Grete Waitz - Heritage Plaque Awarded
Plaque name: Grete Waitz (NOR)
Location: Bislett Stadion, Louises gate 1, 0168 Oslo, Norway
Plaque awarded: 15/03/2021
Reason: Plaque Category – Legend
Grete Waitz was a female running pioneer.
In major championships, Waitz won the marathon gold medal at the inaugural World Athletics Championships in 1983 and was also a formidable cross-country runner, winning the world title five times in six editions between 1978 and 1983.
At good track runner who set two world records at 3000m, she moved to road running in 1978 winning her first marathon, the New York marathon in a world best.
In a stunning career on the roads, she won what is now 12 World Marathon Majors victories including nine triumphs in New York. She took the marathon record below 2:30 in 1979 and her last world mark saw her run 2:25:28 in London in 1983.
“I am proud about Grete’s contribution to women’s running,” confirmed Jack Waitz who was her husband and coach. “The whole situation was changed in Norway. Women dared to go out to run and dared to go out to run road races.”
After her last marathon in 1992, she was a notable and popular advocate for healthy living but tragically succumbed to cancer in 2011 at the age of just 57.
It is proposed that the plaque will be located at the Bislett stadium, Oslo, where Waitz set her two world 3000m records.