 The career of Norway 's Grete Waitz is legendary. As one of the world's top athletes, her accomplishments include being the nine-time winner of the New York City Marathon; the five-time winner of the World Cross Country Championships; the five-time winner of the Women's Mini Marathon in New York City; a gold medalist at the 1993 World Championship Marathon in Helsinki; a silver medalist in the 1984 Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles; the first woman to break 2:30 in the marathon she set four world bests in, including the first time she ever ran the distance; and the two-time world record holder in the 3000 meters. Her Olympic career spanned over 20 years, from the Munich Games in 1972, in which she ran the 1500 meters, then the longest distance available to women, to the first women's Olympic Marathon in 1984. Ms. Waitz has been credited with placing women's marathoning on the map, and her accomplishments led to the inclusion of that distance to the Olympic program. In 1991, Runner's World magazine's international expert panel voted Ms. Waitz as the Best Female Distance Runner in the world in the past quarter century. In 2000, she was chosen as the Marathoner of the Century by Track & Field News. Since her retirement from competitive running, Grete Waitz has worked on promoting health and fitness in the United States and in Europe . In 1984 she established the Grete Waitz Run for women in Oslo , which has grown to an astounding 44,000 participants, making it the largest event of its kind worldwide. She had developed and implemented training programs for beginning exercisers, and focused on using exercise for self-esteem with such groups as the unemployed, the mentally ill, recovering drug addicts and prisoners. Grete Waitz is the author of On The Run--Exercise and Fitness for Busy People, and World Class, which has been translated into various other languages. She is also featured in her own running video, Running Great With Grete Waitz. She is a contributor to major running publications in the USA and major Norwegian magazines and newspapers. She is currently the host of Running and More, an Internet radio program on eYada. She does extensive radio and television interviews and broadcasting. She is an experienced public speaker and panelist.
|
