Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman in that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000. Joan Benoit (United States) set the women's marathon world record of 2:22:43 in Boston Marathon on April 18, 1983. It stood 13 months, until Ingrid Kristiansen's 2:24:26 on May 13, 1984. Wiki link