Gabriela Andersen-Schiess

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Gabriela "Gaby" Andersen-Schiess (née Schiess ; born May 20, 1945 in Zurich ) is a former Swiss medium and long-distance runner .

She went to Sun Valley , Idaho as a ski instructor in 1963 and married an American , which gave her dual citizenship. In 1972 she won the Swiss championship in the 3000 meter run . In 1973 she was runner-up in 1500 and 3000 meters and cross-country . In the same year Andersen-Schiess set a Swiss best in the marathon in Bräunlingen , a discipline that was still young for women at the time. In 1977 and 1978 she improved the fastest time at the Seattle marathons .

After a break, she started running marathons again in 1982. She won the Twin Cities Marathon ( Minneapolis - Saint Paul ) in 1983 and the California International Marathon ( Sacramento ) on December 4th , where she set a new Swiss record in 2: 33.25 hours. In the same year she ran the Swiss record in the 10 km run in 33:29 minutes and in 1984 she improved the Swiss best time in the half marathon to 1: 15.29 hours.

In 1984, the women's marathon was first included in the program at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles . The 39-year-old Andersen-Schiess had run 20 marathons by then and was the only Swiss woman to start. At 36 km she was still in 20th position, but then missed the last drink station. She reached the stadium dehydrated and staggered exhausted on the final lap. For the 500 meters in the Coliseum , which the winner Joan Benoit ran in one and a half minutes, she needed almost seven minutes, but refused any medical help. She then crossed the finish line in 37th and collapsed; the following treatment showed a body temperature of 41.2 degrees Celsius. Later there were discussions about whether the judges and doctors would have been obliged to take Andersen-Schiess out of the race. However, she recovered relatively quickly and gave interviews just twelve hours later.

Andersen-Schiess later lived in the Rocky Mountains and worked as a florist and ski instructor and competed in races in various age categories.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Peter Röthlisberger: 41.2 degrees. In: Children of Olympus , Die Weltwoche 33/2004.
  2. ↑ Marathon: Pleasure in Suffering. In: Der Spiegel . September 22, 1984, p. 232.
  3. ↑ Will she make it, won't she make it? For the 75th birthday of the marathon legend Gaby Andersen-Schiess. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. May 20, 2020, accessed May 21, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Andersen-Schiess, Gabriela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schiess, Gabriela (maiden name); Andersen-Schiess, Gaby
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss middle and long distance runner
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich