Olympic Marathon Research Articles

Marathon Women and the Corporation

Marathon Women and the Corporation Pamela Cooper Women were not unwelcome in the Boston Marathon back when entrants numbered fewer than one thousand. Children and dogs often ran alongside the competitors for a bit; like them, a woman runner would be considered a particularly enthusiastic spectator, carried away by the excitement of the race. As long as she was not an official entrant, as long as her finishing time was not recorded, the woman runner posed no threat and encountered few problems.1 When Kathrine Switzer defied this proscription, running with a number and trying for an official time in the 1967 Boston Athletic Association Marathon, she demanded sanction and equality as a woman marathoner. She continued to participate in every stage of the campaign for the highest level of marathon competition, an Olympic event. The first women's Olympic marathon in 1984 marked the culmination of the process of the institutionalization of the women's marathon. That is, the women's marathon derived from a socially sanctioned activity and had an identified pool of potential competitors. In addition to adopting the pattern of rules, bureaucracy, quantification, and record keeping that developed as an integral part of modem sports, the women's marathon had acquired other attributes necessary to its recognition as an institution: wide participation, a tradition of methodology in training, a system of disseminating information on participation and training, the specialization of track and crosscountry runners who moved up to the marathon, and a mythology. The women's marathon served a number of social functions, contributing to the health of its practitioners and to their espousal of feminist precepts. Finally, the women's marathon attracted industrial and political support that provided financing and power. Corporate backing, particularly that of the international cosmetics giant, Avon Products, Inc., gave the women's marathon the global influence and prestige to challenge another major transnational corporation, the International Olympic Committee, and to emerge as an institution. My presentation of the women's marathon as a sport institution is derived from Allen Guttmann's and Melvin Adelman's models of modern sport. I have also used Steven Riess's discussion of the effects of urbanization on sport, and Stephen Hardy's work on the importance of business and economic history to, and within, the development of sport.2 The derivation of my synthesis is presented in table 1. The relationship of the components of sport institutionalization is shown on table 2. © 1995 JOURNAL OF WOMEN'S HISTORY, VOL. 7 NO. 4 (WINTER) 1995 Pamela Cooper 63 Table 1. Derivation of the model of sport instututionalization Hardy Riess Activity Sport ideology Guttmann Secularization Pool (spatial & Equality demographic) Services Specialization Rationalization Bureaucracy Quantification Records Goods Sports facilities Municipal & urban political machines Adelman Synthesis Activity Sanction Role differentiation Specialization Rules Organization Competition Statistics Information Rationalization Bureaucracy Major competitions Statistics & records Information & mythology Industrial & economic support Government support Sources: Melvin A. Adelman, A Sporting Time: New York City and the Rise of Modern Athletics (Chicago, 1986), pp. 3-11; Allen Guttmann, From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports (New York, 1978), pp. 16-26; Stephen Hardy, "Entrepreneurs , Organizations, and the Sport Marketplace: Subjects in Search of Historians," Journal of Sport History 13 (Spring 1986): 17-20; Steven A. Riess, City Games: The Evolution of American Urban Society and the Rise of Sports (Chicago, 1989), pp. 3-5. 64 JOURNAL OF WOMEN'S HISTORY Winter Table 2. The relationship of the components of sport institutionalization Activity Sanction \ Tradition Information Mythology Social Function Pool Participants / Rationalization Bureaucracy Specialization Quantification Records / Support from industry and government Institutionalization Sanctioning the Activity, Creating the Pool All games, contests, and sports begin with sanction, the societal endorsement of an expression of ludic activity such as running, jumping, or throwing. In From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports, Allen Guttmann contrasted the sacred nature of ancient sports with the secularity that is an identifying characteristic of modern sports. In ancient times, activities might become sports by ascribing religious significance to them or by giving them a place in religious ceremonies. In modern times a sport is often sanctioned by ascribing to its practice effects that will benefit society, what Stephen Hardy...

Predictive climatology for the Olympic Marathon and race walking events in Barcelona 1992

During 1990 in New York and again in Barcelona in the following year, the International Marathon Medical Directors Association (IMMDA) initiated studies to monitor climatological conditions accompanying several endurance outdoor sports events in different locations. The aim was to identify the changing thermal stress on both a competitor and exposed spectator along the course of any major endurance racing event around the world where there were climatological conditions similar to Barcelona during the 1992 Olympic Games. In this way any combination of type of surroundings, time of day climatological conditions, etc., along an event's course found to present a thermal stress to either an athlete or spectator might be avoided by better scheduling, better routing, increasing the number of aid stations along a route, and other precautions. To evaluate a single measure of the climatological conditions surrounding an event, a monitor with three thermometers was used to obtain the wet bulb global temperature value, which is an index of the risk of heat injury. The present article is an historical review of how this work was started and expanded. Data obtained in New York and Barcelona enabled the President of IMMDA to present, in October 1991, a report to the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission on the possibility of determining daily throughout the period of the Olympic Games the level of thermal stress on both competitors and spectators during long‐lasting events. The events contributing these data were the New York City Triathlon and the Hispanic Half Marathon held in New York City in 1990 and the Race Walking Spanish Championships (20 km), the IAAF Mobil Grand Prix Finals, and the XIV Marathon Catalunya, all held in Barcelona, Spain, in 1991.

