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Lisa Martin (runner)

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Lisa Martin
Personal information
Birth nameLisa Frances O'Dea
NationalityAustralian
Born (1960-05-12) 12 May 1960 (age 64)
Gawler, South Australia, Australia
Sport
Country Australia
SportAthletics
EventMarathon
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1988 Seoul Marathon
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 1986 Edinburgh Marathon
Gold medal – first place 1990 Auckland Marathon

Lisa Frances Ondieki (née O'Dea, formerly Martin;[1][2] born 12 May 1960) is an Australian former long-distance runner. In the marathon, she won the 1988 Olympic silver medal and two Commonwealth Games gold medals. Other marathon victories included the 1988 Osaka International Ladies Marathon and the 1992 New York City Marathon. She also won the Great North Run Half Marathon three times. Her best time for the marathon of 2:23:51, set in 1988, made her the fourth-fastest female marathon runner in history at the time.

Career

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Lisa O'Dea was born in Gawler, South Australia. She attended Gawler High School.[3] She was originally a 400 m hurdler. Initially reluctant to take up the marathon, she won her first marathon competition, the Rocket City marathon in Huntsville USA in 1983, taking almost five minutes off the Australian record with her time of 2:32:22. In 1984, as Lisa Martin, she finished seventh in the inaugural women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Her time of 2:29:03 was the first of her eleven sub 2:30 marathons. Three months later, she finished second in the Chicago Marathon, with a new personal best time of 2:27:40.[1][4]

At the 1985 Pittsburgh Marathon, she competed alongside her husband at the time, American distance runner Ken Martin; they became the fastest married couple ever in a marathon winning the men's and women's races in 2:12:57 and 2:31:54 respectively. Later that year, she finished second behind Grete Waitz in the New York City Marathon. She won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in a personal best of 2:26:07, with New Zealand's Lorraine Moller in second. A month later, she won the first of her three Great North Run Half Marathon titles in a personal best of 69:45. She ended the 1986 season by again finishing second to Waitz in the New York Marathon. She finished second in the 1987 Osaka marathon, behind Moller, then failed to finish the 1987 World Championship marathon in Rome.

In 1988, she ran her fastest ever marathon, when winning in Osaka with a time of 2:23:51, which at the time made her the fourth-fastest woman marathon runner in history, behind Ingrid Kristiansen, Joan Benoit and Rosa Mota.[5][6] Later that year, she won a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in 2:25:53, 13 seconds behind Mota. In January 1990, she retained her Commonwealth marathon title at the Auckland Games. In a solo performance, she finished over seven minutes ahead of silver medallist Australian team-mate Tani Ruckle. Her time of 2:25:28 remains a Games record (as of 2014).[1] Divorced from Martin, she married Kenyan distance runner Yobes Ondieki in 1990 and missed the rest of that season due to pregnancy, giving birth to their daughter in November 1990. In 1991, she achieved her third top three finish at the New York Marathon, finishing third in a race won by Scotland's Liz McColgan.

In January 1992, she finished second in the Tokyo Half Marathon, running a lifetime best of 68:33, in a race won by McColgan in 67:11. In June, she ran her lifetime best 10,000 metres, running 31:11.72 in Helsinki. This time was the second fastest in the world in 1992, with only Olympic champion Derartu Tulu going faster (31:06). At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she failed to finish the marathon, having been one of the gold medal favourites. Three months later, she recovered to win the New York City Marathon, setting a course record of 2:24:40 that would last for nine years. In 1993, she competed in the London Marathon for the first time. In a heavily hyped head-to head with Liz McColgan, they both lost out to Germany's Katrin Dorre, with Ondieki second and McColgan third. In 1994, she again finished second to Dorre in London.

In 1996, now divorced from Ondieki, she ran her fastest marathon time for three years with 2:30:57 in Osaka, to earn selection for her fourth and final Olympics. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, she failed to finish.[1]

Recognition

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Martin was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1997.[1] In 2000, she received an Australian Sports Medal.[2] In 2014, she was inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame.[4]

International competitions

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  • All results regarding marathon, unless stated otherwise
Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing  Australia
1984 Olympic Games Los Angeles, United States 7th 2:29:03
1986 Commonwealth Games Edinburgh, Scotland 1st 2:26:07
1987 World Championships Rome, Italy — DNF
1988 Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea 2nd 2:25:53
1990 Commonwealth Games Auckland, New Zealand 1st 2:25:28
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain — DNF
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States — DNF

Road races

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Year Competition Venue Position Notes
1983 Rocket City Marathon Huntsville, United States 1st 2:32:22
1984 Canberra Marathon Canberra, Australia 1st 2:35:05
Chicago Marathon Chicago, United States 2nd 2:27:40
1985 Pittsburgh Marathon Pittsburgh, United States 1st 2:31:54
New York City Marathon New York City, United States 2nd 2:29:48
1986 Great North Run Half Marathon Newcastle upon Tyne, England 1st 1:09:45

Inverness 10k 1st 31.56

New York City Marathon New York City, United States 2nd 2:29:12
1987 Osaka International Ladies Marathon Osaka, Japan 2nd 2:30:59
Great North Run Half Marathon Newcastle upon Tyne, England 1st 1:10:00
1988 Osaka International Ladies Marathon Osaka, Japan 1st 2:23:51
1989 Great North Run Half Marathon Newcastle upon Tyne, England 1st 1:11:03
1991 New York City Marathon New York, United States 3rd 2:29:01
1992 Tokyo Half Marathon Tokyo, Japan 2nd 1:08:33
New York City Marathon New York, United States 1st 2:24:40
1993 London Marathon London, England 2nd 2:27:27
1994 London Marathon London, England 2nd 2:33:17
Tokyo International Women's Marathon Tokyo, Japan 3rd 2:31:01[7]
1995 Tokyo International Women's Marathon Tokyo, Japan — DNF
1996 Osaka International Ladies Marathon Osaka, Japan 9th 2:30:27

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Lisa Ondieki-Martin". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  2. ^ a b "ONDIEKI, Lisa Frances: Australian Sports Medal". It's An Honour. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  3. ^ "History". Gawler High School. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Quartet of stars inducted to Athletics Australia Hall of Fame". Australian Olympic Committee. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Briefs-Lisa Martin". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  6. ^ "Women's Marathon". Track & Field All-time. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  7. ^ "1994 Results". Tokyo Women's Marathon. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
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