18 Facts About Joan Benoit

Joan Benoit Samuelson was born on May 16,1957 and is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Joan Benoit held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985.

Joan Benoit was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.

Joan Benoit earned All-America honors at NC State in both 1977 and 1978.

Joan Benoit won the race, wearing a Boston Red Sox cap, in 2:35:15, knocking eight minutes off the competition record.

In March 1984, Joan Benoit injured her knee during a 20-mile training run, forcing her to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery just 17 days before the United States Olympic Women's Marathon Trials were scheduled.

Joan Benoit beat runner-up Julie Brown by 30 seconds, winning in 2:31:04.

Joan Benoit enjoyed success at non-marathon distances as well, winning the prestigious Falmouth Road Race, a total of six times, breaking the course record on four of those occasions.

Joan Benoit received the 1985 James E Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

Joan Benoit wrote Running Tide and Running for Women.

Joan Benoit won that race several times, and ran it last in 2022, finishing as the 69th woman overall and first in her age group.

In 2003, at age 46, Joan Benoit won the Maine half-marathon, defeating a field dominated by runners two decades her junior, and she was faster than all but six men overall, finishing in 1:18.

Joan Benoit's times are 2:50:33,2:52:15, and 2:54:26.

In 2019, Joan Benoit ran the Boston Marathon again, forty years after her 1979 win.

Joan Benoit had hoped to be within 40 minutes of her 1979 time, but did even better than that with a time of 3:04:00, within thirty minutes of her winning time, again winning her age group.

Joan Benoit is featured on the Nike+ iPod system as one of the congratulatory voices.

Joan Benoit was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 1998, the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000, the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004 and the USATF Masters Hall of Fame in 2014.

Joan Benoit recorded a run time of 3:04:00, which was within 40 minutes of her original time which was a promise she had made prior to competing in that year's edition of the Boston Marathon.