King\’s honour for Marathon legend Grete Waitz – European Athletics (EAA) – NEWS

Legendary Marathon runner Grete Waitz has been accorded with one of Norway's highest civilian honour – Knight 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian St. Olavs Order. The award was conferred by His Majesty King Harald Vth at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital.

Waitz is only the third sportsperson ever to be bestowed with the prestigious award. Figure skater Sonia Henie and Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are the only other sportspersons to have received the award.

The nine-time New York Marathon winner has already been named as the best female cross country runner in the history of the sport by the International Athletic Association Federation in 2003.

Few female runners have as complete a resume as Waitz. She competed in all the running disciplines, from track and cross-country to road racing and marathoning – she excelled in each of them.

Prominent among the numerous honours that Grete received in a career spanning 17 years, are the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and a gold at the World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki in 1983.

European Athletics Vice President and the President of the Norwegian Track and Field Association Svein Arne Hansen along with Nils-Jostein Helland, chairman of Sports Club Vidar were among the first to congratulate Waitz.

Grete's husband Jack Waitz and two brothers, Arild and Jan were also present at the ceremony attended by the entire board of the Norwegian Athletics Association.

IOC Award Nomination

The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee has nominated Grete Waitz for the 2009 IOC Women and Sport Awards. The annual awards is meant to recognize outstanding achievement and contributions made to develop, encourage and strengthen the participation of women and girls at all levels in the sports world.

Grete Waitz has influenced a generation of female athletes as an athlete and still remains the pillar of strength for all aspiring athletes. Her deeds over the last four decades have gone a long way in engendering self esteem and self confidence among women in sport and in general as well.

After retiring from competitive athletics Waitz has been active in the running community in various roles from coach to administrator. She has promoted sport among women, school children and the physically and mentally challenged with unremitting zeal.

The 55-year-old is the founder of the Grete Waitz Run in Oslo, an annual participatory event for women, with as many as 45 000 girls and women at start. The run has become the symbol of participatory sports for girls and women and enhanced regular training groups of female recreational runners all over the country.

Waitz has developed training programmes for people from all age groups, gender and walk of life. She has penned several books including World Class, On the Run-Exercise and Fitness for Busy People, and Run your own Marathon.

Today she works with training programmes for cancer prevention in the Norwegian work force, based on current research showing a correlation between inactive women and various types of cancer.

The award will be presented in March. The former recipients of the prestigious award include former tennis star Gabriella Sabatini of Argentina and Portia Simpson Miller, the first female Prime Minister of Jamaica. 

European Athletics (EAA)