Grete Waitz

As told by John Beach:

Grete Waitz was born in Oslo, Norway in 1954. From the time she was young, her stunning successes spanned all of racing’s disciplines all over Europe.
Because of this, in 1978, an invitation arrived from New York City Marathon co-founder and director, Fred Lebow. Waitz won the marathon and set a new world record with a time of 2:32:30.
The race proved to be a turning point for Waitz' career. She would return to New York and win an unprecedented nine times, in '78, '79, '80, '82, '83, '84, '85, '86 and '88. She set world records in '78, '79 and '80.
Waitz continued to compete in track and cross-country and won five world cross-country championships. In 1984, competed in the first women's marathon in the Olympic Games. She took home a silver medal for Norway.
Waitz has retired from running, but stays active in the running community as a spokeswoman for Avon Running - Global Women's Circuit and for Adidas. For her influence on American running in the United States, Waitz was the first foreign runner inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2000.