Gerry Lindgren: The Self-Proclaimed “Wimp” Who Revolutionized Running
Posted March 25th, 2008 at 1:34 PM by Stephanie Lowe
Section: News & Results, Motivation, Track & Field, Olympics, Special Features, Interviews, College, High School
Despite protests of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, President George W. Bush recently stated that there will not be a boycott from the United States. According to CNN, Bush believes the Olympics “should be about the athletes and not necessarily about politics.”
Former U.S. Olympian Gerry Lindgren, 62, agrees. He thinks China will benefit from hosting the Games.
“I think they need to leave politics out of it,” he said. “China has made some great strides forward in the last few years.”
Lindgren recalls backlash of the 1980 U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics. He did not plan to compete in Moscow, but he knew how disappointed the U.S. team was to miss out on the Olympic experience. Lindgren said he was upset with former President Jimmy Carter’s decision and said the Olympics should have been “the only avenue in the world that wasn’t political.”
When the Associated Press called to ask for his opinion, Lindgren was outspoken against the boycott. Soon after his comments were published, Lindgren suspected the government did not like what he had to say.
At the time, he owned “Gerry Lindgren’s Stinky Foot,” a running-shoe store in Tacoma, Wash. Lindgren said that within three days after speaking to the reporter, the IRS closed his store to allegedly check his taxes. Shortly after the incident, U.S. Immigration also closed the store to “check for illegal aliens.” Lindgren’s wariness of the government led to his infamous disappearance to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he currently resides.
Although he did not always trust the country’s leaders, Lindgren enjoyed representing the U.S. during his competitive running career. One of his greatest achievements was his 10000-meter victory in the 1964 U.S. vs. USSR dual meet. The 18-year-old American was not expected to win. It was the first time any American won the event, but Lindgren was used to being the underdog.
“I’ve always been a wimp,” he claims.
Lindgren grew up in Spokane, Wash. His interest in athletics began in junior high, but he failed to make any of his school’s sports teams. He said he was too short and skinny for football, too small for basketball and too uncoordinated for baseball.
Any confidence in his own athletic abilities was suppressed by his alcoholic father. Lindgren ran to escape his abusive home life. Running was one of the only things that could make him feel powerful.
“Home was like a little Vietnam for me,” Lindgren described. “I tried to take control of my runs.”
Lindgren joined the cross country team at Rogers High School as a sophomore mostly because he knew he would not get cut. At first, he was not very fast. He said he was far behind his teammates during practice.
“In the beginning I wanted to quit,” Lindgren said. “Because I was such a wimpy guy, the other guys didn’t want me on the team.”
His coach, Tracy Walters, encouraged Lindgren to stay on the team. He noticed Lindgren’s drive and told him he had the potential to do well. Walters reminded Lindgren that he had an opportunity to succeed because he was trying to run, while the real failures were the guys standing around “smoking cigarettes because they couldn’t do anything else.” The support from his coach motivated Lindgren.
“Rather than quit the team, I started trying to stay ahead of everybody [running] as fast as I could,” Lindgren explained.
The more he ran, the longer Lindgren was able to stay ahead of the pack. Since he did not have natural speed, Lindgren felt he had to run extra mileage. In addition to his organized school practices, he typically ran 5 miles in the morning and about 10 miles in the middle of the night. He said his weekend long run was usually around 50 miles. While he did not track his miles too closely, he often ran between 200 and 350 miles per week. That amount of mileage may seem extreme, but Lindgren did not see it that way.
“I had to be stronger on my legs. I had to get my work done,” he said. “If you’re thinking about how tired you’re going to get, you won’t do well. It has to be in your heart.”
When asked what he thought about during his runs, Lindgren said he mostly focused on what he needed to do to improve. He said his mind sometimes also wandered to other subjects, particularly the girls he was too shy to talk to or even approach.
The high mileage Lindgren ran soon paid off. He was able to start a race fast and maintain the pace. His goal was not necessarily to win, but to challenge his competitors.
“All I wanted to do was make other people better runners,” he said. “The key is not to want to win, but to make the race.”
As a senior, he set a high school record in the 5000-meter run with a time of 13:44.0 in 1964. That record was not broken until 2004, when Galen Rupp ran 13:37.91. Lindgren said he was happy that Rupp finally broke his record.
“The only reason you set a record is that it’s a standard,” Lindgren said.
Lindgren was surprised it took 40 years. He explained that at the time of his high school record, the world record was 13:38, only six seconds faster than his time. Today the world record in the 5000 is 12:37.35, but the high school record is a minute slower.
“I came at the right time when there weren’t a lot of good runners around,” he stated, “[but] the progress has stopped.”
Lindgren blames the lack of progression on poor coaching and low mileage. He thinks that high school runners do too much strength and speed training because it is easier for coaches to keep an eye on the athletes.
“A good coach should hardly ever see his team because they’d be out training,” Lindgren said.
In the summer of 1964, Lindgren qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the 10000. However, he sprained his ankle during a training run and finished 9th at the Games.
Lindgren went on to study political science and the Russian language at Washington State University, in Pullman, Wash., where he was an eleven-time NCAA champion. During college, he ran collegiate-record and personal-best times of 7:58 in the 3000-meter run, 12:53 in the 3-mile, 13.33.8 in the 5000 and 28:40.2 in the 10000. Lindgren also set a 6-mile world record with a time of 27:11.6 at the 1965 AAU National meet.
The 5000 was Lindgren’s favorite race. He did not have to conserve as much energy as in the 10000. Lindgren said he tried to run as close to 4 minutes as possible for the first mile and see how long he could maintain his speed.
“I didn’t have to pay for it until the end of the race,” he said. Lindgren’s theory was to “run from the beginning and whatever happens happens.”
In 1968, Lindgren tried to qualify in both the 5000 and 10000-runs, but missed making the team at the trials. His final Olympic attempt was the 5000 at the Eugene trials in 1972, but he did not qualify due to an injury. Two weeks before the race, Lindgren was hit by a car while running. He injured his knee, but said icing it made it tolerable to run on. However, Lindgren said there was no ice available to him at the trials.
The U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials return to Eugene this June. Lindgren will be there with 1964 5000-meter Olympic champion Bob Schul to speak about training. He loves to share his passion for running.
“I had a hand in helping to start a running revolution,” which Lindgren said was his greatest accomplishment. “That’s why I was there.”
Lindgren still runs about 30-40 miles per week, coaches a group of runners in Hawaii and occasionally visits the LetsRun.com message board. He said that despite some negativity out there, he believes the sport is on the upswing.
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