MICHELLE EMERY, Associated Press Writer
AP Online
07-25-1999
Women's Sports Boom Buoys Benoit
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Joan Benoit Samuelson, gold medalist 15 years ago in the first women's Olympic marathon ever run, insists she's now a simple soccer mom interested more in her kids' games than her own races.
But she still laces on running shoes every day and last fall qualified for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Now 42, Samuelson says she's thrilled with the growing excitement over women's sports, especially the recent U.S. victory in World Cup soccer and the rapid expansion of the Women's National Basketball Association.
``There were pioneers in sports that opened the door for me, and I would like to think in some small way, I helped open the doors for the young women ... today,'' she says.
There is little doubt of that. Samuelson showed regular people what they could accomplish with a lot of hard work, says Marjorie Snyder, associate executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation.
``Joan, as an athlete, came along at the right moment and had the right attitude about sport,'' Snyder says.
``It was certainly helpful she won'' the marathon, Snyder adds. ``It's like the women's World Cup. If they'd finished third, I don't think there would be quite as much excitement about it.''
Samuelson's victory in the inaugural Olympic marathon, Aug. 5, 1984, also silenced naysayers who claimed women were physically incapable of running 26 miles, 385 yards, says Donna Lopiano, the foundation's executive director.
``She never slowed, she never faltered. She ran with a determination that from beginning to end never wavered,'' Lopiano says. ``It closed the book on whether women were made of the right stuff in distance running.''
If her age today might seem an obstacle to a berth in the next year's Sydney Olympics, back then it was surgery on her right knee -- just 17 days before the trials.
Samuelson had felt a twinge in her right knee in March 1984. Cortisone shots didn't help, and a month later, she could barely hobble through three miles. In late April, she had arthroscopic surgery, then a relatively new procedure. She won the trials with a time of 2:31:04. Three months later, she collected the gold medal.
Last fall, Samuelson -- who still holds the U.S. women's marathon record of 2:21:21, set in Chicago in 1985 -- was looking for another marathon, hoping to beat 2 hours, 42 minutes to qualify for the trials in 2000. She had a short list of cities drawn up but found herself in New York City over the Halloween weekend, speaking for Nike, the athletic equipment giant that sponsors her in running events.
She decided to enter the New York Marathon just that Sunday morning. She finished in 12th place -- in 2:41:06.
But Samuelson insists family, not the the finish line, is now her prime interest.
Running ``is not my entire life. With children and marriage priorities, my focus has changed,'' she says by telephone from her seaside home in Freeport. ``The most important thing is to have a healthy balance with everything you do in your life.''
The house she shares with her husband, 11-year-old daughter, Abby, and 9-year-old son, Anders, in Freeport is only a half hour up the coast from where her impressive running career began.
Last summer, she fulfilled her long-held dream of establishing a hometown race with the first Beach to Beacon 10K, which attracted thousands of world-class athletes and recreational runners.
The course begins near Crescent Beach State Park in her hometown of Cape Elizabeth and offers ocean views en route to the finish line at Portland Head Light. It's a route Samuelson traced many times while growing up and showcases some of the benchmarks of her career, including the high school where she began running, the bronze statue outside the library that honors her Olympic triumph and her childhood home, not far from the finish.
``There is no name more associated with marathoning in America than Joan Benoit Samuelson,'' says Dave Mingey, a Nike spokesman. ``Long before Los Angeles and long after, she was one of the most dominant marathoners in the world.''
She is so beloved at Nike that several buildings at its Beaverton, Ore., headquarters are named in her honor, Mingey says. The company's Boston Deli recalls her two Boston Marathon wins; the convenience store is called Blackberries because she likes to pick blackberries when she visits Beaverton. Her pictures dot walls all over the campus.
Besides her work with Nike, Samuelson promotes charitable and athletic events and does TV ads for a Portland bank. She speaks frequently to schoolchildren and urges them to enjoy sports for themselves, not to please others.
``I just tell all the youngsters I address to follow your heart, and I tell my children the same thing,'' she says. ``If there isn't passion, there isn't fire.''
