"You see," says Eino, "sometimes people in the U.S. say, 'Oh, Lasse didn't do anything between the Olympics.' But look around. He did a lot." Indeed, the room is full of mementos from a long career at the top. On a shelf are three trophies from the International Amateur Athletic Federation, given for Viren's three world records: the 2-mile (8:14.0) on Aug. 14, 1972; the 10,000 meters in the 1972 Olympics (27:38.4); and the 5,000 (13:16.4) on Sept. 14, 1972.
How pleasant it was to sit and visit with Lasse, drinking strong coffee, looking at his awards. On one wall is a large photo of a fallen Viren, looking up from the track where he has tumbled during the 1972 10,000 meters, with Mohammed Gammoudi lying next to him. Viren got up to win the race and set the world record, while Gammoudi stayed lying on the track. Surprisingly, when Viren is asked to name his favorite race, he says the 2-mile record, where he hammered Dave Bedford, Dick Quax, Puttemans, Ian Stewart and Anders Gdrderud. "Because it was my first important international win," he explains. What about the Olympic 10,000? "It was a good race," he shrugs. Have you noticed that the better a runner is, the less he talks about himself? So it is with Viren. Fortunately, Viren's friends speak for him, and Pukkila says the 5,000-meter gold medal run in Montreal in 1976 "was Lasse's most genius race. He was just amazing there." "I had two tactics before the race, depending on what the others would do," Viren explains. After the field let the pace dawdle the first 3,000 meters, Viren went to the front and stayed there. "That's what my coach told me to do."
Viren comes back with his gold medal. "Go ahead, you can hold it," he tells us. It is solid, and heavy, and in the late afternoon light, it seems to glow. That alone was worth the trip to Finland, to hold the 1972 Olympic gold medal. It's as close to Olympic glory as any of us in the group will get, and we rub it for good luck.
Too soon, it is time to go, and we say good-bye to the Virens, who walk us to the bus. Talking among ourselves, we agree that Lasse and Päivi are people of solid, down-to-earth values, as if they came from midwestern United States stock. Viren has a special place in track history, up there with Paavo Nurmi and the original Flying Finns, Emil Zatopek, Roger Bannister, and Frank Shorter.
