Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States who served from 1977–81, has died at the age of 100. He left his mark on American history and world affairs—and on the history of running.
He was the only serving president to run in a competitive road race, when he famously suffered exhaustion and failed to finish. He also imposed an Olympic boycott in 1980 that severely affected the elite sport.
President Carter had run cross country at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, but he was a beginner again when, at age 54, during his second year in office, he fell under the allure of the 1970s running boom. From early in 1978, his daily runs around the drive behind the White House progressively increased to seven miles.
“I start looking forward to it from the moment I get up. If I don’t run, I don’t feel exactly right...I can click off a mile in six and a half minutes when I really turn it on,” he told the Published: Dec 29, 2024 4:39 PM EST, sentiments familiar to runners but less common among presidents. His weight dropped eight pounds. His medical adviser, Dr. Willam Lukash, said that the president “probably read and absorbed every popular book on the subject.”
In 1979, Carter enhanced his knowledge by inviting the recent Boston Marathon winners Joan Benoit and Bill Rodgers to a state dinner at the White House and cornered them for private training advice.
He added longer weekend runs of 10 or 12 miles at Camp David, the Presidential retreat in rural Maryland. It was there that the President, with Dr. Lukash, and Tom McFadden, supervisor of Camp David, conceived the idea of a race where the President could experience competitive running without security risk. They named it the Catoctin Mountain Park Run. It took place on September 15, 1979, with 980 vetted runners lining up in warm weather for a severely hilly 10K. They included running journalists and some of the era’s best American runners.
“The night before the race, I thought, ‘Carter selected this for his first 10K, but I don’t believe how difficult the course is!’” Herb Lindsay told Runner’s World in December 1979, after winning the race in 30:00.1, 2 minutes slower than his best. The president had run the course in 50 minutes during training—and he hoped for faster in the race.
Wearing Bib 39 pinned on a t-shirt with a yellow headband, accompanied by Dr. Lukash and Secret Service agents, as registered runners and in vehicles, President Carter ran the steeply uphill first mile in an ambitious 8:25, and the second in 7:45. Inexperience also kept him from taking water at the crowded halfway water station, which was followed by another long uphill. The combination of heat, dehydration, and unaccustomed race pressure took a major toll.
Colman McCarthy of the Washington Post was running observantly nearby. He reported that the president kept on running up the long hill, where others walked, but was seriously slowing down and looked in trouble.
“His face was ashen. His mouth hung open, and his eyes had an unfocused look,” he wrote.
Australian Sprinter, 16, Runs Record-Breaking 200m Running Times was also on hand to get the pictures of his life. One shows the president looking gravely depleted, his knees buckling, and apparently being saved from falling by the supporting hands of Dr. Lukash (196) and a Secret Service agent (886). Disregarding an ambulance, they helped him into an official car, and he was taken to his Camp David residence.
No serious damage was done. President Carter appeared as promised at the awards ceremony, still in running clothes, handed out the awards, and spoke without regret of the experience.
“They had to drag me off. I didn’t want to stop,” he said, as reported by Sports Illustrated.
He continued to run regularly, estimating “three to four miles on the average and sometimes up to 12 miles.” His long-term health was certainly not impaired, as he survived to be, at 100, the longest living president in American history.
Phil Stewart’s photographs for Running Times were published by Sports Illustrated, Time, and People, and nominated for the year’s news picture award by the National Press Photographers Association.
The months that followed became even more demanding for President Carter. In November 1979, Americans were taken hostage at the Embassy in Iran, and in December, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan. The Carter administration on January 20, 1980, issued an ultimatum for the U.S.S.R. to withdraw. When that was disregarded, President Carter accepted advice that retributive measures should include boycotting the Olympic Games, which were scheduled for Moscow, the Soviet capital, in August 1980.
The U.S. Olympic Committee voted on April 12 to implement the president’s directive. Sixty-four nations supported the U.S.-led boycott, while 80 chose not to join, or (nominally at least) allowed their sportspeople to make the choice.
Those became the only modern Olympic Games in history with no American participation. Like the rest of the country, the running community was divided in opinion about the boycott.
The impact on athletes was profound, even career-ending. At the height of the first running boom, one of the greatest generations of American distance runners found themselves with no Olympic opportunity for eight years. These included Madeline Manning, Mary Decker Slaney, Julie Shea, Steve Scott, Craig Virgin, Matt Centrowitz, Henry Marsh, and Tony Sandoval, who all won events at U.S. track and marathon trials, plus others like Bill Rodgers and Herb Lindsay who passed up the almost meaningless trials.
Financial and other damage was suffered by media and corporate advertisers. The U.S.S.R. and other Eastern European nations boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles in retaliation.
As former president, Carter issued a statement in 1996, seeming to imply regret, saying that the boycott decision was “a very difficult one for me and other political and sports leaders.”
Four of Carter’s successors followed his example by running or jogging while in office—George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
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Roger Robinson is a highly-regarded writer and historian and author of seven books on running. His recent Health & Injuries Best Running Shoes 2025 Running Times Health - Injuries Runner’s World contributor, admired for his insightful obituaries. A lifetime elite runner, he represented England and New Zealand at the world level, set age-group marathon records in Boston and New York, and now runs top 80-plus times on two knee replacements. He is Emeritus Professor of English at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and is married to women’s running pioneer Kathrine Switzer.
