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Joan Benoit Samuelson (born May 16, 1957) is an American former marathon runner who won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the year that the women's marathon was introduced. As a result she was the first ever women's Olympic marathon champion.

Born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, U.S., Benoit took to long-distance running to help recover from a broken leg suffered while skiing. At Bowdoin College she excelled in athletics and then entered the 1979 Boston Marathon as a relative unknown. She won the race, while wearing a Red Sox cap^[1], in 2:35:15, knocking eight minutes off the competition record. She repeated that success with a victory again in 1983 that took more than two minutes off the world's best time, set by Grete Waitz in the London Marathon just the day before, despite having had surgery on her Achilles tendons two years earlier. Her time in 1983 would have won any of the last four Boston Marathons.

At the 1984 Summer Olympics she won the first Olympic women's marathon in a time of 2:24.52 in hot and smoggy conditions, more than a minute ahead of her rivals. The athletes behind her were Grete Waitz, Rosa Mota and Ingrid Kristiansen, all marathon legends in their own right.

Although she won the 1985 Chicago marathon, Benoit was hampered in the years after her Olympic victory by injuries and struggled to compete in major races. She received the 1985 James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

Since retirement from competitive running, she has written books including Running Tide and Running for Women, and has opened a running clinic. Aside from this she is a coach to women's cross-country and long-distance athletes, and is a motivational speaker and sports commentator. She also founded the Beach to Beacon Road Race, a 10 km (6.21 mile) race held in Cape Elizabeth, Maine each August that goes from Crescent Beach State Park to Ft. Williams Park and Portland Head Light. The race attracts many of the world's top distance runners. Elite runners often run this race and then, the following weekend, run the Falmouth Road Race on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Benoit has also won that race several times and ran it last in 2005. In 2003, Benoit won the Maine half marathon, defeating a field dominated by runners two decades her junior, and she was (at age 46 at the time) faster than all but six men overall, finishing in 1:18. In 2006 she helped pace former cycling champion Lance Armstrong as he competed in the New York City Marathon. Benoit resides in Freeport, Maine.

• Profile

Records
Preceded by Grete Waitz	Women's Marathon World Record Holder April 18, 1983 – April 21, 1985	Succeeded by Ingrid Kristiansen
Preceded by Marja Wokke	Women's Half Marathon World Record Holder 1981-01-18 – 1982-05-15	Succeeded by Grete Waitz
Preceded by Grete Waitz	Women's Half Marathon World Record Holder 1983-09-18 – 1989-03-19	Succeeded by Ingrid Kristiansen
Awards
Preceded by Trish Millines Dziko Bruce Furniss Virginia Gilder Stacey Johnson Gregory Kelser Kellen Winslow	Silver Anniversary Awards (NCAA) Class of 2005 Mark Johnson Gary Lawrence Paul McDonald Greg Meredith Joan Benoit Samuelson Dave Stoldt	Succeeded by Valerie Ackerman Danny Ainge Charles Davis Terry Schroeder Mike Singletary Susan Wellington
Sporting positions
Preceded by Allison Roe	Women's Fastest Marathon Race 1982 – 1983	Succeeded by Ingrid Kristiansen
Preceded by Rosa Mota	Chicago Women's Marathon Winner 1985	Succeeded by Ingrid Kristiansen