Gayle Olinekova (birth name Olinek; March 3, 1953 [1] – November 26, 2003) was a marathon runner and bodybuilder from Canada.
Olinekova, whom Sports Illustrated nicknamed the "Greatest Legs To Ever Stride The Earth," challenged the perception of femininity and athleticism during a time period when Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on gender in school athletics, was first going into effect.
Olinekova encouraged fellow female athletes to embrace a muscular physique by publicly declaring that strength is beauty.
The Toronto native would race the bus on foot (even on the coldest of mornings) just for the chance to stay in her warm bed ten minutes longer.
She held a paper route to earn money for her music lessons until, around the age of fifteen, Olinekova decided to pour all that discipline into running.
"[5] At 15, still wearing sweat pants to hide her legs during workouts, she ran a 62-second quarter mile in her first real competition; it broke the Toronto girls' high school record by 10 seconds.
[4] Olinekova put sprinting on hold and used a scholarship[5] to enroll at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, where she studied modern dance, according to her book.
[4]) "I had never danced anything in my life except a polka at my gradparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary," she explains in her 1982 book, Go For It!, "but the audition for this program was so crowded (476 hopefuls for 30 spots) I felt that there was nothing to lose.
"[5] The other dancers resented this newcomer at the start, but later choreographed dramatic pieces for Olinekova that highlighted her strength and speed—high leaps, turns, and bounding.
"[5] She traveled to the sport science centers in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and France, having to wait sometimes for hours before the famous scientists would deign to answer even one question.
Rob Calderhead, pastor of La Canada United Methodist Church, explained that "although Olinekova was told by one doctor that she had only two months to live, she set her sights on recovery and courageously battled the disease for 3½ years, undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and stem cell replacement at the City of Hope hospital.
[6] At her memorial service, longtime friend Maura Barraza explained, "Money was never that important to Gayle: people were.