Meet Steve Scott, outstanding world-class athlete with an indefatigable zest for life and will to win. Here is the story of the track star and the man, whose talent and determination have taken him to the pinnacle of worldwide track and field for the better part of his twenty-seven-year career. A three-time Olympian blessed with the miler's prized combination of strength and speed, he earned a top-ten track and field world ranking eleven times and distinction as America's number-one miler from 1977 to 1986. The Miler takes us inside Scott's training regimen and mental preparation techniques, then invites us behind the scenes into the controversial topics of drug abuse, track-and-field politics, and under-the-table payoffs that transformed mile racing in the United States and abroad. Scott recounts his evolution from promising high school runner to disciplined international elite athlete. He also covers the modern history of the sport, from the days when athletes had to wait hours after meets to pick up their meager appearance fees to the current era of powerful sports agents, lucrative sponsorships, and bigmoney prizes.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
America's best miler reviews his career, warts and all.,
By M. Tatar (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Steve Scott the Miler: America's Legendary Runner Talks About His Triumphs and Trials (Hardcover)
The sport of track and field has only a limited audience in the U.S. American athletes typically receive recognition only after setting a world record or winning an Olympic gold medal. Steve Scott, America's top miler throughout the 1980s, did neither. In his book, The Miler, Scott writes of a running career in which he unquestionably was America's best miler (his U.S. record of 3:47.69, set in 1982, still stands), and certainly one of the world's best (10 consecutive years ranked among the world's top 10 milers by Track & Field News). Yet without a world record or Olympic gold medal to his credit, Scott remained virtually unknown outside the small U.S. track and field community. The Miler traces Scott's reluctant beginnings as a high school runner, his development into a national-class competitor in college, and his emergence as a world-class racer. Along the way we're treated to profiles of Scott's leading international competitors, all icons in the history of the mile: John Walker, Eamonn Coghlan, Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Said Aouita. Scott beat them all, but not in either of the two races -- the '84 or '88 Olympics -- which would have brought him the recognition and financial rewards that accompany a gold medal. The Miler is not simply a book about running. Scott details the struggles he faced to support his wife and kids early in his career, when track and field was still regarded as an "amateur" sport. Scott also writes frankly of the toll the nomadic career of a track and field athlete exacted upon his marriage. Although it probably was cathartic for Scott to write these passages, it is uncomfortable for even a dedicated track & field fan to read. Despite this, I admire Scott for his willingness to write something other than the puff pieces that frequently pass for the biographies of famous athletes. He deals frankly with some of track and fields' unsavory elements -- unscrupulous meet promoters, under-the-table payments, agents, drugs, stars avoiding races with potential rivals, and track's governing bodies -- and isn't afraid of putting himself in the middle of situations that don't frame him in the best light. In fact, perhaps in an effort to balance his career's many triumphs, he frequently seems to come down too hard on himself. He writes extensively of his failures at the Olympics, but covers the race in which he set the American record for the mile in a few paragraphs. He takes great pride in having run more sub-4 minute miles (136) than any miler in history, but dwells more on how another runner, John Walker, beat him to the "media friendly" 100th sub-4 mile goal. I would have liked to have read more of his numerous triumphs, and less of his real or perceived shortcomings. Scott also write of the challenge of, and eventual triumph over, his most formidable opponent: cancer. The story of his recovery from testicular cancer and return to competition demonstrates that sheer force of will, more than physical ability, is the true mark of a champion. The Miler certainly will appeal to fans of track & field. But it should also find a wider audience among those who are curious as to the challenges, costs and rewards that come to those who strive for world class status in any field. For in The Miler Scott shows himself to be a winner not only on the track, but also in the ongoing race called life.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
America's greatest miler tells his story,
By Geoff Pietsch (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Steve Scott the Miler: America's Legendary Runner Talks About His Triumphs and Trials (Hardcover)
Near the end of his autobiography, Steve Scott talks about running in the National Cross Country Championships in Montana (there are pictures of the race in the book). It was 4 degreees and snowy. Scott was past his prime as one of the greatest milers in the world. He didn't need to run the race; few World Class milers run serious 10K cross country at any time, let alone in their declining years. But Steve Scott loves to run. He loves to train very hard and run very fast. He finished 10th that day, not far behind distance greats like Pat Porter and Todd Williams, and just a few seconds away from qualifying as a member of the U.S. team for the World Cross Counttry Championships. Afterwards he overheard a couple of young runners talking. One said, in obvious surprise, "Did you see Steve Scott finished 10th? I thought he'd retired." His friend responded, "I thought he was dead."
Well Steve Scott ain't dead folks, and I'll bet wherever he is right now he's still running far and fast. Scott's autobiography is hard to find now. It never caught on the way some of the books for joggers did - or those about another Steve: Prefontaine. But read Scott's book if you can find it. Serious runners will love it and even joggers will be fascinated by its honesty and by the character - in both senses of the word - that Scott reveals. Jim Ryun remains the legendary American miler, but he would have been 30 meters behind Scott in their best races. Ryun gave up the sport in his early 20s because he couldn't handle the pressure; Scott raced at the highest levels for 20 years. With the help of Marc Bloom, the longtime dedicated chronicler of Cross Country and Track, Scott helps us understand his love for running and for being really fit. He was "Pre" without the sharp edges. He deserves to be better known and more honored. But even if that never happens, no one can ever take away what he accomplsihed. The numbers - 3:47.69, and 136 sub-4:00s - will stand for as long as runners circle the track for four laps.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Original Title: The Excuses,
This review is from: Steve Scott the Miler: America's Legendary Runner Talks About His Triumphs and Trials (Hardcover)
Although it was an interesting read, this is not one of those books you can't put down. I don't know steve personally but if it were me I would have been upset as how the end result of this book makes me seem like such an thankful complainer. The jist that I got from this book was that steve did not get this, did not get that, the wife did not like the cheating, the training partner messed him up, he got elbowed, the race was too rough, he went out to hard, he was forced to race for time, Coe/Ovett was dodging him, Cram would not have beat him if he knew he was that good, he never made enough money, his endorsements dropped him, blah blah blah, shut up. The way that he raced brought much of it on himself. When you are a late race surger you have to deal with passing people and not being able to catch people from waiting to long. It just seemed like he was tring to get sympthothy through the whole book for never obtaining a World Record or an Olympic Medal. The only legit complaint I felt he had was of the olympic boycott, Everything else that he complains about were his missed oppritunities where he had some control of the situation.
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