Details: Parent Category: Olympic Games (Athletics); Category: 1984 Olympic Games Los Angeles - (Athletics); Last Updated: 30 July 2016; Published: 23 March 2016; Hits: 260

Tags:

Host City: Los Angeles, United States

Format: 42,195 metres (26 miles, 385 yards) point-to-point.

Date Started: August 5, 1984

Date Finished: August 5, 1984

(Competitors: 50; Countries: 28)

Venue(s): Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

Overview by IAAF

With a warm (24 °C) overcast day, it was thought that a really fast time was unlikely, but Benoit was of a different mind, and she dominated the race. Benoit moved away from the field after only three miles, leading at 5Km by 6 seconds from Waitz, Kristiansen and Mota. Waitz, the World Champion, felt that the pace was too fast, and she let Benoit move away. The American, who had run a world best 2:22:43 in 1983, increased her pace after passing 10Km in 35:24, covering the next 10Km in an almost unbelievable 33:08. She then led by 1:12 from Mota, with the two Norwegians 60m behind. There was no let up as Benoit ran the next 10Km in 33:51, with the three pursuers together 1:51 behind. Benoit slowed up a little in the fourth 10Km section (34:51), losing 24 seconds, and she finished 1:26 ahead of Waitz, having run the second fastest time ever. The battle for the lesser medals was determined shortly after the 30Km mark, when Waitz went clear of Kristiansen. Mota passed the second string Norwegian after the 40Km mark, setting a Portuguese record in third place. Each of the finishers from fifth to 10th place ran lifetime bests.

Summary by Sports-reference.com

Women had been known to run marathons since at least the 1920s, but it was not until the 1960s that this was well-known when several woman, among them Katherine Switzer and Roberta Gibb, broke into the all-male Boston Marathon. By 1973, the West Germans had established the first all-female marathons, and the pioneer administrator who supported women in the marathon was the German Dr. Ernst van Aaken. In 1983 a women’s marathon was included at the first Athletics World Championships in Helsinki, won by Grete Waitz of Norway. Waitz, a former track runner, was the first great female marathoner, winning the New York Marathon from 1979-83, and she would eventually win New York nine times. She was the early favorite for Los Angeles. Also to be watched were Portugal’s Rosa Mota, who had won the 1983 European Championship, and America’s Joan Benoit, who won the 1979 and 1983 Boston Marathon. Her 1983 Boston win was in a world marathon best time of 2-22:43. But Benoit was not fully healthy, having required arthroscopic surgery on her knee only a few weeks before the US Olympic Trial, and she was considered fortunate to make the team.

The women’s marathon was the first track & field event of the 1984 Olympics, starting at 8 AM. It started at the Santa Monica City College track and ran along LA freeways to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Benoit moved into the lead at 7 km., and Waitz led her get away, saying later that she thought the move was made too early. But Benoit never came back. She stayed in the lead throughout, running by herself for most of the race, winning by almost 1½ minutes, with Waitz winning the silver medal and Mota the bronze.

Records

Standing records prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics
World Record	Joan Benoit (USA)	2:22:43	April 18, 1983	Boston, United States
Olympic Record	New Event
Season Best	Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR)	2:24:26	May 13, 1984	London, United Kingdom
Broken records during the 1984 Summer Olympics
Olympic Record	Joan Benoit (USA)	2:24:52	August 5, 1984	Los Angeles, United States

