MRI of the brain.
And that's when the, you know, the tumor was there.
Right away we detected it, you know, almost immediately.
-Um, he had a kind of brain tru -- tumor
that you can extend your life, but nobody recovers from this.
It's still one of the le -- most lethal forms
of, of cancer.
But Fred never saw things that way.
- I would go see him. I saw him, uh, when he was at Mount Sinai.
He, he had a pole, you know, he had the pole, you know
with the intravenous in the bag and all that stuff
and he had, around the corridors
he had it marked off to how far was a mile
and he was going down the corridor.
He was going like this, and the nurses say
"All he does is, he keeps going round and round."
So he refused to accept it, you know, he refused.
He fought like the, like the devil.
- I don't have a wife, I don't have any kids
but it -- it's like nurturing a child.
For 22 years, that's all I did.
You know, I worked also
but the marathon
is the most consuming thing in my life.
I've run 68 other marathons, but never New York City.
A few months ago, I turned 60.
I told myself, "No, no parties, no receptions.
"I just want to give myself a gift.
That's to finish the marathon."
- If visionary race director, Fred Lebow
manages to cross his own finish line today
He'll have finally captured his own American dream.
For 23 years he's staged New York City's biggest hit.
Today, his entry will provide a lot of the drama.
[instrumental music]
[crowd cheering]
- I always say that outside of having my two children
it was the most remarkable experience
I'd ever witness.
I had the pleasure and the privilege
to run behind Fred and Greta in that marathon
and I don't think
anyone has ever gotten the cheers and support
along the course that Fred did.
[crowd cheering]
-Jim, we're coming up on the halfway point
and I really have to take my hat off to Fred.
He's been clicking off 12-minute miles.
I've seen a lot of cancer patients in my day
but I haven't seen many that can do this.
I am truly impressed.
- And to this day I can barely talk about it
without choking up.
You understood that it was the ultimate statement
of Fred saying
"I'm alive, I'm here."
And it was then that I fully understood
that's why all of us run the marathon.
It's the ultimate way of saying
"I'm alive, I'm here."
[crowd cheering]
* And gravity
* We won't fall
* No we won't fall
* Ha ah ah
* Whatever it takes
* Wherever you are
* We won't fall
* No we won't fall
* Whatever it takes
* Wherever you are
* We won't fall
* We won't fall *
- Fred died two years later.
In his lifetime he ran 69 marathons
across the world.
The last one was in New York in 1992.
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
- In the space of a decade
Fred Lebow's insatiable appetite
had transformed the New York City Marathon
from a small association of volunteers
to a large professional organization
whose revenues swelled
to tens of millions of dollars.
- To Fred, money was only a vehicle.
He had no interest in it personally.
And he, he used money
and greed of others
to create power.
And he thought he could control it all.
[instrumental music]
- Americans now spend
more than 500 million dollars a year
on shoes to run in.
- The initial few hundred runners had become
tens of thousand
then, millions worldwide.
All these runners in need of shoes, clothing and gear
represented a willing target for all those involved
in the overgrown-business of running.
[children screaming]
However, for some other people
it spelled the end of an era
and the loss of the romance and innocence
of the early days.
-Once that exposure started
uh -- uh, and more people came to it
we were no longer unusual, we were no longer the freaks.
[speaking in foreign language]
[instrumental music]
[speaking in foreign language]
-Uh, the pressures, really the commercial pressures
of continuing the magazine
meant that you had to go look for sponsors.
And the sponsors always want something
and the sponsors wanted to sell running shoes
or sell shirts or sell, you know, uh
vitamins or all this.
And so in a way they sold out
the, you know, the spirits
of the early, you know, uh
uh, spirit of running
to this era of commercialism.
You could argue, but what could we do?
And In a way I'm glad that Noel decided to stop.
[speaking in foreign language]
- As running grew
we all kept congratulating ourselves
that we were in a movement
that was entirely positive
healthy, open, inclusive
raises a lot of money for charity
helps health, helps society
brings cities like New York together
is symbolic of freedom
you know, like at Berlin in 1990
all of those very positive things.
And then we got bigger and bigger and bigger
and then the crunch came
and we have had to back off and look at ourselves and say
"It's actually not all positive
there is a darker side to what we've achieved."
- Hurricane Sandy is now approaching
the East Coast of the USA.
People of New York City
are preparing for the crunch.
-We have not experienced anything on this scale.
-We just want everyone to know
that we are hurting down here and we need help.
- Mayor Michael Bloomberg refuses to cancel the marathon
despite New York's struggle
to recover from the devastation
caused by Sandy.
-Uh, the city of New York right now
is talkin' about getting water out of the Battery Tunnel
and preparing for a marathon.
We're pulling bodies out of water.
You -- you see the disconnect here?
-Every single person on this block
lost everything.
[speaking in foreign language]
- I wanna go home, but there's no home!
I can't go home, and that's killing me!
