“At one of my first OCS sessions, at Moscow in 1980, the IOC, in its elderly all-male splendor, considered the matter of whether the marathon event for women should be added to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic program. There was considerable discussion and a basic reluctance to proceed. Once or two members offered the view that it should not added because it would be too difficult for the ‘weaker’ sex … [but, in the end,] the event was added in time for the Games in Los Angeles.”
(D. Pound, Inside the Olympics (Montreal: Wiley, 2006 edn), p. 135)
Here, by way of context, is how the world record for the marathon has progressed since 1980s, for male and female runners.
Men
2:09:01 Gerard Nijboer April 26, 1980
2:08:18 Robert De Castella December 6, 1981
2:08:05 Steve Jones October 21, 1984
2:07:12 Carlos Lopes April 20, 1985
2:06:50 Belayneh Dinsamo April 17, 1988
2:06:05 Ronaldo da Costa September 20, 1998
2:05:42 Khalid Khannouchi October 24, 1999
2:05:38 Khalid Khannouchi April 14, 2002
2:04:55 Paul Tergat September 28, 2003
2:04:26 Haile Gebrselassie September 30, 2007
2:03:59 Haile Gebrselassie September 28, 2008
2:03:38 Patrick Makau September 25, 2011
Women
2:31:23 Joan Benoit February 3, 1980
2:30:57.1 Patti Catalano September 6, 1980
2:25:41.3 Grete Waitz October 26, 1980
2:30:27 Joyce Smith November 16, 1980
2:29:57 Joyce Smith March 29, 1981
2:29:01.6 Charlotte Teske January 16, 1982
2:26:12 Joan Benoit September 12, 1982
2:25:28.7 Grete Waitz April 17, 1983
2:22:43 Joan Benoit April 18, 1983
2:24:26 Ingrid Kristiansen May 13, 1984
2:21:06 Ingrid Kristiansen April 21, 1985
2:20:47 Tegla Loroupe April 19, 1998
2:20:43 Tegla Loroupe September 26, 1999
2:19:46 Naoko Takahashi September 30, 2001
2:18:47 Catherine Ndereba October 7, 2001
2:17:18 Paula Radcliffe October 13, 2002
2:15:25 Paula Radcliffe April 13, 2003
lives; running 