Grete Waitz, Marathon Champion, Dies at 57
By LIZ ROBBINS and LYNN ZINSER
Published: April 19, 2011
Grete Waitz, the Norwegian runner who won a record nine New York City Marathons starting with her first in October 1978, died Tuesday in Oslo. She was 57.
Grete Waitz crossing the finish
line of the New York Marathon in 1983.
Waitz revealed in 2005 that she had cancer, without disclosing details. Her death was confirmed by her husband, Jack Waitz. According to her New York-based lawyer Mike Frankfurt, she died peacefully in her sleep.
Waitz’s nine victories in the New York race is a mark that no woman or man has duplicated. Unassuming and yet fiercely confident, she inspired runners around the world and stayed involved in the running community even as she battled cancer.
“Grete was a great champion in life as well as in sport,” said Mary Wittenberg, president of the New York Road Runners and the marathon director. “We will forever celebrate Grete in our hearts and as an inspiration and role model for women’s running.”
Waitz (pronounced vites), a geography teacher in Norway, came to New York for the first time with her husband. She came on a whim, for a chance to explore a new city, an opportunity to run a different kind of race.
Fred Lebow, the founder of the New York City Marathon, thought Waitz might be a good pacesetter because she was a world-record holder in the 3,000 meters in track. She had never run more than 16 miles in a training run. Jack, who was her coach as well as her husband, knew that she could run more.
Grete Waitz did not come to set a pace. She not only won the 1978 New York race, but also set a world best, finishing in 2 hours 32 minutes 30 seconds — two minutes faster than the previous mark.
The only problem was when Waitz crossed the finish line, nobody knew the blond woman wearing Bib No. 1173.
The world, and the city, soon found out.
“Every sport should have a true champion like Grete, a woman with such dignity and humanity and modesty,” said George Hirsch, the chairman of the New York Road Runners, and a friend of hers since 1978. “New York adopted her as one of its true heroes, but unlike so many sports champions, Grete was down to earth. She was just happy to visit, blend in, talk to people, runners who came from all over the world always went right up to her. She just had time for everybody. She symbolized what was so great about the community of marathoners.”
When Waitz won her first New York City Marathon, women’s distance running was far from widely accepted. The women’s marathon would not be added to the Olympics until 1984.
When she ran that first New York race, she was such a neophyte that she and Jack ate a most unusual dinner on the eve of the race: shrimp cocktail, filet mignon, baked potato and ice cream, with a bottle of red wine. Waitz later told the story that she felt as if she were flying through the first 16 miles, but the final 10 miles felt as if she had a bag of cement strapped to her back. She considered abandoning the race somewhere in the Bronx, but, as she recalled, “I didn’t know where I was, and I had to get back to Jack.”
When she crossed the finish line, exhausted, and setting a world record, she took off her shoes and threw them at her husband. “I’ll never do this stupid thing again!” she yelled at him.
The next year in New York, she officially became the first female marathoner to break 2 hours 30 minutes. She found herself being recognized around the city, by runners, cabdrivers, even homeless people. She was friendly in greeting people but was uncomfortable with the spotlight.
Her success in New York also brought her immeasurable fame in her home country, and she used that platform to start a women’s 5K race in Oslo. That quickly grew from 5,000 participants to 40,000, far exceeding Waitz’s expectations. Norway eventually honored her with a statue outside Oslo’s main Bislett Stadium and put her face on a postage stamp.
“I think the impact Grete had on running was incredible,” said Wittenberg. “She started winning when women were just starting running. In New York, little girls grew up wanting to be like Grete.”Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won the first women’s Olympic marathon by beating Waitz, said Waitz was her inspiration.
“I just lost a dear friend and true competitor in every sense of the word,” Benoit Samuelson said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I lost a mentor and a role model as well.
“I think what will endure forever is the fact that she was able to balance a highly competitive career with the most gracious lifestyle and character that emanated good will throughout.”
In New York, Waitz’s victories became a ritual of autumn. She was presented each of her nine Samuel Rudin trophies by the Rudin family, the original business sponsors of the marathon.
“She was an icon, one of the greatest athletes of our century,” said Bill Rudin, fighting back tears as he recalled talking to Waitz at the start of last year’s race and introducing her to Edison Pena, the rescued Chilean miner who ran in it. “She was a class act, a real lady, who came back year after year in spite of her illness. She became a part of New York, a part of our family.”
Grete Andersen was born on Oct. 1, 1953, in Oslo. She was the only daughter of John, a pharmacist, and Reidun, who worked in a grocery store. She had two older brothers, Jan and Arild, and from an early age Waitz would run with them in a nearby forest and at the local track club. By the time she was in her late teenage years, she established herself as a junior cross-country champion and on the track. She met Jack Waitz, a local track coach and accountant for one of Norway’s largest newspapers, through mutual friends.
Waitz is survived by her brothers and her husband.
She was 18 when she competed in the women’s 1,500-meter race at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. She was eliminated in the first round, but her career as a competitive runner and pioneering athlete was just getting started.
