Joan Benoit Samuelson papers

Joan Benoit Samuelson was born on May 16, 1957, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. She began running in high school and continued while at Bowdoin College. In 1977, Benoit Samuelson transferred to North Carolina State to focus on her running. After returning to Bowdoin to complete her degree, she entered the 1979 Boston Marathon and won the race, setting a new record. In 1984, despite undergoing knee surgery 17 days prior, Benoit Samuelson won the U.S. Olympic women's marathon trials, and went on to win gold in the first Olympic women's marathon at the 1984 summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The following year, Benoit Samuelson won the Chicago marathon, setting a record for the race that would stand for decades. Benoit Samuelson founded the annual Cape Elizabeth Beach to Beacon 10K road race in 1998.

In 1984, Joan Benoit married Scott Samuelson, and the two had two children, Abby and Anders. She has written two books, Running tide in 1986 and Running for women in 1995. Benoit Samuelson continues to run races and marathons, including multiple Olympic trials at which she has set age-group records, and has received numerous awards and recognitions for her long, record-breaking career as a marathon runner.