 | | Joan Samuelson |  |
|---|
| City, State: | Freeport, Maine | | DOB: | 16-May-57 | | Age: | 52 | | Qualifying Performance: | 2:46:27 | Details:
10K: 31:37 (1983)
Half Marathon: 1:08:34 (1984)
Marathon: 2:21:21 (1985)
2:46:27 Twin Cities (2006)
2000 Columbia 9th 2:39:59
1996 Columbia 13th 2:36:54
1984 Olympia 1st 2:31:04
1984 Los Angeles, Marathon 1st 2:24:52
2002 The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon 16th 2:42:28
2001 New York City Marathon 21st 2:42:56
1998 New York City 12th 2:41:06
1997 The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon 17th 2:46:34
1994 The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon 6th 2:37:09
1993 Boston Marathon 6th 2:35:43
1991 New York City Marathon 6th 2:33:49
1991 Boston Marathon 4th 2:26:54
1989 Boston Marathon 9th 2:37:52
1988 New York City Marathon 3rd 2:32:40
1985 America's Marathon (Chicago) 1st 2:21:21 (AR)
1983 Boston Marathon 1st 2:22:43 (WB)
1981 Boston Marathon 3rd 2:30:16
1979 Boston Marathon 1st 2:35:15 (AB)
1982 Nike OTC 1st 2:26:11 (AR)
1981 Avon International 2nd 2:37:24
1980 Choysa/Auckland 1st 2:31:23 (AR)
1979 Nike OTC 1st 2:35:41 (AR)
Joan Samuelson will forever be remembered for her dominating performance in the inaugural Olympic women's marathon in1984 when she beat a field that included other marathon legends such as Grete Waitz, Rosa Mota, Ingrid Kristiansen and Lisa Martin. Remarkably Samuelson had qualified at the US Olympic Marathon Trials just two and a half weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery, winning the race where she had to place in the top three to earn an Olympic berth.
She was considered one of the '84 Olympic favorites off her sensational 2:22:43 at the 1983 Boston Marathon. Blitzing the first half in 1:08:23, Samuelson went on to run nearly three minutes faster than any other woman had ever run at the time.
Samuelson began her marathon career rather inauspiciously with a 2:51 second place in Bermuda in January 1979 but then set an American best three months later at Boston (2:35:15). She added two American records at the '80 Choysa Marathon and '82 Nike OTC Marathon.
She only won one more marathon after the '84 Olympics but it was another stellar performance. Although Kristiansen had become the new world record holder by the 1985 America's Marathon Chicago, Samuelson prevailed in a dramatic showdown there to win in 2:21:21, the second fastest time in history and an American record that lasted until 2003.
Her résumé includes numerous national records (10K, 12K, 15K, 10 miles, Half-Marathon, 25K) and victories at such major US road races as the Bay to Breakers 12K, Bobby Crim 10-Miler, Falmouth Road Race, Philadelphia Distance Run, Quad City Times Bix 7-Miler, and the Tufts 10K for Women.
Joan Benoit is a native of Cape Elizabeth, Maine and graduated in 1979 from Bowdoin with a double major in history and environmental studies. She and husband Scott have two children, daughter Abby and son Anders. Benoit Samuelson won the 1985 Sullivan Award honoring America's top amateur athlete and has been inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame, National Distance Running Hall of Fame, International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America National Hall of Fame, and the International Women's Sports Foundation Hall of Fame.
A Nike consultant and a clinician, Samuelson is a frequent speaker at running, health, and fitness clinics and does sports commentating. In 1998 she founded the popular Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. She is the author of an autobiography Running Tide (Knopf, 1987), and Joan Samuelson's Running for Women (Rodale Press, 1995).
USATF Hall of Fame bio
Bowdoin Athletics bio
USOC profile
National Distance Running Hall of Fame
Maine Women's Hall of Fame bio
Tufts Healthplan 10K for Women bio
Fast-Women.com audio interview
Fast-Women.com interview |
|
