I delved into a new medium recently and recorded my first podcast episode, as part of the Starting Line 1928 project, which aims to document the stories of women’s distance running pioneers in their own voices. This pioneer is Ann Gaffigan, who won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2004 Olympic Trials and set an American record. But the women’s steeplechase wasn’t yet an Olympic event, so Gaffigan’s win didn’t earn her a ticket to the Olympics.
It was the best day of her life, Gaffigan says, and she was proud of what she’d accomplished—but competing at the Olympics had been her childhood dream, and she didn’t get to go, despite the fact that men had been competing in the steeplechase at the Olympics for more than a century. She has continued to support women and girls in sports through other channels, and we talked about how her relationship to running has evolved over the years.
To read a little about her, here’s the article I wrote to accompany this episode.