LONG-TERM IMPACT

KATHRINE SWITZER: BREAKING BARRIERS FOR EQUALITY

LONG-TERM IMPACT

On August 5th, 1984 the first womens marathon was held in the summer olympics. Kathrine made a big impact on this event when she founded the Avon International Running Circuit since, she started Avon to hopefully get a womens marathon in the olympics. When the marathon started there were roughly 238 starters, though only 196 finished.

Courtesy of Thurston Talk

"Women everywhere understand what running does for them. It gives them a sense of empowerment, and self esteem, and freedom, and fearlessness.”"
~ Kathrine Switzer

2017

Courtesy of The Daily Orange

On April 17, 2017 Kathrine ran the Boston Marathon at the age of 70. She did this to celebrate the 50th anniversary from when she ran the marathon in 1967. The first time she ran with a time of 4 hours and 20 minutes. In 2017 she ran it 20 minutes slower than she did in 1967 which is impressive considering her age.

“The higher reason now is to show frankly that an older person can stay active and healthy. I want to celebrate in the best possible way and crossing that finish line is going to be a wonderful experience.”
~ Kathrine Switzer

IMPACT

This graph shows the number of women that ran the Boston and other marathons from 1974-2009.
Courtesy of Runners World

Courtesy of Bostinno

Overtime more women have run the Boston Marathon with the number getting higher every year. In 1980 450 women ran and in 1990 1,700 women ran. Now women make up almost half of the Boston Marathon with 11,982 women finishing the marathon in 2019. If Kathrine wouldn’t have run the Boston Marathon in 1967 I believe women might have gotten farther from equality and may not have had as many opportunities as they do today.