Achievements
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing the  United States | |||||
| 1984 | Olympic Games | Los Angeles, United States | — | Marathon | DNF |
| 1990 | Los Angeles Marathon | Los Angeles, United States | 1st | Marathon | 2:32:25 |
Mary Julie Isphording (born December 5, 1961, in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a retired female long-distance runner from the United States. She competed for her native country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. However, she did not reach the finish line there. Isphording set her personal best in the classic distance (2:30:54) in 1989.
Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to have run the entire Boston Marathon, sculpted the 12-inch bronze figurines of a pony-tailed girl running that were given as trophies to Joan Benoit Samuelson, Julie Brown (athlete), and Isphording, the top three women marathoners at the US Olympic trials in 1984. [1] [2]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing the United States | |||||
| 1984 | Olympic Games | Los Angeles, United States | — | Marathon | DNF |
| 1990 | Los Angeles Marathon | Los Angeles, United States | 1st | Marathon | 2:32:25 |
Joan Benoit Samuelson 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. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman at that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.
Mary Teresa Slaney is an American retired middle-distance and long-distance runner. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships and was the world-record holder in the mile, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. In total, she set 17 official and unofficial world records, and she was the first woman to break 4:20 for the mile. She also set 36 U.S. national records at distances ranging from 800 meters to 10,000 meters, and has held the U.S. record in the 2000 meters and 3000 meters since the early 1980s, while her 1500 meters record stood for 32 years and her mile record stood for 38 years. In 2003, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Chirine Njeim is a Lebanese alpine skier and long-distance runner.
Gabriela "Gaby" Andersen-Schiess is a former Swiss long-distance runner who participated in the first women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Though living in Sun Valley, Idaho, and working as a ski instructor at the time, Andersen-Schiess represented Switzerland in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Doris Elaine Brown Heritage is a retired American runner. She won the International Cross Country Championships five times in a row, in 1967–1971. She collected silver medals in the 800 m at the Pan American Games in 1967 and 1971. She placed fifth in the event at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Brown Heritage briefly held the world record in the 3000 m in 1971. She was the first woman to clock a sub five-minute mile indoors. After retiring from competitions she had a long career as a running coach, and helped prepare the national women's team to the 1984 Summer Olympics. Brown Heritage was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, National Track Coaches Hall of Fame and National Distance Running Hall of Fame.
Kara Goucher is an American long-distance runner. She was the 10,000 meters silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and represented the USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. She made her marathon debut in 2008 and finished third the following year at the Boston Marathon.
Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego is a Kenyan-born American long- and middle-distance runner. She was the silver medalist in the 10,000 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the silver medalist in the same race at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She has a personal record of 30:38.35 minutes for that event and her 5000 metres best of 14:30.42 minutes makes her the second fastest Kenyan woman for the distance.
Jennifer Rhines is an American long-distance runner who competes in track, cross country and road running events. She has competed in three different Summer Olympics and made 15 US Teams.
Constantina Diță, is a Romanian long-distance runner, who specializes mainly in the half marathon and marathon. She was the marathon gold medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, having previously won a bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. She also represented her country at the Olympics in 2000 and 2004.
Roberta Louise Gibb is an American former runner who was the first woman to have run the entire Boston Marathon (1966). She is recognized by the Boston Athletic Association as the pre-sanctioned era women's winner in 1966, 1967, and 1968. At the Boston Marathon, the pre-sanctioned era comprised the years from 1966 through 1971, when women, who under AAU rules could not compete in the Men's Division, ran and finished the race. In 1996 the B.A.A. retroactively recognized as champions the women who finished first in the Pioneer Women's Division Marathon for the years 1966–1971.
Nancy Jane Ditz is a former American long-distance runner who is a United States national champion in the marathon. Ditz competed in the marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Janis Kristin Klecker is a former American long-distance runner who is a two-time United States national champion in the marathon.
Linda Somers-Smith is an American long-distance runner who is a two-time United States national champion in the marathon. Somers competed in the marathon at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She also won the 1992 Chicago Marathon (2:37:41) and the 1993 California International Marathon (2:34:11). Somers is notable as she is one of the very few athletes who has continued running at the elite level since she turned Pro in 1984 into the transition to Masters athlete. She continues to win and place in Open competition, even at the age of 50, all the while as a practicing attorney.
Cathy Schiro O'Brien is a retired female long-distance runner from the United States. She was an Olympian, and she holds the US women's high school record in the marathon. O'Brien set her personal best (2:29:38) in the women's marathon when she won the women's Los Angeles Marathon in 1991.
Julie Ann Brown is retired distance runner. She won the IAAF World Cross Country Championship in 1975 and represented the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon.
Kim Merritt is a former American long-distance runner who competed in the marathon. Her career coincided with the development of women's running in the United States and she was at the forefront of distance running in the mid-1970s.
Kim Conley is an American track and field athlete, who competes in middle and long distance track events. She finished in third place at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in the 5,000 meters, where she finished twelfth in her heat.
Lindsey Anderson is an American middle distance and steeplechase runner. She is a two-time NCAA All-American, a four-time school record holder at Weber State University, and a six-time Big Sky Conference senior champion. She also set a personal best time of 9:30.75 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase by placing second at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, which guaranteed her a qualifying place for the Olympics. University of Missouri women cross country head coach
Jenny Spangler is an American long-distance runner. She competed in Atlanta, GA in the women's marathon at the 1996 Summer Olympics, but dropped out, along with 20 other women. By virtue of winning the Olympic Trials in 2:29:54, she was also the 1996 United States national champion in the marathon. She had run the best time of any U.S. Junior in 1983, clocking 2:33:52 at the Duluth, Minnesota point-to-point Grandma's Marathon. In 1984, she finished the Trials in 2:40:18, in 1988, 2:44.59, and in 2000, in 2:36:30, for 9th place. In 2003 Spangler set a Masters American Record at the Chicago Marathon.
Debbie Mueller is an American middle and long-distance runner who won many major road races in the 1980s and 1990s, including the Dublin Marathon.
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