Lisa Martin

Who is Lisa Martin?

Lisa Frances Ondieki is an Australian retired female long-distance runner.

Originally a hurdler, she was initially reluctant to take up marathon. In her first marathon competition in 1983, she took almost five minutes off the Australian record with her time of 2:32:22. She came seventh in the women's marathon event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, finishing the competition in less than two and a half hours for the first time, and competed in that year's Chicago Marathon in a new personal best time of 2:27:40. At the 1985 Pittsburgh Marathon, she competed alongside her husband at the time, Ken Martin; they became the fastest married couple ever in a marathon and won both of their divisions. She won gold medals in marathon at both the 1986 Edinburgh and 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, and won a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. After failing to finish the marathon at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she won that year's New York City Marathon, setting a course record of 2:24:40 that would last for nine years. Her last Olympic appearance was the 1996 Atlanta Games, where she failed to finish.