The 1984 Olympics Marathon was insane... 

Im in Olympia Washington! That’s such a cool tidbit. I didn’t know the first Olympic marathon trials were here!

Ah honor indeed! Awesome

Yeah me too

I don’t know about that one

I’m proud to call these women my mother and step-mothers 😊

Well Norway has produced some amazing athletes the last few years with Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Karsten Warholm breaking world records and taking gold at the Olympics.

If it is any consolidation, I, a German, have had heard of Grete Waitz but not Benoit. Not that that matters, I know. Just saying 🙂. I started running late in life and seeing the women's performance form 1984 is mind boggling.

I was a course marshal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Marathon. Grete Waitz was my sports hero, even though I was a native California resident. The crowd around me got annoyed with me that I was cheering for Grete as she went by instead of our own American runners. I got to meet Grete several times at New York City Marathon events, and she was always kind and gracious and humble.

Did you read Grete Waitz's autobiography? In her book, Grete said she was given a choice between meeting the King and having a shopping trip - so she chose shopping! I wonder if the King heard about that.

@@Rebelalliance316 About Norway producing great athletes -- don't forget how they dominate Olympic cross-country skiing and speed skating, besides their excellence in running.

Ah, solid catch. I probably wouldn't have caught that looking back haha.

They have since replaced the grass infield with turf.

Correct.

Women can be inspired by men too you know. Just because she was a woman doesn't mean other women are inspired by her more often than men. By the way, what is a woman?

@@dimitar297 This is stupid, to put in the ridiculous 'woke' "what is a woman" phrasing into this story about women's sports heroes. Stop being so silly.

@@dimitar297 We women WERE inspired more by Grete Waitz than by men, because myself and many other women decided to run a marathon after watching Grete Waitz run and began to see marathons as a sport for women also. You are wrong. I started running the NYC Marathon after watching Grete Waitz do it on TV.

Amazing, isn’t it? I remember reading that Bill Rodgers ran a 1:11 half marathon at age 56 or 58. Just incredible.

My jaw dropped!!!

A Japanese runner around 2000 was the first sub 2:20 marathon. Kristiansen held the marathon world record until 1998 when Tegla Loroupe broke it.

Yep, Kristiansen's record was 2:21:06, which she held for 13 years.

Naoko Takahashi was the first woman under 2:20 . She ran 2:19:46 in Berlin in 2001.

Rosa Mota also won the Los Angeles Marathon - and Rosa Mota won the Olympic Gold Medal in the Seoul Olympics.

Ingrid did a lot of her training indoors on a treadmill so she could babysit her little boy. In warm weather, she ran on a track while her son played in the infield. Before having her children, she ran most of her miles on roads and trails like other runners. Her husband was in graduate school so he could not babysit.

If you don’t I will

Bro ong we sum American hero documentation

Why do you want a vid on a cheater

@@squiglemcsquigle8414 he was arguably the best American distance runner for a decade and a half

@monstraft4669 a juiced up one yeah. No one that was part of the nike oregon project is clean. And you are especially dirty if you are still defending a pos like salazar5 years later

I was there in Jacksonville too y'all had flapjacks at Denny's.

@@dimitar297 what are you talking about?

@@wesleytwiggs7687 maybe you don't remember a couple years ago this is Sharon.

@@dimitar297 Every comment you made here seems "odd." You are odd.

Joan spoke before our runner's group in New Hampshire and even ran with us beforehand. One of the most humble and kind-hearted and down to earth individuals you'll ever come to know. Her love, not only the sport of track and distance running, but for running in and of itself knows no bounds.

What a low-class comment.

Being in the coliseum where the marathon finished, I definitely remember that but couldn't remember her name. It was a scary situation.

I should add: Slyvia (CAN) held the Canadian marathon record for 28 years (2:28) until it was broken in 2013. The top 10 women of that ‘84 race are legendary…..

Same approach, different outcomes. Lol

The pace just keeps getting faster

@@lordaries5498 true

That was Gabriela Anderson Schiess, who staggered around the track. Many of us women runners are angry with her for setting back the cause of women's running so badly with her helpless stagger, showing she was unprepared for the race and making women look weak and helpless. Men don't stagger like that.

