Michael Johnson The staggering record and a final injury
Fabio Casartelli The gold in Barcelona '92 that had a tragic end
Vitaly Scherbo The unequaled milestone in Barcelona'92
Bruce Jenner The Olympic champion and transgender adoptive father of the Kardashians
Jesse Owens From Hitler's busy schedule to the cold silence of Roosevelt and the White House
Martín López-Zubero The American who placed Spain at the top
Paavo Nurmi The Legend of the Flying Finnish
Donovan Bailey The Atlanta 100m Bomber '96
Alberto Juantorena The man who dared to double his distance
Emil Zátopek The carpenter's son who came to triumph at the Games with a hernia
Rica Reinisch The prodigious 'undine' and her complaint against the GDR anabolics
From the very birth, at the end of the 19th century, of the Olympic Games, promoted by upper-class men and conservative ideas, the presence of women was discussed in them, reduced to practicing a few modalities.
Until Amsterdam'28, women were not allowed to compete in athletics (and gymnastics).
The sight of several of the participants in the 800 meters collapsing, exhausted, after finishing the test produced a negative impression on the rancid leaders.
Such an impact, that the new president of the International Olympic Committee, Belgian Count
Henri de Baillet-Latour
, elected in 1925, suggested that all women's sports be eliminated from the program of modern Games, imitating those of Antiquity, reserved to men.
Such extremes were not reached.
But, in athletics, within the very small general program, women were banned from distances greater than 200 meters for 32 years.
Until Rome'60.
Of course, with this mentality, the women's marathon was doomed never to be held.
However, women (few, reviled, sympathetic) had been running marathons, as another form of rebellion and conquest, since, let's say,
forever
. In the 70s they were already taken into account. Especially since the Australian
Adrienne Beames
easily broke, in September 1971, the theoretically insurmountable barrier for the ladies of the three hours (2:46:30).
At the beginning of the 80s, the Norwegian long distance runner
Grete Waitz
was very popular
, who, on April 17, 1983, set the best world record in the London marathon - then road races were not recognized as records, because of the differences between the runs - in 2:25:29.
The next day, in Boston, the American
Joan Benoit
cut it down with one bite to 2:22:43.
The marathon was a test admitted to the European Championships since Athens'82.
And it was already included in the first World Championships, held in Helsinki, in 1983 (in which
Waitz
had won).
His absence from the Olympic program was meaningless.
He was admitted to Los Angeles '84.
Waitz and Benoit, born in Maine in May 1957, were, therefore, the favorites that hot and humid August 5, 1984. In the transcendence of the moment, a true milestone for women's sports, part of the public that crowded the route did not he could hold back the tears.
Benoit took the head at a quarter of an hour into the race.
Waitz watched her walk away, but reacted at kilometer 30.
Too late.
Benoit carried a long winning momentum and crossed the line in 2:24:52.
Waitz did it at 2:26:18.
The third classified, the Portuguese Rosa Mota (2:27:57), European champion, would win, among new titles, the Olympic in Seoul '88.
The fourth, the other great Norwegian,
Ingrid Kristiansen
, would succeed Benoit in London in 1985, in the chronometric reign (2:21:06).
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