		Results

*Marathon*	Women	Final	5 August

Rank	Mark	Athlete	Country	NOC	Birth Date	Records
1	2.24.52	Joan Samuelson	United States	USA	16 May 57
2	2.26.18	Grete Waitz	Norway	NOR	1 Oct 53
3	2.26.57	Rosa Mota	Portugal	POR	29 Jun 58
4	2.27.34	Ingrid Kristiansen	Norway	NOR	21 Mar 56
5	2.28.34	Lorraine Moller	New Zealand	NZL	1 Jun 55
6	2.28.54	Cilla Welch	Great Britain	GBR	22 Nov 44
7	2.29.03	Lisa Ondieki	Australia	AUS	12 May 60
8	2.29.09	Sylvia Ruegger	Canada	CAN	23 Feb 61
9	2.29.28	Laura Fogli	Italy	ITA	5 Oct 59
10	2.32.07	Tuija Toivonen	Finland	FIN	1 Mar 58
11	2.32.48	Joyce Smith	Great Britain	GBR	26 Oct 37
12	2.33.01	Alba Milana	Italy	ITA	17 Mar 59
13	2.33.40	Dorthe Rasmussen	Denmark	DEN	27 Jan 60
14	2.34.08	Sarah Rowell	Great Britain	GBR	19 Nov 62
15	2.35.15	Sinikka Keskitalo	Finland	FIN	29 Jan 51
16	2.35.56	Charlotte Teske	West Germany	FRG	23 Nov 49
17	2.36.33	Anna-Maria Malone	Canada	CAN	28 Jul 60
18	2.36.41	Midde Hamrin	Sweden	SWE	19 Apr 57
19	2.37.04	Nanae Sasaki	Japan	JPN	8 Feb 56
20	2.37.06	Paola Moro	Italy	ITA	14 Aug 52
21	2.37.11	Ria Van Landeghem	Belgium	BEL	19 Jul 57
22	2.37.51	Carla Beurskens	Netherlands	NED	10 Feb 52
23	2.37.57	Regina Joyce-Bonney	Ireland	IRL	7 Feb 57
24	2.38.01	Marie-Christine Deurbroeck	Belgium	BEL	1 Feb 57
25	2.38.50	María Trujillo	Mexico	MEX	19 Oct 59
26	2.40.52	Bente Moe	Norway	NOR	2 Dec 60
27	2.41.22	Mary O'Connor	New Zealand	NZL	19 Apr 55
28	2.41.27	Carey May	Ireland	IRL	19 Jul 59
29	2.42.22	Francine Peeters	Belgium	BEL	23 Feb 57
30	2.42.27	Zehava Shmueli	Israel	ISR	19 May 55
31	2.42.38	Winnie Ng Lai Chu	Hong Kong	HKG	7 Aug 52
32	2.44.44	Mónica Regonessi	Chile	CHI	27 Apr 61
33	2.45.49	Naydi Nazario	Puerto Rico	PUR	10 Sep 56
34	2.46.12	Yuko Gordon	Hong Kong	HKG	23 Feb 51
35	2.46.50	Ena Guevara	Peru	PER	7 Feb 59
36	2.47.33	Julie Brown	United States	USA	4 Feb 55
37	2.48.42	Gabriela Schiess	Switzerland	SUI	20 May 45
38	2.50.58	Rita Borralho	Portugal	POR	21 Mar 54
39	2.50.58	Maria Conceição Ferreira	Portugal	POR	13 Mar 62
40	2.51.03	Maria del Carmen Cardenas	Mexico	MEX	13 Feb 59
41	2.51.04	Maria-Luisa Ronquillo	Mexico	MEX	13 Dec 52
42	2.51.35	Nelly Chavez de Wright	Bolivia	BOL	17 Dec 45
43	2.52.00	Mary Wagaki	Kenya	KEN	20 Jun 54
44	2.52.19	Eleonora de Mendonca	Brazil	BRA	13 Nov 48
	DNF	Jacqueline Gareau	Canada	CAN	10 Mar 53
	DNF	Leda Díaz	Honduras	HON	28 Oct 46
	DNF	Ifeoma Mbanugo	Nigeria	NGR	3 Mar 52
	DNF	Anne Audain	New Zealand	NZL	1 Nov 55
	DNF	Akemi Masuda	Japan	JPN	1 Jan 64
	DNF	Julie Isphording	United States	USA	5 Dec 61

More Details by Marathoninfo

1984 LOS ANGELES: WOMEN FINALLY HONORED

DATED	FEMALE WINNER	AGE	STARTERS	WITHDRAWALS
Sunday, August 5th at 8 am	Joan Benoit (United States)	27 years old	50 from 28 countries	6 (12%)

