last male winner of the cross country title and it proved to be his last major international honour. Stewart still produced some quality performances in later years, such as his 7th place in the 5000m final at the 1976 Olympics (losing to Virén by 2.89 seconds after dropping from second to seventh place in the last 300 metres. He ran a 10-mile world road best (45.13) in 1977. He retired in summer 1978, bringing down the curtain on a long and illustrious career. Stewart was ranked No 1 in the world over 5000m by the American magazine Track and Field News in 1970. They ranked him third in 1969 and 1972, fifth in 1975, and tenth in 1976. He sometimes won races by using the unorthodox strategy of "kicking" or breaking far away from the field at the midpoint of the race (instead of on the last lap), leaving his rivals confused as to what to do. Stewart set other British records: 1,500 metres 3:39.12 (1969), 2,000 metres 5:02.98 (1975),2 miles 8:22.0 (1972). Other personal bests: Mile 3:57.3 (1969) and 10,000 metres 27:43.03 (1977). Stewart was one of six children – and three of them won European Indoor titles. His brother Peter Stewart (born 8 August 1947) was the 3000m champion in Sofia in 1971 and British record holder at the mile 3:55.3 (1972). His sister Mary (born 25 February 1956) won the 1500m in San Sebastian in 1977 and then became the Commonwealth Games champion in 1978 in Edmonton. Stewart was awarded the MBE in 1979, and after coaching and working to promote distance running, he succeeded Andy Norman as promotions officer for British Athletics in 1994. Stewart was the Head of Endurance of UK Athletics (UKA) until February 2013. References External links sporting-heroes.net: Ian Stewart Tough of the Track: The Ian Stewart Story – Full documentary on Youtube 1949 births Living people Sportspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands Members of the Order of the British Empire Scottish male long-distance runners British male cross country runners Scottish male cross country runners Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games European Athletics Championships medalists World