News11 May 2011


Grete Waitz honoured and remembered at Bislett Stadium ceremony

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Joan Benoit Samuelson and Rosa Mota at a ceremony honouring the life of Grete Waitz at Oslo's Bislett Stadium (© organisers)

Toni Reavis is a long time athletics and road racing commentator and journalist.


Oslo, Norway – Perhaps it was a good thing Grete Waitz wasn’t still with us, because last night in Bislett Stadium where the great Norwegian champion first came to national then international prominence, she was eulogised to over 1500 people by the likes of the Norwegian Prime Minister, the mayor of Oslo, the head of the Norwegian Athletics Federation, fellow champions, and the president of the New York Road Runners.  Knowing Grete, the private person who shunned personal recognition, the public display of it all would have been pure torture.


Her husband Jack joked to me earlier that “Grete will come back and haunt me” if he made the commemoration too elaborate.  But both Grete and Jack came to the realisation long ago that she wasn’t just a private citizen of Norway alone.  The one-time school teacher from Oslo had long since become a citizen of the world, and the world needed to say good-bye and thank you.

Grete died on 19 April at age 57, and was laid to rest, as per her request, at a small private ceremony on the 28th.  Last night’s memorial service was more for the legions who loved and respected her, and for them there was no holding back.

“Our Grete” was how New York Road Runners president Mary Wittenberg so eloquently began her eulogy, a moving tribute to the nine-time ING New York City Marathon and five-time New York Mini 10K champion, the queen of New York, if ever there was one.  ”Somehow there was enough Grete for all of us to share.”


“Our quiet hero” Wittenberg called her, a woman who charmed the brash citizenry of New York, took on and bested the top runners of her era, then carried the responsibility of cancer with the same characteristic grace she displayed as an athlete.  She even began a foundation, Active Against Cancer, to help others fight the disease.

Besides Wittenberg, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Oslo Mayor Fabian Stang, Norwegian Athletics Federation head Svein Arne Hansen and others, Grete’s fellow Marathon champions Joan Benoit Samuelson and Rosa Mota of Portugal were also were on hand to talk about their friend and rival.


“I grew up with three brothers,” Samuelson told the crowd, displaying a clear emotion. “Grete was the big sister I never had.”

London-based Norwegian singer Lisa Stokke thrilled the audience with a special rendition of “New York, New York”, inserting “queen of the streets” and “these Adidas shoes” to personalize Grete’s attachment to the Big Apple.

“I am so grateful for all who are here today,” Jack told the crowd in his native Norwegian to close the memorial. “This is going to live with me the rest of my life.”


Toni Reavis and organizers for the IAAF


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