Joan Ullyot (nee Lamb, July 1, 1940 – June 18, 2021) was an American physician, author, and runner. She was one of the key figures in successfully lobbying for a women's marathon in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. Ullyot herself won ten marathons, and won the masters category at the Boston Marathon in 1984.

Early life and education

Joan Wingate Lamb was born on July 1, 1940, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois. Her father, Theodore Lamb, died in 1943. Her mother Deborah remarried, to a man named William Gelette. They moved to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and then, later on, to Pasadena, California, where she attended the Westridge School. She went to Wellesley College, graduating with a degree in German literature in 1961. She graduated from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in 1966.

Career

Ullyot was an

exercise physiologist Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

associated with the Institute of Health Research in San Francisco, and a project director at the Research Institute of Laboratory Medicine at the Pacific Medical Center. In 1976, she published the book ''Women's Running'', in which she countered common arguments that women were not built for running long distances. It was one of the first books discussing this topic. She also wrote ''Running Free: A Book for Women Runners and their Friends'' (1980), and an updated edition of her first book, ''The New Women's Running'' (1984). She also wrote a column in ''

Runner's World ''Runner's World'' is a globally circulated monthly magazine for runners of all skills sets, published by Hearst in Easton, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Before its acquisition by Hearst, it was founded and published by Rodale, Inc. in Em ...

'' magazine, and consulted and lectured on women's nutrition and fitness. When the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

program committee asked for "further studies on the physiological and psychological effects of competitive marathon running on women" in April 1980, Ullyot compiled medical evidence to make the affirmative case for including the marathon in the Olympics. In response, the IOC program committee approved the marathon at their next meeting in February 1981.

Running

Ullyot won ten marathons, and won the masters category at the Boston Marathon in 1984. In 1975, she placed sixth in the first International Women's Marathon, held in Germany. In 1977, she won the women's category of the first Bloomsday Run in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

Awards and honors

Ullyot was inducted into the

Road Runners Club of America Founded in 1958, the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) is the oldest and largest distance running organization in the United States with over 1,500 running club and event members representing 200,000 individual runners active in their running c ...

Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2019.

Personal life

In 1965 Joan Lamb married fellow physician Daniel Ullyot. They had two sons and were divorced in 1976. In 1990, Ullyot married Dr. Charles E. Becker. She died in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

, in 2021, aged 80 years.

Books

*''Women's Running'' (World Publications, 1976) *''Running free: a book for women runners and their friends'' (Putnam, 1980) *''The New Women’s Running'' (Stephen Greene Press, 1984)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ullyot, Joan 1940 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American physicians American female marathon runners Harvard Medical School alumni Track and field athletes from Chicago Physicians from Chicago Wellesley College alumni 20th-century American women 21st-century American women