To qualify for the Sydney games, Clark upset the field at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Columbia, S.C. No other women qualified for the U.S. marathon team. Following her victory in the trials, the U.S. Olympic Committee named her Athlete of the Month.
Clark is a Butte, Mont., native who attended the UW medical school as part of the Montana WWAMI program. After nearly a decade of not running while she pursued her medical career, she won the womens division of the 1995 Seattle Marathon. She is a three-time winner of the Mayors Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage.