Benita Fitzgerald Drive
Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia
Marker Inscription
Named in honor of Benita Fitzgerald, Olympic Gold Medalist – 100 Meter Hurdles, XXIII Olympiad – 1984 • Pan American Games Champion – 1983 • U.S. National Champion – 1983 and 1986
Erected by Prince William County Historical Commission
The Story
This roadway in Woodbridge honors Benita Fitzgerald, a Prince William County native who became one of the great American sprint hurdlers of her generation. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics—the XXIII Olympiad—she captured gold in the 100-meter hurdles, becoming only the second American woman ever to win that event. She also reigned as Pan American Games champion in 1983 and claimed U.S. national titles in 1983 and 1986, building a résumé that made her a hometown hero.
Why it matters
Fitzgerald's Olympic gold marked a milestone for American women and African American athletes in track and field, and the street keeps her achievement woven into the everyday landscape of her home community.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early 1980s, the road through Woodbridge that now carries Benita Fitzgerald's name ran through a Northern Virginia growing fast in the long shadow of Washington, D.C. Prince William County was becoming a place of new neighborhoods and suburban schools — exactly the kind of community where a talented kid could be spotted, coached, and given room to dream big.
This was the postwar, contemporary era of American sport, a time when track and field still commanded huge national attention and the Olympics could turn an unknown young athlete into a household name overnight. For Black athletes and for women in particular, the decades since the 1960s had steadily widened the doors that earlier generations had to force open.
The year 1984 sharpened all of that. The Summer Games came to Los Angeles, on American soil, with the whole country watching. For a hometown athlete from a Virginia county just outside the nation's capital, the timing could hardly have been more dramatic.
People & events
Benita Fitzgerald grew up in Prince William County and rose to become one of the finest American sprint hurdlers of her generation. The 100-meter hurdles is a brutal, beautiful event — a sprint broken by ten barriers, where the smallest stumble can end a race and the difference between gold and nothing is often a fraction of a second.
Her championship years arrived in a rush. In 1983 she won the Pan American Games title and claimed a U.S. national championship. Then came the crowning moment: at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the XXIII Olympiad, she won the gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles. She added a second U.S. national title in 1986, proving her 1984 triumph was no fluke but the peak of a sustained, world-class career.
What the marker captures, in just a few lines, is a complete athletic résumé — continental champion, national champion, Olympic champion — earned by a woman who came from this very community before the world ever heard her name.
Its place in the American story
An Olympic gold medal in the hurdles is rare air, and Fitzgerald's belongs to a short and storied list. Her victory in Los Angeles placed her among a small number of American women to win that event at the Games — a milestone in the long story of women breaking through at the highest level of track and field.
It also belongs to the broader narrative of African American excellence in athletics, a tradition that has repeatedly put the United States on the medal stand and reshaped the country's idea of who its heroes are. Fitzgerald's triumph added another name to that lineage, and she did it on home soil with the nation watching.
That is why a county historical commission chose to fix her achievement to the landscape itself. A gold medal can sit in a case; a street name lives in daily life — spoken in directions, printed on mail, woven into the ordinary geography of the place that raised her.
If you visit
You won't find a grand monument here — and that's part of the charm. Benita Fitzgerald Drive is a working roadway in Woodbridge, the kind of place you'd pass without a second thought unless you knew the story behind the name. Knowing it changes the drive entirely.
Slow down when you reach the marker placed by the Prince William County Historical Commission, and let the contrast land: an ordinary suburban street named for a woman who was, on one summer day in 1984, the fastest hurdler in the Olympic final. The everyday setting is exactly the point — this is where a champion came from, not just where she's remembered.
If you're putting together a road trip through Northern Virginia's history, this is an easy and rewarding stop just outside Washington, D.C. Pair it with the region's other markers and pause to think about the long road from a county track to an Olympic podium. Take a photo of the sign, picture ten hurdles and a sprint to the line, and you'll never see a humble street name quite the same way again.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Weems-Botts Museum4.2 mi away
- Mill House Museum4.9 mi away · 415 Mill Street, Occoquan, VA
- Lucy Burns Museum5.8 mi away
- The National Museum of the Marine Corps6.0 mi away · 1775 Semper Fidelis Way, Triangle, VA
- General Smallwood Retreat House8.7 mi away
- National Museum Of The United States Army10.1 mi away · 1775 Liberty Drive, Fort Belvoir, VA
Attractions
- Warriors' Plaza10.2 mi away
- Warriors' Field10.2 mi away
- Woodlawn Mansion11.4 mi away · 8900 Richmond Highway
- Pope-Leighey House11.5 mi away
- George Washington's Distillery and Gristmill Tour11.5 mi away
- Historic Area Entrance & Exit13.4 mi away
Food & drink
- McDonald's0.6 mi away · 2891 Dale Boulevard, Woodbridge, VA
- Popeyes0.7 mi away · 2954 Dale Boulevard, Woodbridge, VA
- Sabor Latino0.7 mi away · 2910 Dale Boulevard, Woodbridge, VA
- Pho Saigon0.8 mi away · 2890 Dale Boulevard, Woodbridge, VA
- Domino's0.8 mi away · 2886 Dale Boulevard, Woodbridge, VA
- Outback Steakhouse1.0 mi away
Places to stay
- Best Western Potomac Mills1.0 mi away · 14619 Potomac Mills Road, Woodbridge, VA
- Homewood Suites1.1 mi away · 2650 Neabsco Common Place, Woodbridge, VA
- Hilton Garden Inn Woodbridge1.3 mi away · 2500 Neabsco Common Place, Woodbridge, VA
- TownePlace Suites Potomac Mills Woodbridge1.7 mi away · 14090 Shoppers Best Way, Woodbridge, VA
- Sleep Inn1.7 mi away · 14080 Shoppers Best Way, Woodbridge, VA
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Woodbridge2.0 mi away · 14030 Telegraph Road, Woodbridge, VA
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · Benita Fitzgerald
Related events
- · 1984 Summer Olympics (XXIII Olympiad)
- · 1983 Pan American Games
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