Waitz, Grete

Grete Waitz, née Grete Andersen, (born October 1, 1953, Oslo, Norway—died April 19, 2011, Oslo), Norwegian marathoner who dominated women’s long-distance running for more than a decade, winning the New York City Marathon nine times between 1978 and 1988 (she did not compete in 1981 or 1987).

Waitz began as a middle-distance runner and at age 17 set a 1,500-metre European junior record (4 min 17 sec). She competed at that distance in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games and broke the 3,000-metre world record in 1975 (8 min 46.6 sec) and again in 1976 (8 min 45.4 sec). Although Waitz was reluctant to attempt her first New York City Marathon in 1978, she won the race in a time of 2 hr 32 min 30 sec, more than two minutes under the previous best finish. That year she captured her first of five titles in the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) women’s cross-country world championship (1978–81, 1983). In 1979 she became the first woman to finish the New York City Marathon in under 2.5 hours (2 hr 27 min 33 sec) and broke that time by almost two minutes in 1980 (2 hr 25 min 41 sec). Waitz also raced in the London Marathon, winning in 1983 and 1986; her personal best race was at the latter event (2 hr 24 min 54 sec). In addition, she captured the gold medal in the inaugural women’s marathon at the 1983 IAAF track-and-field world championships and won the silver medal in the first Olympic women’s marathon, at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

Waitz retired in 1990 after finishing fourth in her final New York City Marathon, but two years later she ran as race founder Fred Lebow’s partner. She was the first non-American inducted (2000) into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame. In 2008, three years after she was diagnosed with cancer, Waitz was awarded the Order of St. Olav by Norwegian King Harald V.