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| Born | (1951-06-11)June 11, 1951 (age 73) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Maren Elizabeth Seidler (born June 11, 1951, inBrooklyn, New York) is a retired Americantrack and field athlete. She dominated theshot put from the mid-1960s through 1980. She won the event at theUSA Outdoor Track and Field Championships eleven times starting in 1967, including nine in a row from 1972 to 1980.[1] She was the American champion indoors nine times, 1968–9, 1972, 1974-5 and 1977 to 1980.[2] She won her event at theUnited States Olympic Trials four straight times 1968–1980, a feat only equalled by only one woman,Madeline Manning,Edwin Moses is the only man to achieve four.Jackie Joyner Kersee is the only woman who has won more events at the Olympic Trials, split between thelong jump andheptathlon.[3] She competed in the Olympics three times, making the final twice. Her 1980 selection was quashed by the1980 Summer Olympics boycott. Seidler did however receive one of 461Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.[4]
Seidler spent most of her career competing for the Mayor Daley Youth Foundation team. She started throwing forTufts University, winning the1971 DGWS Outdoor Track and Field Championships shot put title. Her back-to-back title in 1972 came while she was competing forCalifornia State University, Hayward, where she still holds the school record.[5] She competed at the1973 World University Games. Toward the end of her career, she joined a group of elite male throwers who congregated nearSan Jose, California called the San Jose Stars.[6]
She also competed in three editions of thePan American Games, winning a silver medal in 1979. She was elected into theNational Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2000.[7]
