Joyce Smith

Joyce Esther Smith (née Byatt, born 26 October 1937) is a British former long-distance runner. She broke the world record in the 3000 metres in 1971 and is a three-time medallist at the International/World Cross Country Championships, including winning in 1972. She went on to twice win the London Marathon, becoming the first British woman in history to run under 2:30 when winning in 1981 with 2:29:57, before further improving the British record to 2:29:43 when winning in 1982. She also competed in the 1500 metres at the 1972 Munich Olympics and finished 11th in the marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, aged 46. Biography Smith was born in Stoke Newington, London, and began running competitively in the 1950s, at which time the longest distance for women in international competitions was 800 metres. She won the English National Crosscountry Championship (AAA) in 1959 and 1960. In 1965, she told Athletics Weekly that she intended to continue competing "for two more years at the most" and stopped running competitively in 1968. Smith returned to competitive running in 1969, and broke the world record for the 3000 metres distance in 1971, and won the bronze medal in 1971, the gold medal in 1972 and the silver medal in 1973 in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She reached the semi-final of the 1500 metres at the 1972 Olympic Games. In 1973, she won her third National Crosscountry Championship. She won the bronze medal in 3000 m at the European Athletics Championships in 1974. In 1978, she retired from track running after setting a new world record for 3000 m in the age group W40 of 9:11.2 minutes, which was broken 27 years later, and ran her first marathon in 1979, beating the previous British record held by Rosemary Cox by nine minutes and seventeen seconds in a time of 2:41:37.