Switzer’s boyfriend Tom Miller pushed him to the ground on the pavement beside them.
he just grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me back and he said ‘get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers’”. He was getting teased by the journalists about a girl being in his race. The unnoticed maverick was making history without issue, before an official, Jock Semple, attempted to physically remove her from the race, as Switzer explained to Off The Ball: “The co-race director lost his temper. The inconceivable sight of a woman as an official contestant w as w elcomed by other competitors. I knew I was going to be noticed, but Arnie said, ‘I’m proud of you’”. I was full of confidence I was very excited. Switzer explained: “Arnie said, ‘you need to officially sign up, this is a serious race’. Registered under the name ‘K.V Switzer - which she claims is because her name is misspelled on her birth cert - although the gender-neutral name did hide her gender. The idea of a woman competing as a numbered entrant of a marathon seemed ridiculous at the time, so s he had to convince him by running the distance of the marathon, which led him to help her sign up f or it. His stories of the marathon inspired her to try to take part in it. The Syracuse University mailman, who had won the Boston marathon 15 times, was excited about seeing her out there and took Switzer under his wing. He said ‘you can’t run officially on the team, it’s against the NCAA ( National Collegiate Athletics Association ) rules in collegiate sports, but you can come out and work out with the team if you want to, we would welcome you’ and that was a joke because he never thought I would show up, but I did”, Switzer explained. She asked the coach of the men’s cross-country team if she could participate with them, as there were no girls' sports teams. Once you got to university, it was all over for girls.” said Switzer. I had been running, I had been playing field hockey, but that was going to be it. “I knew I was never going to be allowed to be an athlete. A woman becoming a professional athlete seem ed impossible at the time. She wanted to be a sports journalist, as it seemed to be her only way to work in the sports industry. Switzer was studying journalism at Syracuse University.
I realised ‘I'm going to change the system’, and that’s when it became political to me”. At this point, I realised other women would be there if they only had opportunities.
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