Liza Marie Hunter-Galvan (born 25 June 1969 in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

) is a New Zealand long-distance runner. She qualified to run the Women's Marathon in both the

2004 Athens Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

as well as the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. She resides in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and has won the Marathon of the Americas on four occasions. During her collegiate career she competed for UTSA and won the 1992 SLC Cross Country individual title, helping lead the Roadrunners to their second of three straight league crowns, and also qualified for the

NCAA Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and 1 in Canada. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps ...

. In August 2009, Hunter-Galvan admitted to taking the banned performance-enhancing substance EPO three times in her career, all of which were in 2009, after failing a drug test on March 23, 2009. She was banned from competition for two years starting May 2009. Hunter-Galvan publicly apologized for her mistake and never sought to represent New Zealand again. After the two-year hiatus, Hunter-Galvan was able to return to the sport in 2011 and competed at the

Rock 'n Roll Marathon where she ran a career best 2 hours, 29 minutes, 37 seconds. Hunter-Galvan completed her 24-year running career by winning the woman's 2016 San Antonio Rock 'n Roll Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 57 minutes and 17 seconds. Hunter-Galvan is still listed on the New Zealand Olympics roll of honour. In 2018, Hunter-Galvan was indicted for

welfare fraud Welfare fraud is the act of illegally using state welfare systems by knowingly withholding or giving information to obtain more funds than would otherwise be allocated. This article deals with welfare fraud in various countries of the world, and ...

in San Antonio, Texas. The charges were subsequently dropped after Hunter-Galvan entered into negotiations and agreed to a plea bargain where she paid an amount in restitution.

Achievements

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter-Galvan, Liza 1969 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Doping cases in athletics New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in the United States New Zealand female long-distance runners New Zealand sportspeople in doping cases Olympic athletes for New Zealand Athletes from Auckland Track and field athletes from San Antonio UTSA Roadrunners women's track and field athletes 20th-century New Zealand sportswomen