Gabriela "Gaby" Andersen-Schiess (born May 20, 1945) is a former Swiss long-distance runner who participated in the first women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Though living in Idaho and working as a ski instructor at the time, Andersen-Schiess represented Switzerland in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Fourteen minutes into the 1984 Olympic marathon, Joan Benoit began to pull away from the rest of the pack. She went on to win in a time of 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 52 seconds. Twenty minutes after Benoit finished, then 39-year-old Andersen-Schiess entered the stadium. The crowd gasped in horror as she staggered onto the track, her torso twisted, her left arm limp, her right leg mostly seized. She waved away medical personnel who rushed to help her, knowing that, if they touched her, she would be disqualified. The L.A. Coliseum crowd looked on as she limped around the track in the race’s final 400 meters, occasionally stopping and holding her head. While the effects of her heat exhaustion were plainly evident, trackside medics saw that she was perspiring, which meant that her body still had some disposable fluids, and let her continue her march to the finish line. At the completion of this final lap—which took Andersen-Schiess five minutes and 44 seconds—she fell across the finish line. She finished 37th, ahead of seven other runners. Medical personnel tended to her immediately and, miraculously, she was released two hours later. Her time of 2:48:45 would have won the gold medal in the first five Olympic marathons.[1]
Andersen-Schiess won the inaugural California International Marathon in 1983.[2] She has also held Swiss national records in the 10,000 metres and the marathon.[3]
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Inaugural event |
California International
Marathon - Women's Winner 1983 |
Succeeded by Katy
Schilly |
  | The Games of the XXIII Olympaid: Los Angeles, 1984 - Olympic Marathon Los Angeles 1984 XXIII Olympiad |
|
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