It finally happened in 1984 after Switzer teamed up with Avon cosmetics company to sponsor a series of women’s marathon events in the 1970s. Switzer, who won the 1974 New York City Marathon, led the effort to include the women’s marathon in the Olympics. When she ran 30 miles in training - which made him pass out - Briggs changed his tune. Women were too fragile, she said he told her. In the early 1960s the school did not offer women’s intercollegiate sports.Īn assistant coach, Arnie Briggs, worked with her and helped her sign up for the marathon even though he at first bristled at the thought. And when she enrolled at Syracuse University, the men’s cross-country coaches allowed her to train with the team even though she was not allowed to compete. It was Switzer’s father who first urged her to take up running, as she spurned cheerleading for field hockey. And they didn’t have the opportunity because somewhere along the point when I was told to go run a mile a day, they were told to stop climbing trees and to stop running around and to behave themselves and put on makeup and become cheerleaders.” And then I realized it was because they didn’t have the opportunity. “But I also knew that the reason other women weren’t there was because of some reason, and I at first thought it was their fault again. And I knew, I knew, no matter what I had to finish. “But when that happened to me I knew I had to finish. I went to run the race,” Switzer told Yahoo Sports. “I really went to Boston not to make a political statement.
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