Joan Benoit

Joan Benoit ( Samuelson Joan after marriage; born May 16, 1957 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine) is an American long-distance runner and the first Olympic champion in the marathon.

Benoit began with the Running in the recovery phase after a broken leg, she had suffered while skiing. In 1979 she won a then completely unknown to the Boston Marathon and thereby improved the course record by more than seven minutes to 2:35:16. Although in 1981 injured his Achilles tendon and had to have surgery, she won again in 1983 in Boston and ran 2:22:43, the third fastest time today on this route. A year later she presented with 1:08:34 set a world record in the half marathon, the four years was subject to and should be broken as a U.S. record until 21 years later by Deena Kastor.

In the U.S. Trials for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, she prevailed, even though she had only 17 days before undergoing arthroscopy of the knee. The first Olympic marathon for women they already fled to a quarter of an hour from the rest of the field and ran to the finish a lead of 1:26 minutes ahead of Grete Waitz out.

In 1985, she posed as the winner of the Chicago Marathon with 2:21:21 a U.S. record, which should have 17 years in hand, and in 1986 the current valid U.S. record in the 25 - km road race ( 1:24:43 ). Then they prevented injuries to realize their potential.

After her retirement from competitive sport, she wrote several books (Running Tide, Running for Women) and opened a clinic. She is also a trainer for distance runners and often appears on television as Sportkommentatorin. In 2004 she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the USA Track & Field Association USA Track & Field.

In 2006, she acted as a pace -maker for Lance Armstrong when he took the New York Marathon. In 2009 she is at the New York Marathon at the start again.

Works

  • Joan Benoit, Sally Baker: Running Tide. Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, 1987, ISBN 0-394-55457-4.
  • Joan Benoit Samuelson, Gloria Averbuch: Running for Women. Rodale Press, Emmaus, 1995, ISBN 0-87596-239-4.
439327
de