Joan Benoit Samuelson’s 1984 Olympic marathon win was a game-changer for women’s sports
LA TimesJoan Benoit Samuelson holds an American flag in celebration after winning gold in the women’s marathon at the 1984 L.A. Olympic Games. “And I tell people LA 84 and the first women’s Olympic marathon was certainly the biggest win of my life.” It was life-changing for many other women as well. Even then, women had to bring a doctor’s note declaring them fit to run, said Maggie Mertens, author of “Better, Faster, Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women.” Seven years later Norway’s Grete Waitz became the first woman to break 2:30 in the marathon, running 2:27.32 in New York, a time that would have been good for second in the elite men’s race in Chicago that same day. Joan Benoit Samuelson, first women’s Olympics marathon winner, walks from the finish line after running in the 2019 Boston Marathon.
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