As a youngster, Joan Benoit dreamed of going to the Olympics. She finally got her chance to try out for the inaugural women's marathon in the 1984 Olympics.

After setting a world record in 1983 for the women's race in the Boston Marathon, it seemed quite probable. But two months before the trials, her knee hurt badly enough that some days she couldn't walk upstairs without severe pain.

Doctors ordered her to rest. A month before the trials, her knee was getting worse. Finally, with three weeks to go, she underwent arthroscopic surgery. Within a week after the procedure, she was swimming, riding a stationary bicycle, and back up and running.

Benoit trained hard — and it paid off. She shook off knee discomfort to place first in the trials and secure her spot on the team. The determined woman went on to win the gold in a field that included world-class runners Grete Waitz and Ingrid Kristiansen, after leading the entire 26.2 miles in hot weather.

"She had the stage — the first Olympic marathon — and she played her role to perfection," said Amby Burfoot, executive editor of Runner's World magazine. "(She won) in an unexpected and totally authentic manner — by herself from the front, running to her own rhythms."

With true grit, focus and determination, Benoit overcame the recent knee operation and other related woes to win the trials and the historical Olympic race that culminated at the Los Angeles Coliseum. "She was totally focused on what she had to do and how to do it," Burfoot said. "The plan wasn't complicated, but it took great courage to do it."

When Benoit broke off from the pack so early, media commentators were sure she'd lose steam by the end. Elite marathon runners often stay in a pack for a good part of the race before taking off.

Operation Comeback

Her bigger problem was that knee. She couldn't run right away after the operation. Her first light run was on April 29, three months before the Olympic event, and it went fine. The next day, her doctor said she could run if she started slowly. On May 2, though, she began intense training; she was determined to make the trials 10 days later.

Benoit got up at 6 a.m. every day, lifted weights, then rode a bike and swam. She followed several hours of therapy with a run. She was still favoring her right knee, which led to a pulled hamstring in her left leg.

Now she had a new injury to worry about. She had to cut back on her running to make time for therapy for both her injuries. On May 9, three days before the trials, she told herself if she couldn't run at least 15 miles, she wasn't going to the trials.

Benoit logged 16 miles that day, but it took an extreme amount of focus. She was still unsure how she'd perform as she approached the starting line on May 12.

She started off with the leaders for the first three or four miles, then broke away from the pack with another runner. At mile 14, she took the lead. Though she slowed down in the last six miles, she'd held enough of a lead to come in first.

"I can take a bad situation and make it work to my advantage. That's part of what mental toughness means," she said in "Running Tide," the autobiography she wrote with Sally Baker. "I don't know where it comes from, but it's the one attribute I know I can count on to get me through the bad times."

Benoit has had enough tough times. Marathon runners often hit the "wall" at mile 18 of a race. Some hobble to a late finish; others drop out. When she hit the wall at a marathon in Columbus, Ohio, before her Olympic march, Benoit managed to place second. Her legs were cramping, her heels were in pain and she was anemic, though she didn't know that at the time.

Instead of giving up after the experience, she took advantage of two lessons: "You cannot go into a marathon unprepared, and anything can happen in such a long race."

She tweaked her training program and continued doing so after each marathon. She started preparing at least three months ahead of each race, with 120 miles per week.

She'd increase her training intensity as a race approached, focusing on speed as well as distance. But if she felt too drained physically to complete 20 miles one day, she wouldn't push it. She'd learned that from injuries, as well as the proverbial wall.

That didn't mean she would give up if she felt drained. She made sure to be well prepared. And she focused during races.

"My body may fail me, but my head never has," she wrote. "There's a switch I can throw that puts me into high concentration: I focus 100% on the immediate goal; I forget I have a body; I don't feel pain."

Many Olympians start training in one sport at a young age. Benoit played all kinds of sports from field hockey to tennis to swimming. She had her heart set on becoming a ski champion — until she broke her leg.

At Cape Elizabeth High School in Maine, she made the team for field hockey, the only girls' sport offered in the fall. As with all other sports she tried, she trained hard to become a good enough ball handler to score a goal in nearly every game.

"I practiced extra hours, laboring to learn stickwork," she wrote. "To keep my place on the team in the meantime, I showed the coaches I could run and use my head."

Benoit never rested on her laurels. Even though she received many compliments for her solid play on the field, she always felt she could do better. That fueled her desire to excel — and led to the many records she set and awards she won.

Even in high school, she made sure none of this went to her head. "I'm always pleased and touched . . . but I can't let myself believe I deserve such things," she wrote. "I'll lose my edge if I do that. If I start running for the awards, my career is over."

At Bowdoin College in Maine, she at first played field hockey and ran on her own, since no organized team for women existed. One of her goals: run a mile in under five minutes. She joined the men's cross-country team, which her brother belonged to, for practice sessions.

Soon Benoit was winning regional races in which she competed individually. Later, a women's track team was formed at Bowdoin. At this point she had set a world record at a 10-kilometer race, and Nike took notice. The company has had a relationship with her since.

In the late 1970s, Benoit completed her first marathon in 2 hours, 50 minutes. That was her ticket for Boston. She went on to win the women's portion of the 1979 Boston Marathon with an American record of 2 hours, 35 minutes, 15 seconds.

Stepping It Up

In 1983 she again won the Boston Marathon's women's division, this time setting a world mark with her time: 2 hours, 22 minutes, 43 seconds.

Her running career was moving full speed ahead.

What helped her achieve such success during her running career?

"Dedication, total work ethic and ignoring the small stuff," said Burfoot, the Runner's World editor. "She has remained true to her core basic, back-in-Maine principles: few words, total focus, let your feet do the talking."

Benoit — who became Joan Samuelson in 1984 when she tied the knot with college boyfriend Scott Samuelson soon after the Olympics — is still letting her feet do the talking. The 50-year-old has already qualified for the 2008 Olympic trials in the women's marathon, which will be held in April in Boston.

BY NANCY GONDO