So there it is, women finally have the right to have their Olympic marathon, which now appears as natural was not yet at that time not so long ago, but until then, women had no greater distance events in the 1,500 meters !! Yet there were long as women were involved in running the marathon in 1926 with the British Violet Piercy, timed in 3h40'22 ". But the rules of athletics then forced them to run underground, the event the most famous is being held in Boston in 1967 when the US Kathie Switzer was discovered in the squad after a 3 km race. Immediately, John Semple had set out to expel him in his capacity as a volunteer, he was in turn ejected blows shoulder by the fiancé of the intruder, to the applause of the pack and the goal of a photographer, which did much for the cause of women as well as the writings of the German doctor Ernst Van Aaken that had swept all objections against endurance in women's sports. Under the pressure of the US feminist movement and the results of US marathoners, English, French, Japanese and Czech, the international Athletics federation was opened in 1981 the 5000m and 10000m for women, and in 1982 the marathon was opened to women for the European championships. Los Angeles is the logical continuation of this movement.

Everything went well almost, but an event will mark the first women's edition, the arrival of the Swiss Gabrielle Andersen-Schiess will remember that the marathon can be full of surprises, and will also remember the famous pioneers arrived male discipline. At the same time it will give grist to the opponents of women's marathon.

The Swiss will live a hassle on arrival, before the cameras of the world. Victim of heat stroke, his knees rattled, she divagait a corridor to another runway. Three judges will escort like to keep distance standing when it stopped, then left limping. "I thought for a moment giving up, but it was so silly, because the end was so close! And it was not a marathon like no other. The instincts told me to continue." Among the officials, we wondered: should prevent it from continuing or not? But "go on, go on" escaped from the crowd. And she went and after his terrible effort, her terrible Cross, before collapsing at the finishing line in both arms judges. Rescue workers and doctors were busy around the stretcher which carried him to thunderous applause and admiration mingling relief. "When I made my entrance into the stadium, encouragement, I heard intermittently gave me back some strength. I was trying to go straight. In vain! My body was so hot! I can not remember everything that happened to me. " Finally she finished 37th in 2h48'42 ", after a final lap covered in 5'44". Proof of good health: two hours later, she was up and ran again later without incident several marathons.

Before it, the first Olympic champion in history had crossed the line in 2h24'52 ", it was the American Joan Benoit beating of a turn of the favorite Grete Waits Norwegian track. The April 18, 1983 Joan Benoit imposed on the Boston marathon in 2:22:43. She still holds the world record when there was the first women's Olympic marathon on August 5, 1984. Joan Benoit qualified for the Olympics by winning races qualification in the US, seventeen days after undergoing arthroscopic right knee. at the Los Angeles Games, she was the favorite along with Norway's Grete Waitz, who had previously won all seven marathons she had participated. Grete Waitz had also beat Joan Benoit ten times during their eleven previous meetings on various distances. But this time, Joan Benoit took the lead after fourteen minutes and outdistanced its competitors, surprised that nobody followed. "When I left, I have not really started. I have only accelerated the pace, which was particularly slow. I always hoped to receive help from athletes from the rear, but I never saw it coming. in the end, I was also very happy. " In the 20th km in 1:08:32 spent his advance exceeds the minute 72 secfontes on the Portuguese Rosa Mota (first European champion in Athens in 1982). Holds for its share of the best European performance after winning in 2:24:26 in London, the other Norwegian Ingrid Kristiansen, accompanied by Fogli Italian, accusing 10 "additional delay before Waitz, on his heels. In 30th km, Benedict happening in 1:42:23 ahead of a trio of Waitz and Kristiansen Mota.A from there his lead of almost two minutes will decrease gradually especially compared to Waitz who went after him, but it's too late and the crowd gasped in delight when she saw his lead winning on the track after following on the giant screen of the stadium. at 2:24:52, the first Olympic champion had done better than Mimoun in Melbourne in 1956.

Born January 28, 1979, high 1m60 for 47kg, she finished second in his first marathon in 2:50:54, before winning 16 April of that year the Boston Marathon in 2h35'15 ". The 18 April 1983 she won the Boston marathon in 2:22:43, then the best time ever for a woman she said after the race. I decided to do my own race without taking care of my opponents in. this kind of event, it must find its own pace. If you run in a pack, unless resolutely take the lead and do the work, you often have changes in rhythm and in a marathon, it does not forgive not. Better to get away, run regular train, it always pays. "