Joan Benoit - Marathoner

Born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine on May 16, 1957, Joan Benoit took to long-distance running to help recover from a broken leg suffered while slalom skiing. At Bowdoin College she excelled in athletics. In 1977, after two years at Bowdoin, she accepted a running scholarship to North Carolina State, where she began concentrating solely on her running.

Joan Benoit won the gold medal for the first-ever Olympic women's marathon at the 1984 summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

In March 1984, Benoit injured her knee severely during a 20-mile training run, forcing her to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery just 17 days before the United States Olympic Women's Marathon Trials were scheduled. However, she recovered from the surgery much more quickly than expected, and was the favorite in the trials, at Olympia, Washington. She beat runner-up Julie Brown by 30 seconds, winning in 2:31:04. Three months later, she competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, CA winning the first-ever Olympic Women's Marathon in 2:24:52.

Benoit won the Chicago Marathon in 1985 and held the record for the fastest time for an American woman until 2017. In 2000, Benoit was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame. She's also enjoyed success in non-marathon distances as well, winning the prestigious Falmouth Road Race (7.1 miles) a total of six times (1976, 1978, 1981–1983, and 1985), breaking the course record on four of those occasions.