List of all Olympics Women's Marathon winners including gold, silver and bronze medalists.

Women's Marathon

The marathon is the longest distance in the athletics. The official distance for the Marathon in the Olympics is 42.195 kilometers or 26 miles 385 yards. The event is run as a road race. Women athletes from all over the world have participated enthusiastically in the marathon for women in Olympics.

Debut in Olympics
Marathon Women was introduced in the Olympics at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. Thereafter, the event has been the feature of all summer Olympics.

Rules and Regulations
As for all athletics events, rules and regulations for marathon too have been set by International Association of Athletics Federations or IAAF. Basic rules set by the IAAF for the marathon are given as under.
  • Marathon athletes are not allowed to run on soft land. The event has to be organized on metalled roads.
  • For convenience of the athletes, the starting and finishing points of the marathon should be properly marked.
  • An athlete has to reach the finishing point for getting any credit.
  • Organizers have to well-mark the different stages of the race.
  • Any sprinter is bound to leave the race if directed by an official medical staff.
  • Refreshment stations have been specified for the athletes where they can have refreshments. They are not allowed to take refreshments in any other places.
  • The athletes should be informed in advance about the distance and route they have to run.
  • A marathon athlete cannot leave the road without prior permission of a judge. And if he comes out of the course, he has to be under constant supervision of the judge so that he might not take a short route for the finishing point.
Top Performers
Athletes who have performed will in the Marathon Olympics for Women are Paula RadcliffeValentina Yegorova, Mizuki Noguchi, Naoko Takahashi, Fatuma Roba, Deena Kastor, Rosa Mota, Joan Benoit, Catherine Ndereba, Lidia Simon, Yuko Arimori, Lisa Martin, Grete Waitz, and Joyce Chepchumba.

Women's Marathon Winners at Olympics

Year
Gold Silver Bronze
1984 Joan Benoit
United States
Grete Waitz
Norway
Rosa Mota
Portugal
1988 Rosa Mota
Portugal
Lisa Martin
Australia
Kathrin Dörre
East Germany
1992 Valentina Yegorova
Unified Team
Yuko Arimori
Japan
Lorraine Moller
New Zealand
1996 Fatuma Roba
Ethiopia
Valentina Yegorova
Russia
Yuko Arimori
Japan
2000 Naoko Takahashi
Japan
Lidia Simon
Romania
Joyce Chepchumba
Kenya
2004 Mizuki Noguchi
Japan
Catherine Ndereba
Kenya
Deena Kastor
United States
2008 Constantina Dita-Tomescu
Romania
Catherine Ndereba
Kenya
Zhou Chunxiu
China
2012 Tiki Gelana
Ethiopia
Priscah Jeptoo
Kenya
Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova
Russia
2016 Jemima Sumgong
Kenya
Eunice Kirwa
Bahrain
Mare Dibaba
Ethiopia