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04/17/26 08:03:00
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04/17 05:00 CDT Statue honors Boston Marathon pioneer Bobbi Gibb. She's not
just the subject---she's the sculptor, too
Statue honors Boston Marathon pioneer Bobbi Gibb. She's not just the
subject---she's the sculptor, too
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
HOPKINTON, Mass. (AP) --- There was only one sculptor qualified to capture the
combination of pain and satisfaction that Bobbi Gibb felt when she became the
first woman to complete the Boston Marathon.
Gibb herself.
The artist, lawyer and running pioneer unveiled her self-portrait in bronze
alongside the Hopkinton Town Green this spring --- the first statue of a woman
on the historic route to Boston. The work is just a few steps from the starting
line, waiting to greet the 30,000-plus runners who will line up for Monday's
race.
More than 14,000 of them will be women, following in Gibb's footsteps.
"It isn't just me: It's to symbolize women in the struggle to get full human
and civil rights," Gibb said at the unveiling, recalling a childhood when her
mother couldn't get a credit card, serve on a jury, work certain jobs --- or
run more than 1.5 miles. "I wanted to do something to change that. I said to my
mother, ?I can't live like this.'"
Now 83, Gibb was running as many as 40 miles (64 kilometers) in training when
she applied for a spot in the 1966 Boston Marathon but was rejected; rules at
the time dictated that it wasn't safe for women to run more than 1.5 miles
(2.41 kilometers). She decided to run anyway.
"I said, ?Ah, if I can prove this false belief about women wrong, I could throw
into doubt all the others,'" she said. "This is the tragedy of prejudice: If
you're not allowed to do something, how can you prove you can do it, or how can
you even know you can do it?"
Gibb took a four-day bus ride from San Diego, then hid in the bushes until the
starting gun was fired. As she ran, she felt the support of the other runners
and the crowds, especially the students at all-women Wellesley College around
the midway point.
She finished in 3 hours, 21 minutes, 40 seconds --- and ran the next two years
as well. Although women were not officially admitted into the race until 1972,
the Boston Athletic Association now considers her three victories in the "
Pioneer Era of Women's Participation."
"I think our sport is the greatest sport in the world. I've always believed in
that, and I've lived that way, too. And I think Bobbi did, too," four-time
Boston winner Bill Rodgers said. "She felt the same way and said, ?I want to be
part of this great event.'
"And she's a great sculptor, too," he said. "She's got talent."
The course that winds its way toward Boston's Back Bay already had a statue of
longtime BAA official George Brown firing his starter's pistol; of 1946 winner
Stylianos Kyriakides of Greece a mile in; of two-time winner (and top 10
finisher 25 more times) Johnny Kelley at Heartbreak Hill; and of charity icons
Rick and Dick Hoyt near the start. There's even one of Spencer the therapy dog,
who went viral for cheering on the runners after the 2013 bombing.
Gibb's statue depicts her in her baggy Bermuda shorts and bathing suit tank
top, wearing the leather nurse's flats that were the best approximation of
running shoes available to her at the time. She is in stride, staring ahead,
her ponytail bouncing behind her.
The sculpture was first unveiled in 2021 at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts,
about a mile from the starting line, while the funding and permitting was lined
up to place it closer to the course. It now sits on a stone wall above a simple
granite plinth.
Although the bronze runner is looking out toward Boylston Street 26.2 miles
away, Gibb said the work was meant to represent her as she accomplished her
goal.
"I'm finishing the race, looking a little ragged around the edges," she said
with a laugh. "This is what you're going to look like when you get to Boston."
Gibb, who also created the winners' trophies for the 1984 U.S. Olympic marathon
trials, said she originally wanted to sculpt two-time Boston winner and 1984
Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson. "She said, ?No way. It's you or no
one,'" Gibb said. "So that's what I did."
The statue took several years to complete, as Gibb, who studied anatomy as part
of a pre-med course at the University of California-San Diego, started in clay
with the bones and added muscles, skin and clothes as she created the model for
the bronze cast.
"I love to do it, so it takes a long time," she said --- a comment about the
sculpture that could also apply to marathon running and her fight for gender
equality. "It's a labor of love."
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
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