Bobbi Gibb: The Woman Who Defied the Rules and Ran Boston Marathon in 1966
Bobbi Gibb runs the 1966 Boston Marathon in a black bathing suit, Bermuda shorts and boys' running shoes. Photo by Fred Kaplan /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
Many times women have been banned from certain activities and forbidden to do them (and still are today in some cases), and regarding this today I want to focus on the story of Bobbi Gibb at the Boston Marathon in 1966... back then when women’s sports were frowned upon due to alleged "scientific evidence" of physical weaknesses.
In the 1960s many federations openly claimed that women were not physiologically suited for prolonged fatigue... things like running more than a few kilometers, according to these theories, could damage their bodies and even affect fertility. And based on these theories, official regulations were drafted, such as those of the Boston Marathon, which simply banned women from participating.
In this context, Bobbi Gibb decided to prove that it was all wrong, she would not allow these ideas to pass as true. She trained intensely for years, tried to register but the answer was a categorical no, so she decided to show up at the race anyway without registration, and when she started, disguised in her brother’s clothes, she began running alongside the other runners, aware of the risk of being stopped.
Soon it became clear that there was a girl among them running, but when the other participants noticed her presence, instead of isolating and denouncing her, they reacted with support and encouragement. She completed the marathon with a competitive time, amid the joy of other women who followed her effort and the dismay of the organizers, obviously not happy for the outcome, proving in practice that the regulation was nonsense. She would participate again in 1967 and 1968, but only in 1972 did the Boston Marathon officially open to the female category.
It would take thirty years, in 1996, to officially recognize those three races, and finally in 2021, in Boston, they would dedicate a statue to her.
The story of Bobbi is very important; it demonstrated that the limits imposed on women are not real, but were only constructed by society, and through her determination she managed to change history.
References: Finally honoring Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon
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Salute to that great lady. Her story is very inspiring. !LADY
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indeed, a great woman
strong and brave lady. thats awesome!
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Very cool read!
Also both sad aswell as hopefull that this is not even too long ago.
What is very cool:
Here in the Netherlands our most famous runner is a woman, Sifan Hassan. If you ask 100 random people on the streets to name 1 Dutch Runner - I would estimate that 80 would say Sifan Hassan and atleast 15 would say Femke Bol (also female).
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Yep if we think 1966 was not too long ago...
Interesting, that's an other good proof that the "evidences" oh physical "issues" back then were totally wrong
This is such a powerful story. Bobbi Gibb did not just run a marathon, she challenged an entire system built on prejudice disguised as science. What she proved was bigger than sport, it was about showing that the limits imposed on women were never natural, just socially enforced. Her courage helped change history.