I have to disagree with Eric, who was ‘forced’ to watch the Women’s marathon today while getting his ear stitched up. He said that it didn’t make good TV. (BTW - hope your ear feels better).

While I’ve never really been a big fan of watching other people run, I had flipped on the Olympics before the race began just to see what’s up. I hit it right at the start, where there was a riveting documentary on the history of the women’s marathon, and it drew me in:

• I had no idea it was unofficially ‘banned’ until the Los Angeles games.


• I had no idea that Joan Benoit had knee surgery 17 days before the Olympic trials, and went on to win the race.


• I had no idea that in 1973, in the Boston Marathon, Kathrine Switzer was attacked by the race director Will Cloney, who tried to physically remove her while the race was in progress.


• I had no idea of the remarkable strength of character and courage of Gabriele Andersen-Scheiss. As she entered the stadium, “The crowd gasped in horror as Andersen-Scheiss staggered onto the track, her torso twisted, her right arm straight and her left arm limp, her right knee strangely stiff.“ She had suffered heat exhaustion - it took her over 5 minutes to finish that last lap - but she did.

After watching that, how could I not watch the marathon? Details from the race are here.

On a side note, I really wish MSN Videos, or the MSNBC Olympic web site would post this video. It was truly inspiring.