A fact from Becca Pizzi appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 17 December 2016 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Athletics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the sport of athletics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page and join the discussion.AthleticsWikipedia:WikiProject AthleticsTemplate:WikiProject AthleticsAthletics articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of women on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.WomenWikipedia:WikiProject WomenTemplate:WikiProject WomenWikiProject Women articles
Opinions needed: woman suitable for an article?[edit]
Hi, folks. I'm gathering references in User:GRuban/Becca Pizzi for a woman who's a single mom, and manages an ice cream store, but is notable for winning a series of seven consecutive marathons in seven days on seven continents. She won every one of the seven, individually and in total, and was the first American woman to run the series, and set a record for it, and had long, indepth stories written about how she was going to run, and how she was running, and how she finished and won, by local sources (Belmont Citizen-Herald, Boston Globe), and distant sources (Miami Herald, Kansas City Star), and athletic sources (Runner's World, ESPN), and national sources (Wall Street Journal, CBS News), steadily over a series of 5 months. But, that's really her main reason for notability. (Well, she had a parade held in her name, and had a tribute read into the Congressional Record, and got a marriage proposal on the pitcher's mound of Fenway Park while she was supposed to throw out a baseball; but that all stems from the marathon.) So there could be an argument made that that's all WP:BLP1E. I think she meets notability criteria, at least WP:GNG, if not WP:ATHLETE. But that's me. I'd like to have someone agree with that, that she almost certainly hasn't served ice cream to. (Honestly I'm not sure; I definitely had some at the place I've since read she manages, but don't really recall who was serving it at the time. I certainly haven't spoken to her for anything other than "extra sprinkles, please".) --GRuban (talk) 00:48, 24 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
It seems to me that attracting national coverage for such a feat makes her notable, even if she hadn't set a new world's record. Ignore anybody who claims BLP1E applies. Had Wikipedia existed in 1953, I'm sure the same nay-sayers would have argued that Edmund Hillary was famous for only one thing and didn't qualify for an encyclopedia article. — Malik ShabazzTalk/Stalk 05:33, 24 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
It's not one event, it's multiple ones. But yeah, Malik makes a good point... sigh. Montanabw(talk) 01:06, 25 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@GRuban: Absolutely notable. I've taken the liberty to edit your userpage draft a bit. Can you get any photos, if only of the ice cream shop? Maybe you could leave your phone number at the shop and ask if you can take a photo of her training some time? Smallbones(smalltalk) 18:30, 9 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Malik Shabazz:, @Montanabw:, @Smallbones: - thank you all, folks, it's live. I also ran it by the article subject (had her pose for a photo, in fact), and she seems happy. Should nominate for DYK soon, probably with the blurb: "Did you know ... that Becca Pizzi had never had an injury in 30 years of running until she won 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days?" unless someone else has better ideas. --GRuban (talk) 16:54, 18 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Fantastic! this is the type of article that makes Wikipedia great. At DYK they'll need to have the article rated as at least a start. That won't be a problem, as this is at least a C, more likely a B. But somebody from a runner's or sport's project should rate it. I did a check of ORES, which gives pretty consistent rating predictions at https://ores.wmflabs.org/v2/scores/enwiki/wp10/?revids=746782913 That just looks at the formal structural elements of the article rather than actual content, so a real person is needed to rate it, but ORES predicts a GA rating! After DYK you should go for the GA (the content is fine).
As far as the DYK hook yours looks fine. Perhaps "until" implies that she had an injury during the 7 days/7 marathons. If so, it's not in the ref, so tack on a ref that says she had an injury if possible. "before" might be slightly better if her later injuries are unclear.
I might consider something that fits DYK's "super-wow" format even better, maybe
"Did you know ... that Becca Pizzi won 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days, and accepted a surprise marriage proposal while throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park?"
She did have an injury! In Dubai. --GRuban (talk) 23:50, 18 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Whoops - I obviously skimmed too much. I added in the external media template for the WGBH news spot. Some people don't like these, if that includes you, please remove it. Smallbones(smalltalk) 01:58, 19 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No objection; there are lots of external videos to choose from, though: CBS, Wall Street Journal, etc. How about a more explicit hook: "... that Becca Pizzi won 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days despite her first injury in 30 years of running?" --GRuban (talk) 03:26, 19 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Very good hook. I'll look through the other videos as well, it's not usually a problem to include 2 or three. Smallbones(smalltalk) 17:13, 19 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]
.jpg){kind=small}