-They're gonna run a marathon
and worry about, well, how many people are in the car
before they're worried about who's got electricity
and who's got water to drink.
-It's been quite the last 24 hours
since the mayor decided
that the best thing for the city of New York
was for the marathon to go on on Sunday.
They were some tough days.
They were days where the challenge was
what is the right thing to do and what's possible..
...for the city, um
and, ultimately, for runners.
-This has always been known
as the greatest day in the life of the city.
And if this city is on the road to recovery..
...to show its resilience
to show the world
that this is the greatest city in the world
then this race goes on.
We were convinced
that the marathon had to go on.
That was the history of the marathon, it lifted the city.
And, uh, in hindsight, we were wrong.
[speaking in foreign language]
-Good evening, Brian, well, the anger
was really triggered in earnest today
and a large part, by these generators behind me.
Race organizers brought them in to power things
like, like race clocks.
They're large enough to power 400 homes!
And as the anger grew today, the mayor had to respond.
Finally, he cancelled the race late today.
-Thank God!
My reaction is, I believe they're coming to their senses
and realizing that these resources
are gonna be needed where it's truly needed.
-You don't pull the plug at the last minute.
He could have made that decision days and days ago.
-We are very angry.
We spent thousands of dollars to bring our family here
pay for hotel rooms, airline tickets.
-We were still inside at the expo
buying tickets for the pasta dinner
buying paraphernalia, spending hundreds of dollars..
[speaking in foreign language]
-Some runners say they're going home as soon as possible
others say they're gonna stay in the city
and try to enjoy it the best they can.
A few say they're running on Sunday, 26 miles
even without the race.
[indistinct chattering]
[instrumental music]
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[music continues]
- The marathon movement, the whole running movement
had to confront the fact
that not everybody loves us.
That...we socially
running had not achieved all that it could achieve
that socially, even though we've grown
even though we're huge
we're actually only huge
in a very small segment of society.
And if you look at the average income of marathon runners
it's over a $100,000 dollars a year.
Well, if you're living on Staten Island, you know
that's, that's a different planet.
And that's, that's not a
that's not an activity
that you feel you relate to.
[music continues]
And we realized
that we should not continue to expect
that poor people will stand along the streets
and cheer for rich people.
[speaking in foreign language]
[indistinct chattering]
[indistinct yelling]
[speaking in foreign language]
[panting]
- You know, it's like the Robert Frost thing
the road, the road less taken
you can always go on the road less taken.
[instrumental music]
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
-You know, people who go out every single day
and lookin' at their watches.
Throw the watch away.
[laughs]
Look at the stars look at the, look at the sky
look at the..
Yeah.
- This sport is still whatever you wanna make of it.
[music continues]
[instrumental music]
* Hey
* Hey
* Hey
* Remember when we sat in your car *
* And you told me all about the stars *
* And how you'd make it up there one day *
* And I would hum and whistle through *
* And you would try to get the tune *
* But you'd never really heard it anyway? *
* You told me about the only one *
* Who'd ever really shown you
* Something you had truly never seen before *
* Up until that very moment
* Nothing else had seemed important *
* Everyone had disappointed so
* Oh oh oh
* I've been holding you up
* So you'll know
* As the waves aren't tied to the shore *
* I've been holding you up
* So you'll grow
* Just as the waves aren't tied to the shore.. *
- Tamini, well done!
- Well done.
[speaking in foreign language]
- I'm George, can I have one for me?
- Yeah, please.
[indistinct chattering]
[speaking in foreign language]
My magazine. I have a magazine a long time ago.
Thirty years ago, about, uh, about the..
[speaking in foreign language]
All with us, yes, like today.
* We all move away we all change *
* There's a place there's a place we *
* We all move away we all change *
* There's a place we are the same *
* We all move away we all change *
* There's a place there's a place we *
* We all move away we all change *
* There's a place there's a place we *
* I've been holding you up so you'll know *
* As the waves aren't tied to the shore *
* I've been holding you up so you'll grow *
* Just as the waves aren't tied to the shore *
* I've been holding you up so you'll know *
* As the waves aren't tied to the shore *
* I've been holding you up so you'll grow *
* Just as the waves aren't tied to the shore *
* Oh oh
* Oh oh
* Oh oh oh oh
* Oh
* Oh oh
* Oh oh oh
* Oh oh
* Oh oh
* Oh oh oh oh
* Oh
* Oh oh
* Oh oh oh
* We all move away we all change *
* There's a place there's a place we *
* We all move away we all change *
* There's a place we are the same *
* We all move away we all change *
* There's a place there's a place we *
* We all move away we all change *
* There's a place there's a place we *
* I've been holding you up so you'll know *
* As the waves aren't tied to the shore *
* I've been holding you up so you'll grow *
* Just as the waves aren't tied to the shore *
* I've been holding you up so you'll know *
* As the waves aren't tied to the shore *
* I've been holding you up so you'll grow *
* Just as the waves aren't tied to the shore **
[music continues]
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.