Louise Sauvage
Home: Sydney, Australia
Age: 27
Personal best: 1:34:45 (Boston, 1994)

Prior to last year's race, Sauvage had won Boston three years in a row. In both 1998 and 1999 she outleaned Jean Driscoll at the finish line, with the two recording the exact same time (1:41:19 in 1998 and 1:42:22 in 1999). Last year, Sauvage was able to shrink a time deficit down to 17 seconds at 49 kilometers, but Driscoll eventually emerged the winner. Her first Boston victory, in 1997, interrupted Driscoll's winning streak of seven consecutive titles. Sauvage has raced in the last eight Bostons, beginning with a third place (1:39:31) in 1993 at the age of 19.

She was named the International Female Wheelchair Athlete of the Year and the Australian Sports Awards Athlete of the Year in 1999, in part because of her wins in Honolulu, the Carlsbad 5000 and the US National 10K Championships.

She has had an outstanding career on the track as well, winning gold medals at 800, 1,500 and 5,000 meters in the 1996 Paralympic Games, held in Atlanta, and the gold at 1,500 in the 2000 Games at Sydney. She was picked to carry the Olympic torch across Sydney Harbor prior to the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Olympic Games. Last May, Sauvage was named World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability at the inaugural Laureus Sports Awards in Monaco.