She set the world record at 3,000 meters in the summer of 1975, but did not make the finals of the 1,500 at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Her chance at a third straight Olympics was foiled when Norway joined the American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, suffering from back spasms, she finished second to Benoit Samuelson in the inaugural women’s Olympic marathon.
Waitz also won the London Marathon in 1983 and 1986. She also won the world cross-country championships five times, including four straight from 1978 to 1981.
She won her last New York City Marathon title in 1988. Her most famous race in New York — which she considered her 10th victory — was the 1992 marathon, which she ran with Mr. Lebow, whose brain cancer was in remission at the time. The two crossed the finish line with their hands joined, their arms high. Lebow died in 1994.
“To me, the race of her life was the time she ran with Fred in New York,” Benoit Samuelson said. “That was a superlative effort on both of their parts.”
They finished in 5:32:34, an impossibly slow pace for a world champion marathoner, and Waitz said it was the hardest race she had ever run, and her most meaningful.
In Norway, Waitz established a foundation for cancer, Aktiv Mot Kreft, which sponsored runners in major races and supported activity centers at hospitals in Norway, much like the one in Oslo where Waitz had received treatments.
“I am convinced you can go through a lot more when you are physically fit,” she said. “It is both physical and mental. With the athletic background, you think more on the positive side — you can do this.”
In 2006, Waitz met Lance Armstrong, the cyclist and cancer survivor, who was running the New York City Marathon while on a brief retirement from cycling. Waitz said at the time that she hugged Armstrong and thanked him for all he had done for those stricken with cancer through his Livestrong Foundation.
“I was in the room when the two of them met, and it was incredible,” Rudin said. “Here were these two titans of sport relating to each other, not on a sports level but on a human level. She was asking for advice from him.”
Armstrong said in a telephone interview, “What a sweet lady. Fifty seven? Wow. You look at her and say she’s got another 40 years.”
Waitz and her husband not only made appearances at the marathon, but also throughout the year for other New York events, including Grete’s Great Gallop, a half-marathon in October that was part of the Norwegian Festival. Last October, Waitz took to the microphone to start the race, her voice strong and upbeat. She would also speak often to Fred’s Team, the cancer charity founded by Lebow in 1991, or to schoolchildren in New York.
“What is even more impressive than her racing was her dedication to this sport after her competitive days were over,” Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist, wrote in an e-mail. “She had a huge influence on inner-city schoolchildren in New York and was committed to sharing the benefits of running with the kids. Our sport was better because of her, and the adults and children who were fortunate enough to meet her have been touched by an influence that is bound to inspire success.”
NYTIMES
By LIZ ROBBINS and LYNN ZINSER
Published: April 19, 2011
Grete Waitz, the Norwegian runner who won a record nine New York City Marathons starting with her first in October 1978, died Tuesday in Oslo. She was 57.
Grete Waitz crossing the finish
line of the New York Marathon in 1983.
Waitz revealed in 2005 that she had cancer, without disclosing details. Her death was confirmed by her husband, Jack Waitz. According to her New York-based lawyer Mike Frankfurt, she died peacefully in her sleep.
Waitz’s nine victories in the New York race is a mark that no woman or man has duplicated. Unassuming and yet fiercely confident, she inspired runners around the world and stayed involved in the running community even as she battled cancer.
“Grete was a great champion in life as well as in sport,” said Mary Wittenberg, president of the New York Road Runners and the marathon director. “We will forever celebrate Grete in our hearts and as an inspiration and role model for women’s running.”
Waitz (pronounced vites), a geography teacher in Norway, came to New York for the first time with her husband. She came on a whim, for a chance to explore a new city, an opportunity to run a different kind of race.
Fred Lebow, the founder of the New York City Marathon, thought Waitz might be a good pacesetter because she was a world-record holder in the 3,000 meters in track. She had never run more than 16 miles in a training run. Jack, who was her coach as well as her husband, knew that she could run more.
Grete Waitz did not come to set a pace. She not only won the 1978 New York race, but also set a world best, finishing in 2 hours 32 minutes 30 seconds — two minutes faster than the previous mark.
The only problem was when Waitz crossed the finish line, nobody knew the blond woman wearing Bib No. 1173.
The world, and the city, soon found out.
“Every sport should have a true champion like Grete, a woman with such dignity and humanity and modesty,” said George Hirsch, the chairman of the New York Road Runners, and a friend of hers since 1978. “New York adopted her as one of its true heroes, but unlike so many sports champions, Grete was down to earth. She was just happy to visit, blend in, talk to people, runners who came from all over the world always went right up to her. She just had time for everybody. She symbolized what was so great about the community of marathoners.”
When Waitz won her first New York City Marathon, women’s distance running was far from widely accepted. The women’s marathon would not be added to the Olympics until 1984.
When she ran that first New York race, she was such a neophyte that she and Jack ate a most unusual dinner on the eve of the race: shrimp cocktail, filet mignon, baked potato and ice cream, with a bottle of red wine. Waitz later told the story that she felt as if she were flying through the first 16 miles, but the final 10 miles felt as if she had a bag of cement strapped to her back. She considered abandoning the race somewhere in the Bronx, but, as she recalled, “I didn’t know where I was, and I had to get back to Jack.”
