Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

Men's marathon at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Olympic Stadium (2016)
Venue	Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City
Date	October 20, 1968
Competitors	75 from 41 nations
Winning time	2:20:26
Medalists
Mamo Wolde   Ethiopia Kenji Kimihara   Japan Mike Ryan   New Zealand
←  1964 1972  →

Official Video Highlights

The men's marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, was held on Sunday October 20, 1968. The race started at 15:00h local time. There were 75 competitors from 41 countries. Eighteen of them did not finish. ^[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia, the nation's third consecutive gold medal in the Olympic marathon (matching France for most golds overall in the event).^{[ citation needed ]}

Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1964 marathon included two-time defending champion Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia, fifth-place finisher József Sütő of Hungary, and eighth-place finisher Kenji Kimihara of Japan. Abebe would have been favored but was recovering from an appendectomy and stress fracture. His countryman Mamo Wolde (who had run in 1964 but had not finished, while his brother Demissie Wolde finished 10th) was a "formidable contender," particularly with the high altitude of Mexico City seen as being favorable to the Ethiopian team, used to high altitudes. ^[2]

Costa Rica, Guyana, Kuwait, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zambia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons; East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 16th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format and course

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a point-to-point course. The course ran from the Zócalo to the Olympic Stadium. ^[2]

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics.

World record	Derek Clayton  (AUS)	2:09:36.4	Fukuoka, Japan	3 December 1967
Olympic record	Abebe Bikila  (ETH)	2:12:11.2	Tokyo, Japan	21 October 1964

No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.

Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)

Date	Time	Round
Sunday, 18 October 1968	15:00	Final

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time
	Mamo Wolde	Ethiopia	2:20:26
	Kenji Kimihara	Japan	2:23:31
	Mike Ryan	New Zealand	2:23:45
4	İsmail Akçay	Turkey	2:25:18
5	Bill Adcocks	Great Britain	2:25:33
6	Gabrou Merawi	Ethiopia	2:27:16
7	Derek Clayton	Australia	2:27:23
8	Tim Johnston	Great Britain	2:28:04
9	Akio Usami	Japan	2:28:06
10	Andy Boychuk	Canada	2:28:40
11	Gaston Roelants	Belgium	2:29:04
12	Pat McMahon	Ireland	2:29:21
13	Alfredo Peñaloza	Mexico	2:29:48
14	Kenny Moore	United States	2:29:49
15	Jürgen Busch	East Germany	2:30:42
16	George Young	United States	2:31:15
17	Manfred Steffny	West Germany	2:31:23
18	Thin Sumbwegam	Burma	2:32:22
19	Naftali Temu	Kenya	2:32:36
20	Maurice Peiren	Belgium	2:32:49
21	Antonio Ambu	Italy	2:33:19
22	Ron Daws	United States	2:33:53
23	Karl-Heinz Sievers	West Germany	2:34:11
24	Gyula Tóth	Hungary	2:34:49
25	Hüseyin Aktaş	Turkey	2:35:09
26	Pablo Garrido	Mexico	2:35:47
27	Aad Steylen	Netherlands	2:37:42
28	Anatoly Sukharkov	Soviet Union	2:38:07
29	Lee Myeong-jeong	South Korea	2:38:52
30	Ivaylo Sharankov	Bulgaria	2:39:49
31	Gioacchino De Palma	Italy	2:39:58
32	Josef Gwerder	Switzerland	2:40:16
33	Hubert Riesner	West Germany	2:41:29
34	Georg Olsen	Denmark	2:42:24
35	Douglas Zinkala	Zambia	2:42:51
36.	Ezequiel Baeza	Chile	2:43:15
37	Dave McKenzie	New Zealand	2:43:36
38	Kim Bong-nae	South Korea	2:43:56
39	Carlos Cuque	Guatemala	2:45:20
40	Godwin Kalimbwe	Zambia	2:45:26
41	Mick Molloy	Ireland	2:48:13
42	Nikola Simeonov	Bulgaria	2:48:30
43	John Farrington	Australia	2:50:16
44	Helmut Kunisch	Switzerland	2:50:58
45	Alifu Massaquoi	Sierra Leone	2:52:28
46	Lee Sang-Hoon	South Korea	2:52:46
47	Hla Thein	Burma	2:54:03
48	Paul Mose	Kenya	2:55:17
49	Benjamin Silva-Netto	Philippines	2:56:19
50	Harry Prowell	Guyana	2:57:01
51	Wimalasena Perera	Ceylon	2:59:05
52	Fulgencio Hernández	Guatemala	3:00:40
53	Gustavo Gutiérrez	Ecuador	3:03:07
54	Martin Ande	Nigeria	3:03:47
55	Mustafa Musa	Uganda	3:04:53
56	Enoch Muemba	Zambia	3:06:16
57	John Stephen Akhwari	Tanzania	3:25:17
—	Carlos Pérez	Spain	DNF
	Rafael Pérez	Costa Rica	DNF
	Abebe Bikila	Ethiopia	DNF
	Jerome Drayton	Canada	DNF
	Pentti Rummakko	Finland	DNF
	Guy Texereau	France	DNF
	René Combes	France	DNF
	Jim Alder	Great Britain	DNF
	Lajos Mecser	Hungary	DNF
	József Sütő	Hungary	DNF
	Seiichiro Sasaki	Japan	DNF
	Mraljeb Ayed Mansoor	Kuwait	DNF
	Saoud Obaid Daifallah	Kuwait	DNF
	José García	Mexico	DNF
	Edgar Friedli	Switzerland	DNF
	Mukhamed Shakirov	Soviet Union	DNF
	Armando González	Uruguay	DNF
	Nedo Farčić	Yugoslavia	DNF
—	Hernán Barreneche	Colombia	DNS
	Ton Eykenboom	Netherlands	DNS
	Mohammed Gammoudi	Tunisia	DNS
	Jürgen Haase	East Germany	DNS
	Jouko Kuha	Finland	DNS
	Ettore Milone	Italy	DNS
	Edward Stawiarz	Poland	DNS
	Yury Volkov	Soviet Union	DNS

References

1. "Athletics at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Men's Marathon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
2. "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 August 2020.

External links

• (in French) Marathon Info