Flashback Friday: When Women Weren't Allowed to Run

by Dana-Susan Crews

Boston Marathon race officials attempting to remove Kathrine Switzer
from the course in 1967

It may seem hard to believe in now, but there was a time (and it wasn't all that long ago) when ladies were not permitted to run marathons. In fact, anyone reading this who was alive in the year 1984 will likely remember it as the first year there was a women's marathon at the Olympic Games.

So, ladies, here's a little glimpse into the history of women who fought a long, hard battle to prove how tough we are as endurance athletes...

Women were forbidden from participating in the ancient Olympics and even if a woman was a spectator at the Games, she faced execution! That did not mean that women in ancient Greece didn't run though. To honor the goddess Hera, every five years, they held a festival which included a short footrace.

When the modern Olympic Games returned in 1896, once again, women were excluded. That did not stop some women from running the marathon course though. Stamatis Rovithi was the first known woman to cover the course from Marathon to Athens. The next month, a woman called Melpomene tried to enter the Olympic Marathon but was denied. So, she became a "bandit" and ran it anyway, finishing an hour and a half after Spiridon Louis won. Because she was barred from entering the stadium to finish, she ran her final lap around the outside of the building.

The first woman to record an official time in a marathon was Violet Piercy of Great Britain. Her time of 3:40:22 was recorded on October 3, 1926. Her record stood for 37 years until December 16, 1963 when American Merry Lepper ran in a time of 3:37:07.

Before the 1980s, the longest race a woman could participate in was the 1500 meters which began in 1972 at the Olympic Games in Moscow. Before that, the longest distance for women was the 800 meters which was instituted in 1928. Part of the reason for the ban on women was the fact that many competitors had not properly trained for the races and would collapse, leading race organizers to believe running too strenuous for the female body.

One of the greatest plights of female runners was at the Boston Marathon. In 1897, Boston began its event to honor Paul Revere. Women were not permitted to run until 1972, but that did not keep them from running it. They had all kinds of tricks for jumping in to run the course. In 1966 Roberta Gibb hid behind a bush at the start line before sneaking onto the course and finishing the race in an unofficial time of 3:21:25.

The next year, one of the most famous ladies in marathon history joined Gibb. Wearing race number 261, Kathrine Switzer, registered as "K.V. Switzer", ran the race. It wasn't until about four miles into the race that a race official, realizing Switzer was a woman, tried to remove her from the course. Her football player boyfriend from Syracuse University where Switzer was a student, stepped in and knocked down the official. Later that day, 20-year-old Switzer finished in a time of 4:20. That same year, Gibb returned to finish in 3:27:17. Neither of these times was official, but the ladies were proving that women could indeed run marathons.

"I think it's time to change the rules," said Switzer following the race. And the public debate was heating up. This was a time in the United States when the women's liberation movement was growing and change was definitely on the horizon.

In 1972, women were finally permitted to run the Boston Marathon. In 1973, Germany held the first all women's marathon competition. And with the 1980 Olympic Games coming up, race organizers once again debated whether or not women should be allowed to compete. Researchers and physicians joined the argument, some suggesting that long distance running would damage the female reproductive system and that the stress of running would harm the female body which was more frail than a male body.

By this time, Kathrine Switzer was a booming voice for female marathoners. She was the director of the Women's Sports Foundation and along with an Avon executive, they hosted the 1978 Avon International Marathon.

In 1979, Grete Waitz won the women's division of the New York City Marathon in a time of 2:27:33, making her the first woman to break the 2:30 time.

Finally, in 1980, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) issued an official statement: "There exists no conclusive scientific or medical evidence that long distance running is contraindicated for the healthy, trained female athlete. The ACSM recommends that females be allowed to compete at the national and international level in the same distances in which their male counterparts compete".

In 1981, Kathrine Switzer traveled to Los Angeles to appear before the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee to argue on behalf of a women's marathon competition. On February 23, 1981 at 6:30 p.m. the IOC announced its approval of the women's marathon at the 1984 Olympic Games!

Joan Benoit was the first woman to win the Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles in 1984. Her time was 2:24:52.

Today, women dominate the field at marathon events. Ladies, there were so very many who paved the way. Today, women run marathons, compete at Ironman races, and prove over and over that the female body is anything but frail. Thank you to all the wonderful women of the past for making this sport something we can all do today!

Check out this video with Kathrine Switzer describing her first running of the Boston Marathon...