When she crossed the finish line, exhausted, and setting a world record, she took off her shoes and threw them at her husband. “I’ll never do this stupid thing again!” she yelled at him.
The next year in New York, she officially became the first female marathoner to break 2 hours 30 minutes. She found herself being recognized around the city, by runners, cabdrivers, even homeless people. She was friendly in greeting people but was uncomfortable with the spotlight.
Her success in New York also brought her immeasurable fame in her home country, and she used that platform to start a women’s 5K race in Oslo. That quickly grew from 5,000 participants to 40,000, far exceeding Waitz’s expectations. Norway eventually honored her with a statue outside Oslo’s main Bislett Stadium and put her face on a postage stamp.
“I think the impact Grete had on running was incredible,” said Wittenberg. “She started winning when women were just starting running. In New York, little girls grew up wanting to be like Grete.”Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won the first women’s Olympic marathon by beating Waitz, said Waitz was her inspiration.
“I just lost a dear friend and true competitor in every sense of the word,” Benoit Samuelson said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I lost a mentor and a role model as well.
“I think what will endure forever is the fact that she was able to balance a highly competitive career with the most gracious lifestyle and character that emanated good will throughout.”
In New York, Waitz’s victories became a ritual of autumn. She was presented each of her nine Samuel Rudin trophies by the Rudin family, the original business sponsors of the marathon.
“She was an icon, one of the greatest athletes of our century,” said Bill Rudin, fighting back tears as he recalled talking to Waitz at the start of last year’s race and introducing her to Edison Pena, the rescued Chilean miner who ran in it. “She was a class act, a real lady, who came back year after year in spite of her illness. She became a part of New York, a part of our family.”
Grete Andersen was born on Oct. 1, 1953, in Oslo. She was the only daughter of John, a pharmacist, and Reidun, who worked in a grocery store. She had two older brothers, Jan and Arild, and from an early age Waitz would run with them in a nearby forest and at the local track club. By the time she was in her late teenage years, she established herself as a junior cross-country champion and on the track. She met Jack Waitz, a local track coach and accountant for one of Norway’s largest newspapers, through mutual friends.
Waitz is survived by her brothers and her husband.
She was 18 when she competed in the women’s 1,500-meter race at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. She was eliminated in the first round, but her career as a competitive runner and pioneering athlete was just getting started.
She set the world record at 3,000 meters in the summer of 1975, but did not make the finals of the 1,500 at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Her chance at a third straight Olympics was foiled when Norway joined the American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1984, suffering from back spasms, she finished second to Benoit Samuelson in the inaugural women’s Olympic marathon.
Waitz also won the London Marathon in 1983 and 1986. She also won the world cross-country championships five times, including four straight from 1978 to 1981.
She won her last New York City Marathon title in 1988. Her most famous race in New York — which she considered her 10th victory — was the 1992 marathon, which she ran with Mr. Lebow, whose brain cancer was in remission at the time. The two crossed the finish line with their hands joined, their arms high. Lebow died in 1994.
“To me, the race of her life was the time she ran with Fred in New York,” Benoit Samuelson said. “That was a superlative effort on both of their parts.”
They finished in 5:32:34, an impossibly slow pace for a world champion marathoner, and Waitz said it was the hardest race she had ever run, and her most meaningful.
In Norway, Waitz established a foundation for cancer, Aktiv Mot Kreft, which sponsored runners in major races and supported activity centers at hospitals in Norway, much like the one in Oslo where Waitz had received treatments.
“I am convinced you can go through a lot more when you are physically fit,” she said. “It is both physical and mental. With the athletic background, you think more on the positive side — you can do this.”
In 2006, Waitz met Lance Armstrong, the cyclist and cancer survivor, who was running the New York City Marathon while on a brief retirement from cycling. Waitz said at the time that she hugged Armstrong and thanked him for all he had done for those stricken with cancer through his Livestrong Foundation.
“I was in the room when the two of them met, and it was incredible,” Rudin said. “Here were these two titans of sport relating to each other, not on a sports level but on a human level. She was asking for advice from him.”
Armstrong said in a telephone interview, “What a sweet lady. Fifty seven? Wow. You look at her and say she’s got another 40 years.”
Waitz and her husband not only made appearances at the marathon, but also throughout the year for other New York events, including Grete’s Great Gallop, a half-marathon in October that was part of the Norwegian Festival. Last October, Waitz took to the microphone to start the race, her voice strong and upbeat. She would also speak often to Fred’s Team, the cancer charity founded by Lebow in 1991, or to schoolchildren in New York.
“What is even more impressive than her racing was her dedication to this sport after her competitive days were over,” Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist, wrote in an e-mail. “She had a huge influence on inner-city schoolchildren in New York and was committed to sharing the benefits of running with the kids. Our sport was better because of her, and the adults and children who were fortunate enough to meet her have been touched by an influence that is bound to inspire success.”
NYTIMES