Author: Astrid Kramer

Before Kathrine Switzer’s famous race number 261, another woman had already completed the Boston Marathon. Denied an official entry because women were considered physiologically incapable of running 26.2 miles, Bobbi Gibb hid behind bushes at the starting line, slipped into the race after the gun and finished ahead of most of the men. Yet history remembered the photograph from 1967—not the woman who made it possible. Her story is one of the clearest examples of the Gender Sports Gap: extraordinary achievements don’t disappear because they didn’t happen. They disappear because they weren’t remembered.

Kathrine Switzer didn’t sneak into the Boston Marathon. She registered, received an official race number and started like every other runner. Minutes later, a race official tried to physically remove her from the course. The photographs became some of the most famous images in sports history—and exposed the resistance women faced simply for daring to run.

Alice Coachman cleared every bar placed before her on the way to Olympic gold in London. But some barriers could not be overcome with athletic talent alone. Her story shows that winning the highest prize in sport does not automatically change society.