Tegla Loroupe's Success

Born premature, and stricken with polio at a young age, Wilma was probably the least likely individual to be the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games. But, as CYO athlete should

The article “Boston Marathon Winner Gives Trophy to 1966 Pioneer Woman” by Jimmy Golden from abc News. Atsede Baysa was the female winner after she finish the race she learn about the history of the Marathon. After winning the race she ask if she could meet Gibb. Baysa want to give her own trophy to Gibb because When Gibb ran in the 1967 and 1968 marathon and she did not get a trophy for her three and first place finishes. After Gibb know that she will give her trophy to her and Gibb said that she would only keep the trophy for 1 year because Baysa is the one who won the race and Gibb was impressed with what she did.

All you need is love and a nice long run. Are you one of these gallopers? Well, if the answer is yes, then that’s great to hear! All the naysayers may politely stop reading. All right, back to our benevolent runners.

Impregnated while on the ball of her running career in Louisiana State University track, Heather Van Norman fought to survive as a young woman and athlete. She ran, baby and all, during her career as a collegiate track runner at LSU in the 1990’s. But even before she would sprint to victory as an outstanding track runner, mother of Odell Beckham Junior, and ladies’ coach for track, field, and cross-country, Van Norman had to face the harsh realities of paying for college and working for her time as an on-team performer. Eating, sleeping, and breathing her life as a full-time student, the young woman had to overcome the monetary and physical hardships with only the help of herself, her family, and her community’s support (Reusse 2).

In the book Born to Run, McDougall’s purpose is to inform and educate the reader in matters of the running world. He seeks to prove that running can be an inspirational activity in physical fitness and doesn’t require injury as part of your running journey. “And all because in January 2001 I asked my doctor this: ‘How come my foot hurts?’” (8). While McDougall’s initial purpose was to seek out if humans were born to run “…why should every other mammal on the planet be able to depend of its legs except us?”(13), he later develops his purpose into a more complex

In page _____, (first page)it says, “, I’m the fastest and that goes for Gretchen, too, who has put out the tale that she is going to win the first-place medal this year. Ridiculous. In the second place, she’s got short legs. In the third place,

This summer I attended the Metro Detroit Heart Walk benefitting the American Heart Association. It’s a walk or run race that started at Ford Field and span five kilometers throughout the streets of downtown Detroit preceded by a short informative event. I'd been asked to compete by my godmother Sandy, who works for a Henry Ford hospital, one of the event sponsors. I decided the run the race, even though I’m probably the least athletic person in the world. I wanted to challenge myself and make Sandy happy.

After spending several years working the Sport’s Desk of the Lansing State Journal, Rhonda had landed the job of her dreams as a writer for Runners’ World magazine. The job was fantastic! Since high school, where she had excelled in cross country, Rhonda had been a consistent runner, participating in local races

An online excerpt of Kathrine Switzer’s autobiography tells her story, being the first woman to ever enter, run, and complete the Boston Marathon. As a young adult, Switzer trained with the boys’ cross country team at Syracuse University; this was where she also met her future marathon coach, Arnie Briggs, who was more than happy to see a woman training with the men. Switzer eventually suggested that she should run the Boston Marathon, and her coach agreed to register her, along with himself, Switzer’s boyfriend, and a fellow cross country runner. In Boston just before the race, Switzer recalls feeling welcomed by the other runners, despite being female (Switzer 2). A reflection of this being, “I had no idea I was going to become a part of that history. I wasn’t running Boston to prove anything; I was just a kid who wanted to run her first marathon” (Switzer 3). About four miles through the race, a marathon official manager, Jock Semple, made his way towards Switzer and began screaming at her to get out of the race. He pulled her backwards and attempted to grab the bib number off of her chest, but Switzer continued running. With the press following her through the rest of the race, a combination of humiliation and anger led Switzer to the conclusion that, “I knew if I quit, nobody would ever believe that women had the capability to run twenty-six-plus miles. If I quit, everybody would

