MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Grete Waitz, who won nine New York City marathons and the silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, has died of cancer. She was 57.
Helle Aanesen, the manager of the Active Against Cancer Foundation in Norway, said Waitz died early on Tuesday in an Oslo hospital. Waitz had been battling cancer for six years.
Waitz won her first New York City marathon in 1978, setting a world best in two hours, 32 minutes and 30 seconds. She went on to win eight more times, with her last victory coming in 1988.
Waitz also won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1983 world championships in Helsinki, Finland. A year later she took second behind Joan Benoit in the first women's Olympic marathon. She also competed at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics in the 1,500 metres, but missed the 1980 Moscow Games because of the American-led boycott.
Comments
She was really a class act, always gracious after her many victories but also after her most disappointing defeat, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she was the favorite and ran a good race but took 2nd behind the remarkable Joan Benoit Samuelson. I believe they built a statue for her in Norway long before she was diagnosed with cancer. She was the womens' winner in the first marathon I ran, NYC in 1980. I think the New York city running community thought of her as almost one of their own, she won the NYC Marathon so many times.
by AmericanDreamer on Tue, 04/19/2011 - 9:51pm