Received: 4/25/08 12:41 PM
From: Marc Chalufour, [email protected]
For Immediate Release: Friday, April 25
2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women's Marathon
Ends in Historic Fashion
One-hour highlight show to air on Sunday, April 27 on MSNBC
Boston, Mass. -- On a spectacular Sunday morning in Boston, the top
female marathoners in the United States put forth an historic
performance. Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, and Blake Russell
headlined the April 20 show as they captured the three spots on the U.S.
Olympic Team for the women's marathon. As a result, their next marathon
will be run through the streets of Beijing on August 17 as they compete
in the 2008 Olympic Games. Behind the three Olympians, 143 other women
thrilled the tens of thousands of spectators and viewers on
NBCSports.com with one of the greatest women's marathons ever held.
A one-hour highlight show of the event will air on Sunday, April 27 on
MSNBC from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET. Commentary will be provided by
commentator Al Trautwig and 10-time NCAA All-American Ed Eyestone. The
show will be the premier episode in a series highlighting a number of
Olympic Trials events leading up to the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
The Olympic Trials online and over the air broadcast is a joint
production of the USOC, Boston Athletic Association, NBC Sports and USA
Track & Field.
The attached photograph shows the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team in the Women's
Marathon serving as Grand Marshals of the 112th Boston Marathon on
Monday, April 21. Pictured are (l-r) Magdalena Lewy Boulet, Deena
Kastor, and Blake Russell. Credit for the image is FAYFOTO/Boston.
Among the many notable accomplishments from the event on Sunday:
Athletes
* 181 qualifiers (171 via a marathon performance, 10 via a 10,000m
performance)
* 146 starters
* 124 finishers
Sub-2:50's
* 98 women ran under 2:50. This is the second largest total in the
history of women's marathon running, trailing only the 1984 U.S. Olympic
Trials when 109 women broke that mark.
* By comparison, 61 women broke 2:50 at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team
Trials-Women's Marathon. 44 did so in 2000; 71 in 1996; 46 in 1992; and
81 in 1988.
All-Time Rankings
* Deena Kastor and Magdalena Lewy Boulet ran the 2nd and 11th
fastest Olympic Trials performances in U.S. history.
* Kastor's winning time of 2:29:35 is the 41st fastest marathon
ever run by an American woman. She also owns the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 10th,
12th, 14th, and 43rd-fastest times.
* Lewy Boulet's second-place time of 2:30:19 is the 53rd fastest
marathon ever run by an American woman.
Age Group Records
* Linda Somers Smith (2:38:49) sets U.S. 45+ record. (Previous
best was Joan Samuelson, 2:42:28.)
* Joan Samuelson (2:49:08) sets U.S. 50+ record. (Previous best
was Shirley Matson, 2:50:26.)
Personal Bests & Qualifying Performances
* 135 women qualified for the Olympic Trials by running a new
personal best in the marathon (out of 171 women who qualified with a
marathon time).
* 41 women ran new personal bests on Sunday, including 13 of the
top 15 and 20 of the top 26.
* 47 women improved upon their qualifying performance for the
event (including Blake Russell who qualified via a 10,000m time because
she did not have a qualifying marathon performance).
U.S. Championships
* Deena Kastor won her third U.S. Marathon Championship (2001 and
2007), and become the first woman since Linda Somers (in 1993-1994) to
win back-to-back titles.
* Kastor becomes the first woman to win three U.S. championships
in the marathon. Julie Brown, Janis Klecker, and Linda Somers each won
two.
Olympic Teams
* Kastor joins Cathy O'Brien as the only women to make two U.S.
Olympic Teams in the Women's Marathon.
* This represents the first time that the first alternate from an
Olympic Team (Blake Russell in 2004) has made the Olympic Team four
years later.
* The 4th and 5th-place finishers from 2004 (Russell and Lewy
Boulet, who finished just 35 and 53 seconds out of third place,
respectively, in 2004) both made the Olympic Team this year.
Website Usage
* 48,583 visitors to www.bostontrials2008.com on race day.
* 360,968 race day page views.
* Visitors to the website were from all 50 states, the District of
Columbia, and more than 90 countries.
USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and
field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States.
USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, the most-watched
events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school
participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United
States.
USATF is a volunteer-driven, not-for-profit organization with a staff of
professional program administrators at the National Office in
Indianapolis. The mission of USATF is to foster sustained competitive
excellence, interest, and participation in the sports of track & field,
long distance running, and race walking. For more information, visit
www.usatf.org.
Boston Athletic Association
Established in 1887, the Boston Athletic Association is a non-profit
organization with a mission of managing athletic events and promoting a
healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running. The B.A.A.'s
Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon, and the
organization manages other local events, including the B.A.A. Half
Marathon presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund,
and supports comprehensive charity, youth, and year-round running
programs. Since 1986, the principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon has
been John Hancock Financial Services. The B.A.A. is the local organizing
committee for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials- Women's Marathon.
Media Contacts:
B.A.A.: Jack Fleming (617-236-1652, x2627; mobile: 617-459-1587;
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> )
or Marc Chalufour (617-236-1652, x2632; mobile: 617-459-1586;
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ).
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