Jacqueline Gareau
1980 Boston Marathon
In 1980, Jacqueline Gareau had to wait a full week to be crowned champion after Rosie Ruiz infamously jumped into the race toward the end and spoiled her glory.
Gareau, who lives in rural Quebec, laughs about the controversy now. “I didn’t start with the elite women,” she reveals. “When I went to the start, there was a guy, Jock Semple – the guy who tried to push Kathrine Switzer off the course in 1967. He yelled at me and said I didn’t belong in front with the others. I don’t know why. I was third in New York. I had number 22, but I barely spoke English.
“I went in the back, and it took me about five miles to get up with the first women. I had to zigzag and run too fast, in the beginning. Then I was in front all the way from five miles in until the end – well, I thought so.”
Gareau laughs at her own statement. Kathrine Switzer was on the press truck that followed the women’s leaders, and knew that Gareau was the rightful winner. The Quebecer, who ran 2:34:28, had little choice but to watch someone else accept the accolades that rightfully belonged to her.
It took a week before the investigation was complete. Gareau was brought back to Boston, where she was driven around in a Rolls Royce and filmed crossing the finish line, receiving the laurels and meeting the governor of Massachusetts. There was also a champagne reception for her at Tommy Leonard’s infamous runners’ bar, the Eliot Lounge.
Invitations f looded in from race directors across the U.S., and at one of the races, Miami’s Orange Bowl 10k, Gareau came face to face with Ruiz, who was there as a spectator. “I had just finished the race, and she came to me and said, ‘I am Rosie Ruiz.’ And I said, ‘Why did you do that?’ And she said, ‘I did win.’”
“How sad I am for her life,” Gareau adds. “It’s not fun living and not being authentic.” (Ruiz died in 2019.)
When Track and Field News published their world rankings, Drayton had earned his coveted number-one ranking – the only time a Canadian marathoner has ever done so.