From parturition to marathon

This study monitored a 34-yr-old distance runner for 16 wk immediately postparturition, as she trained for the 1992 United States Olympic Marathon Trials. Weight (WT), percent fat (%FAT), aerobic power (VO2max), and energy intake/expenditure were evaluated 4, 8, 12, and 16 wk post-parturition. WT declined steadily throughout the investigation, while %FAT decreased through the first 12 wk. Minimal changes in VO2max (4 wk; 52.2 ml.kg-1.min-1 to 16 wk: 55.3 ml.kg-1.min-1) occurred; however, there were substantial changes in oxygen uptake at the lactate threshold (VO2-LT) and at the onset of blood lactate accumulation (VO2-OBLA). VO2-LT increased from 35.6 ml.kg-1.min-1 at 4 wk to 43.5 ml.kg-1.min-1 at 8 wk. VO2-OBLA increased from 40.1 ml.kg-1.min-1 at 4 wk to 51.2 ml.kg-1.min-1 at 8 wk. VO2-LT and VO2-OBLA did not change during the final 8 wk of training. Energy intake was consistently below energy expenditure. No physical or medical complications were encountered during training. This subject was able to improve VO2-LT and VO2-OBLA through high-intensity training without compromising her health. The evidence indicates that well-trained female athletes, while under physician care, may participate in rigorous physical activity soon after pregnancy.

Association-dissociation patterns of United States Olympic Marathon Trial contestants

The association-dissociation cognitive patterns of United States Olympic Marathon Trial contestants were investigated on the basis of responses to the Running Styles Questionnaire. The night prior to the Olympic Trials, 32 subjects responded to 12 multiple-choice-type questions and 6 open-ended questions that probed the type of cognitions processed by the athletes at different stages of the race. Discriminant function analysis resulted in a significant multivariate solution (p <.01), with 5 of the 12 multiple-choice questions maximizing the separation of athletes into groups of top- and lower-place finishers. The composite of these 5 questions suggested that top finishers employed cognitive strategies that utilized both associative and dissociative techniques. Lower finishers demonstrated a composite that indicated the early adoption and maintenance of a dissociative strategy. On the basis of the multivariate solution, athletes were classified to appropriate group membership with 71.88% overall accuracy. The results tend to support the contention that cognitive strategies employed during marathon racing are related to the participant's performance level.

Amenorrhea in Olympic marathon runners

Women who exercise heavily may develop secondary amenorrhea. Since the mechanism of so-called "runner's amenorrhea" has not been conclusively established, the authors examined the occurrence of amenorrhea in one of the most intensively exercising groups of female runners in the United States (average, 70 miles/week): those women participating in the marathon trials for the 1984 Olympics. Nineteen percent of these Olympic runners were amenorrheic. When compared with eumenorrheic marathon runners, these amenorrheic runners were significantly (P less than 0.05) younger (24.8 +/- 1.2 [standard error of the mean] versus 30.8 +/- 0.8 years), lighter (108.4 +/- 2.5 versus 114.6 +/- 1.7 lb), and leaner (11.2 +/- 0.5 versus 12.5 +/- 0.3% body fat). There were no differences between the two groups in weekly training mileage, proportion completing the marathon trial, finishing time, basal serum prolactin, or postmarathon serum prolactin. Although basal serum cortisol was slightly higher in the amenorrheic group (26.6 +/- 0.8 versus 22.3 +/- 0.7 micrograms/dl; P less than 0.05), postmarathon serum cortisol was similar in the two groups. This study supports the concept that training intensity above a certain threshold seems to have little effect on the development of runner's amenorrhea, and vigorously training national caliber marathon runners have a lower incidence of amenorrhea than previously predicted.

Preparing Alberto Salazar for the Heat of the 1984 Olympic Marathon.

In brief: Observations were made on US marathon record holder Alberto Salazar during a climatic chamber trial, heat acclimatization training, and the 1984 Olympic Marathon. The purpose was to evaluate his physiological responses to heat tolerance testing and to advise him regarding heat acclimatization, thermoregulation, and fluid discipline. Salazar was advised to avoid the showers along the race course during the marathon. Although fine-mist sprays, showers, and other skin-wetting techniques may make runners feel good, they have little effect on rectal temperature or sweat rate during a race. This applies to casual joggers as well as elite competitors.

Olympic Marathon Fury Heats Up

Allowing Gabriela Andersen-Schiess to finish the first Olympic marathon for women angered many in the sports medicine community. But debate has raised an even larger issue—the purpose of sports medicine.

History of the Olympic Marathon.

Chaos reigned at the early Olympic marathons, when eccentric, unprepared runners took drugs and automobile rides to get to the finish.

Jogging and Health

To the Editor.— We agree with the COMMENTARY by Wynder and Peacock (229:1743, 1974) that disease prevention will become the first line of offense in tomorrow's medical care. Through the American Medical Joggers Association (AMJA), we advocate the vigorous exercise and teetotaling life-style of the Olympic marathon runner for everyone, because immunity to coronary heart disease appears to coexist with the ability to cover 42 km on foot. This has been reported in the Masai warriors (N Engl J Med284:694, 1971) and the Tarahumara Indians (Am Heart J81:304, 1971). We postulate that it is also true of marathon runners, even though they may have some of the risk factors peculiar to our Western civilization (Science183:256, 1974). We are encouraged by the article by Kavanagh et al (229:1602, 1974) that showed that the marathon runner's life-style is suitable for some cardiac patients after they have recovered from myocardial

Skinfold estimates of body fat among marathon runners

ABSTRACTSkinfold measurements were taken at 6 selected sites on 114 participants at the 1968 U. S. Olympic Marathon Trial. For the purpose of comparison, similar measurements were taken on 92 normally active men and 63 age-matched graduate students and faculty men. Body density and fat were estimate