Joan Benoit Samuelson

Joan Benoit Samuelson, born in 1957, American track-and-field athlete, who won the marathon event at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Joan Benoit was born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. She married Scott Samuelson in 1984. She achieved her first major marathon victory in 1979 at the Boston Marathon, with a time of 2 hours 35 minutes 15 seconds. In 1983 she won the Boston Marathon again, in a world-best time of 2 hours 22 minutes 43 seconds.

At the 1984 Olympics, Norwegian runner Grete Waitz was expected to win the marathon, but Samuelson led for almost the entire race and easily defeated Waitz, with a time of 2 hours 24 minutes 52 seconds. The race was the first marathon ever held for women at the Olympics. The following year at the Chicago Marathon, Samuelson lowered her personal best time in the event to 2 hours 21 minutes 21 seconds. That same year she won the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award, given annually by the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU) to the outstanding amateur athlete in the country. After 1985 Samuelson continued to compete, but injuries limited her appearances in major events.