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved
AP Online
07-25-1999
Women's Sports Boom Buoys Benoit
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Joan Benoit Samuelson, gold medalist 15 years ago in the first women's Olympic marathon ever run, insists she's now a simple soccer mom interested more in her kids' games than her own races.
But she still laces on running shoes every day and last fall qualified for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Now 42, Samuelson says she's thrilled with the growing excitement over women's sports, especially the recent U.S. victory in World Cup soccer and the rapid expansion of the Women's National Basketball Association.
``There were pioneers in sports that opened the door for me, and I would like to think in some small way, I helped open the doors for the young women ... today,'' she says.
There is little doubt of that. Samuelson showed regular people what they could accomplish with a lot of hard work, says Marjorie Snyder, associate executive director of the Women's Sports Foundation.
``Joan, as an athlete, came along at the right moment and had the right attitude about sport,'' Snyder says.
``It was certainly helpful she won'' the marathon, Snyder adds. ``It's like the women's World Cup. If they'd finished third, I don't think there would be quite as much excitement about it.''
Samuelson's victory in the inaugural Olympic marathon, Aug. 5, 1984, also silenced naysayers who claimed women were physically incapable of running 26 miles, 385 yards, says Donna Lopiano, the foundation's executive director.
``She never slowed, she never faltered. She ran with a determination that from beginning to end never wavered,'' Lopiano says. ``It closed the book on whether women were made of the right stuff in distance running.''
If her age today might seem an obstacle to a berth in the next year's Sydney Olympics, back then it was surgery on her right knee -- just 17 days before the trials.
Samuelson had felt a twinge in her right knee in March 1984. Cortisone shots didn't help, and a month later, she could barely hobble through three miles. In late April, she had arthroscopic surgery, then a relatively new procedure. She won the trials with a time of 2:31:04. Three months later, she collected the gold medal.
Last fall, Samuelson -- who still holds the U.S. women's marathon record of 2:21:21, set in Chicago in 1985 -- was looking for another marathon, hoping to beat 2 hours, 42 minutes to qualify for the trials in 2000. She had a short list of cities drawn up but found herself in New York City over the Halloween weekend, speaking for Nike, the athletic equipment giant that sponsors her in running events.
She decided to enter the New York Marathon just that Sunday morning. She finished in 12th place -- in 2:41:06.
But Samuelson insists family, not the the finish line, is now her prime interest.
Running ``is not my entire life. With children and marriage priorities, my focus has changed,'' she says by telephone from her seaside home in Freeport. ``The most important thing is to have a healthy balance with everything you do in your life.''
The house she shares with her husband, 11-year-old daughter, Abby, and 9-year-old son, Anders, in Freeport is only a half hour up the coast from where her impressive running career began.
Last summer, she fulfilled her long-held dream of establishing a hometown race with the first Beach to Beacon 10K, which attracted thousands of world-class athletes and recreational runners.
The course begins near Crescent Beach State Park in her hometown of Cape Elizabeth and offers ocean views en route to the finish line at Portland Head Light. It's a route Samuelson traced many times while growing up and showcases some of the benchmarks of her career, including the high school where she began running, the bronze statue outside the library that honors her Olympic triumph and her childhood home, not far from the finish.
``There is no name more associated with marathoning in America than Joan Benoit Samuelson,'' says Dave Mingey, a Nike spokesman. ``Long before Los Angeles and long after, she was one of the most dominant marathoners in the world.''
She is so beloved at Nike that several buildings at its Beaverton, Ore., headquarters are named in her honor, Mingey says. The company's Boston Deli recalls her two Boston Marathon wins; the convenience store is called Blackberries because she likes to pick blackberries when she visits Beaverton. Her pictures dot walls all over the campus.
Besides her work with Nike, Samuelson promotes charitable and athletic events and does TV ads for a Portland bank. She speaks frequently to schoolchildren and urges them to enjoy sports for themselves, not to please others.
``I just tell all the youngsters I address to follow your heart, and I tell my children the same thing,'' she says. ``If there isn't passion, there isn't fire.''
The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved
