Rosa Mota

Rosa Mota is a Portuguese former marathon runner, born on 29 June 1958 and raised in the Foz Velha district of Porto, who became the first woman from Portugal to win an Olympic gold medal. She began with cross-country races at school and ran her first marathon at the 1982 European Championships in Athens, the first women's marathon held at that event, where she beat Ingrid Kristiansen. She took bronze at the first women's Olympic marathon in Los Angeles in 1984, then won the European title in 1986, the world title in Rome in 1987 and Olympic gold in Seoul in 1988, which made her the only woman to hold the European, world and Olympic marathon titles at once. She won the Boston Marathon three times, as well as the Chicago and London marathons, and ran 21 marathons between 1982 and 1992, winning 14. Her best time was 2:23:29. At its 30th anniversary gala the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races distinguished her as the greatest female marathon runner of all time, and a sports pavilion in Porto carries her name.