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1968-
Best wheelchair marathoner in history

Driscoll has rolled to victory in Boston.  Damian Strohmeyer

Born with spina bifida, Jean Driscoll did not start using a wheelchair until her sophomore year at a Milwaukee high school. Understandably, she had a hard time coming to grips with her disability and resisted participating in athletics. But after a classmate pestered her for a year to check out a wheelchair soccer practice, Driscoll finally gave in. To her surprise, she loved it. The action was physical, intense and competitive, and suddenly a whole new world was opened to Driscoll.

At the University of Illinois, Driscoll began her training for wheelchair racing. After several years of perfecting her technique and working up to longer distances, Driscoll competed in her first marathon in October 1989. She came in second in the women's wheelchair division of the Chicago marathon with a time of 1:59:52, which qualified her to race in the same division at the following year's Boston Marathon. In 1990, Driscoll won the first of seven straight Bostons in a world-record time of 1:43:17. She re-set her own mark in each of the next four years, finally setting the current standard of 1:34:22 in 1994.

Her seventh win tied the overall Boston record set by Clarence DeMar in the men's open division. Strange circumstances, however, have conspired to deny Driscoll an eighth crown. In 1997, a tire on her chair snagged a trolley track while she was racing for the lead at the 22-mile mark and she was sent sprawling to the blacktop. Driscoll completed the race with a flat tire and finished second to Australia's Louise Sauvage. In 1998, Sauvage made up a 50-meter deficit to edge Driscoll at the finish line, even though both were credited with the same time. Sauvage nosed out Driscoll a year later to capture her third straight title, despite the fact that the two once again came in with identical clockings. When not competing, Driscoll works as an assistant coach with the Illinois wheelchair track and field team. She still trains with the hopes of grabbing that elusive eighth Boston win and cracking the 1:30 barrier.

They said it: "When you finally reach the line and you go through the tape, it's just an exuberant feeling, something takes over. I get filled with spirit and so ready to share my excitement with everybody...It's all those hours, months, days of training, the frustrating workouts, the great workouts -- it's all coming together at once." --Driscoll

--Albert Lin

Athletes were selected by Sports Illustrated For Women, Sports Illustrated and CNN/SI editors, writers and correspondents who considered the athletes' on-field performance and achievements, plus their contributions to women's sports. Because athletic achievement was a key criterion, women whose contributions were made solely in administration and coaching are not included.

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