Remembering Grete Waitz
I first say a photo of Grete Waitz crossing the finish line at the 1992 New York City Marathon with her dear friend, Fred Lebow. At that time, he was battling brain cancer and she was there by his side each step of the grueling 26.2 mile course. She was there to help him carry out a dream, unbeknownst to her that she would eventually be facing her own terminal battle with cancer. For Grete, the fight ended April 19, 2011. The legacy she left behind was far greater than the marathon wins or her silver Olympic medal. What endures is the example she set for women, young and old, by pushing and breaking through imposed limits and gender stereotypes. With so many incredibly talented marathon, ironman, and beyond endurance female athletes, it’s hard for me to imagine a time when it was believed that women couldn’t or shouldn’t compete at the same distances as men. In 1967, Katherine Switer was the first woman to officially finish the Boston Marathon, but only because her companion, Thomas Miller, was there there to intercept a race official who was about to pull her from the course with a NHL calliber body check. In 1972 and 1976 Olympics, Grete had to run the 1,500 m event because there wasn’t anything longer for women. It was not until 1984 when the first women’s marathon appeared in the Olympics.
Flash forward to 2011. We now have a new generation of endurance athletes who, besides not knowing what life was like before the internet, cell phones, and and social media, can’t recall a time when women were not allowed to complete at the same level as men. To me, the abolishment of the old stereotypes about what women can and can’t do academically, professionally, or athletically is one of the greatest achievements pioneered by the likes of Katherine Switzer and Grete Waitz. On behalf of my daughter, I thank you. Not only will she grow up not knowing many of the once revolutionary, but soon to be archaic technologies of my time, but she will also not know any limitations on her dreams.
