Running/Marathons

The Long Road to the Start Line

The early history of women's participation in running events is marked by struggles to achieve the right to participate alongside men in the sport. As early as 1919, requests to the International Olympic Committee to include women's track-and-field events in the Olympic Games were denied because of assumptions that physical activity and competition were harmful to women's biological and psychological health. The earliest track-and-field competitions were subsequently held as separate women-only events, such as one sponsored by the Fédération Féminine Sportive de France, in which five countries competed in 1921.

In 1926, succumbing to popular pressure, the International Olympic Committee changed its decision and permitted women's entry into five track-and-field events, including three running events: 100 meter, 800 meter, and 4 × 100 meter relay. This experiment with women's running had mixed results. When some women suffered heat exhaustion and collapsed after the 800-meter race, concerns about women's physical ability to perform distance running resurfaced as matter of debate. All running events longer than the 200-meter race were subsequently removed from the Olympic program. In 1960, however, the 800-meter event was reinstated.

Going the Distance: Women and Marathons

Formal restrictions on women's entry into the marathon persisted well into the 20th century, notably longer than similar restrictions on shorter events. However, formal barriers to elite running competitions did not deter women from training and participating in long-distance events. In 1966, Roberta Gibb became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, although she did so unofficially after her formal entry request was denied on the basis that women were not physiologically capable of running longer than 1.5 miles—a [Page 1259]recommendation set by the American Amateur Athletic Union. The next year, Katherine Switzer obtained formal entry into the Boston Marathon by using her first initial and last name. Switzer was discovered partway through the marathon by race coorganizer John Semple, who darted into the race and tried to remove her bib number. Switzer finished the race, and the ensuing controversy garnered widespread public support of women's running. Women were officially permitted to compete in the Boston Marathon in 1972.

Bolstered in part by the second wave feminist movement that opposed sexual discrimination in all areas of life, including sport and fitness, women were actively pursuing equal rights at races throughout the 1970s. Women-only races also reemerged during this period, this time as a source of celebration rather than exclusion, and the first International Women's Marathon was held in Waldniel, West Germany, in 1974. The international lobby for women's long-distance running reached an important milestone when the International Olympic Committee Executive Board ruled that the women's marathon would be included in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. American Joan Benoit won this race.

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