Talk:Kathrine Switzer

One of a group

1967 several women participated in the Boston Marathon, including Bobbi Gibb (who had previously unofficially finished the marathon the year before, and prompted the rules change). Article improperly presented her as the only woman to run instead of one of a group.

https://www.podiumrunner.com/events/the-real-story-of-the-first-woman-to-run-the-boston-marathon/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.16.156.253 (talk) 04:01, 25 June 2023 (UTC)

Birthplace Germany not Virginia

After reading the German wikipedia entry on Switzer, I was surprised to read here that she was supposedly born in Virginia. As there was no source to the claim and a lot of articles claiming she was born in Amberg, Bavaria, Germany, I changed the article including the sources. Unfortunately, her own page doesn't say anything about her place of birth. I've also only found German articles speaking about 1949 as the year of her family's return to the US (other articles don't mention a year). I will add an English speaking source if I find one Mudbiker (talk) 16:50, 19 March 2013 (UTC)

Sexism in US marathon running

Now, from our perspective of XXI century it may be difficult for young people to understand that there were such obstacles only because of the sex and nothing else, so could someone write a few words why actually the women were not allowed to join any marathon until 1972?

Were there any arguments against women running? Why Kathrine Switzer had to fight for 5 years to 1972 to legally run in a marathon? What arguments/superstitions she had to face?Merewyn (talk) 14:51, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

Bobbi Gibb has more information: 'Before 1966, it was generally believed that women were physiologically unable to run marathon distances.' It seems the ban on women running was probably a mixture of misguided good intentions, and old-fashioned sexism. Robofish (talk) 11:55, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Women were not officially banned from competing in marathon races in the US until after Kathrine Switzer's run as an officially registered competitor in the Boston Marathon in 1967 which she completed despite being repeatedly attacked by the notoriously violent race manager Jock Semple. In 1966, Roberta Gibb attempted to register to run the Boston Marathon, and was told by Will Cloney - race director and a supporter of Semple - that women were incapable of running 26 miles. Gibb finished the 1966 race in three hours, twenty-one minutes and forty seconds, ahead of two-thirds of the runners: a very public demonstration that Cloney's claim was utter nonsense.

Gibb's claim about women being generally believed to be physiologically unable to run marathon distances is based purely on Cloney's letter to her - a single opinion offered by a single person. At the time, she was doing 40 mile training runs. She mentioned that when she turned up at the start of the Boston Marathon for the first time, the other runners were welcoming and supportive: the men actually competing in the race clearly thought she was capable of doing the run. Switzer also reported that in 1967, she had a welcoming and supportive response from the other runners in the race - she was the only registered woman racer in that year. It was the men in charge who had a problem with women, not the men racing.

After the 1967 race which both Gibb and Switzer completed along with other women, Cloney claimed that Switzer's entry was against the rules and it was just because of the rules that he couldn't accept women entering the race officially. That was another false claim from Cloney, because the rules at the time said nothing about gender.

In short, the arguments presented by the Boston Marathon against women running were pure sexism by men in positions of authority, not men competing in racing - the organizers simply didn't want women competing and were supported by the US's Amateur Athletic Union which immediately banned women from races against men, proving that they were just as sexist. After imposing that ban in 1967, the AAU refused to permit women officially racing in marathons until 1972. The men who actually ran the Boston Marathon alongside women were far better than the men in charge.

There were no good intentions in this respect from athletics organizers in the US back then: their idea was to keep women down.

Michael F 1967 (talk) 00:12, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

External links modified

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Achievement section

Shouldn't the position column denote that this is the female ranking, as opposed to overall? I looked it up because I was incredulous that the overall times would be so slow. The wikipedia article says she finished 2nd in 1975, when in reality she would not have been in the top 250 overall times. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.140.252.98 (talk) 14:24, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

In 1975, the race she competed in was the women's race. In the reality of the race she competed in, she did finish second. The point is fairly obvious to my mind, so I don't see that the article needs changing.

Michael F 1967 (talk) 23:06, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Kathrine Switzer, una delle prime donne partecipanti a una maratona (Boston 1967).jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 17:38, 5 April 2023 (UTC)