@@cathynewyork7918 Many runners, male and female have succumbed to the heat even if they are well trained. If I recall, Alberto Salazar pretty much collapsed after winning New York and had to be given IVs in the medical tent.

@@bradroberts7964 Alberto Salazar had that IV problem in Boston after his near-death all-out duel to the finish in the 1982 Boston Marathon with Dick Beardsley on an extremely hot day. An entire book has been written about that hot-weather duel between the two, "Duel in the Sun." That ruined Salazar's 'heat tolerance' for life - he had problems running on warm days for the rest of his running career. Gabriela should have trained in hot-weather conditions and hydrated better - instead of training up in the Idaho mountains where they have cool, mild summers.

@@bradroberts7964 I have run 29 marathons - I know when to slow down and drink more than usual if the weather is hot and humid.

Because it’s a point to point race . The rule is the start and finish can’t be more than 50% of the race distance apart . At Boston the runners could potentially have a tailwind almost the whole way like they did in 2011. The other factor is the drop in elevation . Boston has an elevation drop of 140 meters or 3.33 meters per kilometer . The rule is the elevation drop can’t exceed one meter per kilometer .

@@daviddunn3179 sounds like a bunch of rules some upset old people made. IMO

@@zavtparticles6828 This is a nasty and uneducated comment. The rules excluding the Boston Marathon from being eligible for world records makes it fair for all the other marathons - otherwise ONLY Boston would have world records due to its most-downhill course except for the hills near mile 20, and its usual tailwind pushing the runners. These rules are VALID.

Gabriela's finish set back the cause of women's running. It reinforced the feelings of many that women are not strong enough to run a marathon, since men don't stagger to the finish like that.

Gabriela should NOT be praised for not having properly trained and prepared for a hot weather race.

​@@cathynewyork7918What is your problem with her? You respond to every comment mentioning her here. For me that is the most iconic scene from 84 marathon, not the winner. And very inspirational to this day.

@@Draddar That is part of the problem - that you and so many others remember Gabriela, and NOT the winner. Clearly Joanie, the winner, did a MUCH better job at training and preparing to run in a hot-weather marathon, so JOANIE should get the fame, not the "failed" runner. I was an official course marshal that day - I was there in person. My other problem with Gabriela is that - after all the legal work that Katharine Switzer and Nina Kusckik and others did to convince the Olympic Committee that women are strong enough to run a marathon and get that first marathon admitted to the Olympics, then Gabriela came along, staggering death-like, and reinforcing the stereotypes that women were not strong enough to run marathons. It "damaged" our cause that we women can do marathons. Plus it took attention away from Joanie who deserved the attention for her tough win. Not fair.

@@cathynewyork7918 I sense heavy American bias there and personal involvement. I can see how it might have been a setback for women at the time (probably more in the US than elsewhere) although the basic prejudice was already there and people only used it as an excuse to confirm their view. But looking back now it's a very inspirational moment in sports history. Without maybe knowing the full details I disagree on a lot of points. For starters just because she had a rough time doesn't mean she didn't train enough. Also it was a completely different time both in terms of marathon distance training, number and quality of competitors and heat training specifically which is kind of new even today. You can see plenty of elites (men and women) nowadays that completely shut down in a race and we've made several giant steps forward in training since 84. Maybe they have a bad day, illness, missing fuel, troubles during preparation, carried away in race and probably a dozen more possible reasons. Undertraining is the last thing I'd consider.

Boston marathon is a downhill point to point race. Olympic marathon is a loop

They did NOT run the marathon on the track - they started on one track, ran the streets, and then finished on another track. Pay attention.

The first one. It's how she says it herself.

Why can't the video be interesting for non American viewers? And spell "American" with a capital "A" - show us respect.

I thought that too until I heard her pronounce her own name on a 2019 video (masterclass sponsor vid). I think she just prefers to pronounce it that way, so I used that instead of the traditional French one.

​@@RunnerBoiah fair enough 👍

Although Maine has many french families and names because of Quebec being so close, many have Anglesized the pronounciations.

Joan herself pronounces her own name that way, so their family is using an American version. Besides, her married name is Samuelson, so she probably uses that in non-running life.

My guy, take your own advice. That's how she pronounces it.

Joan Benoit pronounces her name the way he says it.