Cathy Freeman has received quit an amount of awards and she has achieved many achievements. In 1990 she won a gold medal for the 4x100 meter relay. In 1991 she was awarded Young Australian of the Year. 1992 she was the first Australian Aboriginal to compete in the Olympic Games. In the year 1994 won gold at the commonwealth games in Canada for the 200 and 400 metre. 1996 she won silver medal and her personal best for the 400 metre.1997 at the World Athletic Championships she won gold in the 400 metres. In 1998 she was awarded Australian of the Year. 1999 she won gold again in the 400 metre at the World Athletic Championships. In 2000 her image was beamed into millions of homes around the world when she became the first competing athlete to be invited to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games. She then went on the win the gold medal in than 400 metre – her dream had come true. On July 15 2003 Catherine Freeman announced her retirement from competitive running and now she concentrates her time on making a difference to others through the Cathy Freeman Foundation.

You are a runner and you are fast. In 1934, you set a high school world interscholastic record for the mile at 4:21.2. At the age of 19 you run the 5000 meters in the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany and finish a disappointing 8th, but run your last lap faster than anyone one in history. Adolf Hitler is so impressed he asks to meet you. In 1938, you run a 4:08 mile. Many people believe that you will be the first human to break the 4:00 minute mile barrier. Your future is bright and your goals and dreams are big: Olympic gold in the 1500 in 1940.

There still was a belief that women were too frail physically and mentally to participate in intense competition like Olympics. However, in 1932, Mildred “ Babe” Didrikson disproved this belief by winning two Olympic gold medals and one silver medal in track and field. She had also won every golf tournament she competed in. Her great victories influenced the acceptance of

In 1983, Jarmila Kratochvílová set the world record for the 800-meter event with a time of 1:53.28, quickly creating an uproar among Olympians and aficionados due to her dominant male physical characteristics. It was rumored that she had been using testosterone, the hormone responsible for male secondary sexual characteristics produced in the testes, to enhance her physical abilities (Vilain 8). Essential, she paved the way for female athletes who also appeared to have certain physical features not correspondent to XX women. During the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Pamela Jelimo from Kenya placed third for the 800-meter event with a time of 1:54.01. In 2009, Caster Semenya earned the 11th place in the world with a time of 1:55.45. In the media, both women were portrayed as masculine which was a form of public humiliation. Although it was never clearly confirmed, these women went through the IOC’s process to verify the suspicion that genetically, they were “XY”, and therefore men. These women professionals are given an ultimatum; to decline participation in the Olympics, or to compete with men. The IOC should not have a criterion to determine a woman’s eligibility to compete, and unfortunately, this has not been the only time that this humiliating act of discrimination has

Gender Verification and sport are two terms when brought together that create a bang louder than a starting pistol. The documentary “To Fast to Be a Woman” tells the story of Caster Semenya. In 2009 Caster Semenya won the woman’s 800m sprint at the World Championships in Berlin. At the same competition Usain Bolt competed and while he was celebrated for the world records that he set, Caster Semenya was scrutinized by other competitors and the public for having a more muscular build than a regular female. Her muscular build and fast time began to fuel rumors of hermaphroditism and levels of testosterone three times that of what is seen as ‘normal.’ The rumors caused red flags for the International Association for Athletics Federation (IAAF) and she was ordered to take a gender verification test. The IAAF wanted to determine if Semenya’s excess testosterone provided her with an unfair advantage.

The modern Olympic movement was shaped through the soaring advocation of women’s rights (2, 8). An anonymous photographer (#2), in the 1908 Olympic games held in Great Britain where only 2 percent of women participated in the games, presents a photograph of Sybil Newall, a female British competitor at the games, and advocates women participating in the games. This photographer might have this view because he or she is a feminist that took place in the women suffrage movement and is baffled that solely two percent of athletes were women, and is urging the Olympics to make a great change. Hassiva Boulmerka (#8), an Algerian competitor that engaged in the 1992 games held in Spain where 29 percent of the athletes were women, believes that every woman has the ability of becoming an athlete, and must strengthen their mind and conscious, not just their body, to overcome these social challenges. Boulmerka, as a woman participant, may have this belief because she has underwent these obstacles as well, and wishes to motivate women in Spain to have the will and determination to overcome them and become a female athlete like herself. A good additional document that would better our understanding of how this social