A 20-year-old journalism student from Syracuse University in 1967 made history by being the first woman ever to run in the Boston Marathon.
50 years later today, Boston Marathon runner, Kathrine Switzer, will run the marathon once again wearing the exact same number she wore the very first time she ran in 1967. An official tried to rip off her number during her first race.
The whole incident was captured in a photo that turned Switzer into a role model and career advocate for women’s equality in sports. She is now 70 with 39 marathons in her resume. This will be her very first race since running in the marathon in 1967 and the last since 2011.
Switzer said she had no idea that she would break the sexism barriers by entering the race. There was another woman named Roberta Bingay Gibb, who completed the marathon the year before without even wearing a bib.
The photo revealed the terrible side of sexism in athletics, but this thrusted Switzer into the national spotlight changing her life forever.
“Everything changed,” she said. “I said, ‘This is going to change my life, maybe going to change women’s sports and change the world.'”
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