Maria de Lurdes Mutola is a retired female track and field athlete from Mozambique who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. She is a three-time world champion in this event and a one-time Olympic champion.
Grete Waitz was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, at the New York City Marathon, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. Waitz won nine New York City Marathons, women's division, between 1978 and 1988, the highest number of victories in a single big city marathon in history. She won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and a gold medal at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. She was also a five-time winner of the World Cross Country Championships.
Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner.
Sonia O'Sullivan is an Irish former track and field athlete. She won a gold medal in the 5000 metres at the 1995 World Championships, and a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2000 Olympic Games. Her 2000 m world record of 5:25.36, set in 1994 stood until 2017.
Wang Junxia is a Chinese former long-distance runner who is the current world record holder at 3,000 meters. She also held the world record for the 10,000 meters for 23 years, between 1993 and 2016. Her best years lay between 1991 and 1996. Wang was coached by Ma Junren until 1995 and by Mao Dezhen from 1995 to her retirement after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Letitia Alma Vriesde is a former track and field athlete from Suriname, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 1500 metres. She is the first sportsperson from Suriname to compete at five Olympic Games. She won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships. Vriesde holds the South American records for the 800 metres, 1000 metres and 1500 metres and also for the 3000 metres (indoors).
Paula Ivan is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner.
Marta Domínguez Azpeleta is a Spanish former runner and politician. She competes mainly in the steeplechase. She has represented Spain four times at the Olympics and has competed at the World Championships on six occasions.
Joanne Marie Pavey MBE is a British long-distance runner representing Europe, Great Britain and England in a career notable for its longevity, range and consistency. A World, European and Commonwealth medallist, Pavey won her only senior title when she claimed the 10,000 m gold medal at the 2014 European Championships in Zürich, ten months after giving birth to her second child, to become the oldest female European champion in history at the age of 40 years and 325 days.
Lorraine Mary Moller is a former athlete from New Zealand, who competed in track athletics and later specialised in the marathon. Moller's international career lasted over 20 years and included winning a silver medal in the marathon at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh and a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona at the age of 37. A four-time Olympian, she also completed the marathon at the 1984, 1988 and 1996 games. Her other marathon victories included the 1984 Boston Marathon and being a three-time winner (1986,87,89) of the Osaka International Ladies Marathon.
Vicki Huber is a retired American middle distance and cross country runner.
Cornelia Bürki is a South African-born retired long-distance runner who represented Switzerland in three consecutive Olympic Games, starting in 1980, with her best result being fifth in the 1984 3000 metres final. She is a 47-time Swiss national outdoor champion, which includes a fifteen-year undefeated streak in cross country and fifteen consecutive titles over 1500 metres, from 1975 to 1989. She was voted the Swiss Sports Personality of the Year in 1978. That year, she finished fifth at the 1978 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She was fourth in the 1500m and 3000m finals at the 1987 World Championships.
Antje Möldner-Schmidt is a retired German track and field athlete who specialised in middle distance running and the 3000 metres steeplechase.
Silvana Cruciata is a former Italian middle- and long-distance runner. She represented Italy at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and shared medals with the Italian women's teams at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Her best of 18.084 km for the one hour run set in 1981 was a world record for over seventeen years.
Annette Sergent is a French former long-distance runner. She represented her country three times at the Summer Olympics, but it was in cross country running that she had her greatest success. She became the first Frenchwoman to win a world title in the sport at the 1987 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and won for a second time in 1989. In addition to these victories, she made eleven appearances at the competition and placed third in both 1986 and 1988.
Lucy Oliver is a New Zealand middle-distance runner, who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in the Women's 1500 metres. Along with her twin sister Holly, Lucy attended Stony Brook University in New York until 2012, earning an undergraduate degree in sociology followed by a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MA/LS). She was chosen an NCAA All-American for outdoor track, indoor track and cross-country (2011). She competed in the 3000 m at the 2014 World Indoor Championships. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she competed in the 1500 m and the 5000 m.
Marie-Pierre Duros is a French former middle- and long-distance runner who specialised in the 3000 metres. Her personal best of 8:38.97 minutes for the event is a former French record, which lasted from 1989 to 1999. She was a two-time Olympian and three times participant at the World Championships in Athletics.
Deborah Dawn "Debbie" Scott-Bowker is a Canadian former middle- and long-distance runner. A three-time Olympian for Canada, she reached the 1500 m final in 1984, and both the 1500 m and 3000 m finals in 1988. She was also a three-time World Championship finalist, reaching the 1500 m and 3000 m finals in 1987, and the 1500 m final in 1991.
Emily Infeld is an American long-distance runner. She regularly competes in the 5000 m and 10,000 m distances during her professional career; in her college career she regularly competed in the 4 × 800 meter relay and 1500 m on up to 5000 m.
Andrea Hahmann is a German former middle-distance runner who represented the GDR. She finished fifth in the 1500m final at the 1987 World Championships, and sixth in the 1500m final at the 1988 Olympic Games.
