About Joan Benoit
Joan Benoit Samuelson, née Joan Benoit, is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman in that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000. Joan Benoit Samuelson, née Joan Benoit, (May 16, 1957) is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She won the Broderick Award (Honda Sports Award) as the nation's best female collegiate cross-country runner for 1979–80. Despite having surgery on her Achilles tendons two years earlier, she repeated her marathon success with a victory in 1983, setting a course record of 2:22:43.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.