Grete Waitz (née Andersen, 1 October 1953 – 19 April 2011) was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder.

Born Grete Andersen in Oslo, Norway,[3] Waitz was a talented young runner, but had difficulty in getting her parents to take her potential profession seriously.

[citation needed] In her teen years, Waitz won national junior titles in Norway in the 400 and 800 metres.

Also in Oslo a year later, she lowered this record with an 8:45.4 effort, then in 1977 she won the gold medal over the distance at the inaugural IAAF World Cup in Athletics meet in Düsseldorf with a personal best time of 8:43.50.

[7] It was in 1978 that Waitz' association with the New York City Marathon began; she was invited to run there by race co-founder and director Fred Lebow, and in her first appearance, she not only won but took a full two minutes off the women's course record.

[citation needed] Waitz' last race was a victory at 5000 metres in Oslo in June 1982, in which her 15:08.80 was the second best in history, falling only a half second short of the world record set three weeks earlier by Mary Slaney.

In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, a bad knee forced her to drop out of the women's marathon just after passing the 18-mile mark.

In celebration of Lebow's 60th birthday, after he was diagnosed with brain cancer in early 1990, they both completed the New York City Marathon with a time of 5:32:35.

[12] Source: IAAF[13] Although not competing at the top level, Waitz still ran in and organised corporate races in which she aimed to give advice and information on distance running and health.

For more than 25 years, Waitz served as the ambassador for the worldwide JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series, promoting health and wellness to full-time workers.

The co-operation would mean that the cancer care foundation would get 5% of the proceeds from Adidas' sale of their Grete Waitz and Modern Classics collections.

The New York Road Runners club annually sponsors "Grete's Great Gallop," formerly a half-marathon and now a 10K, in her honor.

In addition, Waitz' portrait is featured on the tail of a Norwegian Air Shuttle 787 Dreamliner aircraft (a plane, coincidentally, manufactured in North Charleston, South Carolina, a market where she won the Charleston-area 10 km race in 1989).

In November 2008, Waitz was appointed a Knight 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, bestowed by King Harald V of Norway at a ceremony in Oslo.