The Men's marathon at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place on August 29 in the streets of Athens, Greece. One hundred and one athletes from 59 nations competed. The event was won by Stefano Baldini of Italy, the nation's first victory in the event since 1988 and second overall. The United States reached the podium in the event for the first time since 1976 with Meb Keflezighi's silver. Vanderlei de Lima took bronze, Brazil's first-ever medal in the men's marathon.
Mebrahtom "Meb" Keflezighi is a retired Eritrean-born American long distance runner. He is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and finished in fourth place in the 2012 Summer Olympics. He won the 2009 New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009, and the 2014 Boston Marathon on April 21, 2014, becoming the first American man to win each race since 1982 and 1983, respectively. Keflezighi is a graduate of UCLA, where he won four NCAA championships competing for the UCLA Bruins track and field team. He came in fourth in the 2014 New York City Marathon on November 2, 2014, eighth in the 2015 Boston Marathon on April 20, 2015, and second in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Alan Lawrence Culpepper is an American distance runner and two time United States Olympian. Along with competing on four World Championship teams, his accomplishments include finishing fourth in the Boston Marathon in 2005, winning the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon and finishing 12th at the 2004 Olympic marathon in Athens. His 2:09:41 at the 2002 Chicago Marathon tied him with Alberto Salazar for the fastest ever debut marathon by an American, and remains his fastest marathon. Culpepper has won three U.S. Cross Country titles and three track titles. His personal bests include 3:55.1 for the mile, 13:25 for 5k and 27:33 in the 10k.
The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I. UCLA is second to only Stanford University as the school with the most NCAA team championships at 120 NCAA team championships. UCLA offers 11 varsity sports programs for men and 14 for women.
Ryan Hall is a retired American long-distance runner who holds the U.S. record in the half marathon. With his half marathon record time (59:43), he became the first U.S. runner to break the one-hour barrier in the event. He is also the only American to run a sub-2:05 marathon. However, this time is not eligible to be a record due to the course being point-to-point and a net-downhill course. Hall won the marathon at the 2008 United States Olympic Trials and placed tenth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing.
Galen Rupp is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Athletics at the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters in London and the bronze medal in the men's marathon in Rio de Janeiro. Rupp competed for the University of Oregon and trained under Alberto Salazar as a member of the Nike Oregon Project. He won the 2017 Chicago Marathon, becoming the first American to do so since Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Rupp won marathon at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta with a time of 2:09:20, and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where he took eighth place.
Drake Stadium is an 11,700-capacity stadium in Los Angeles, California and the home of the UCLA Bruins men's and women's track and field teams. The stadium, built in 1969, is named for UCLA track legend Elvin C. "Ducky" Drake, who was a student-athlete, track coach and athletic trainer for over 60 years. It was the home of the UCLA Bruins men's and women's soccer teams until 2017. They are now playing at the soccer-specific Wallis Annenberg Stadium also located on the campus of University of California, Los Angeles.
Michael Stember is a track and field athlete from the United States who is known for his achievements in the middle distance events. His first international competition was winning the gold medal in the 1500 metres at the 1997 Pan American Junior Championships. He won a silver medal at the 1999 Pan American Games in the men's 1500 metres. He ran in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where he qualified for the semi-finals but finished a non-qualifying 9th. He returned to the 2003 Pan American Games and repeated his silver medal in the men's 1500 metres. In 2004 he became the U.S. Indoor 800 m champion. In 2007–2008 he was a volunteer coach at UCLA. He later became a restaurant owner.
Rob Kirkpatrick is an American literary agent, editor, and author. He has published the books of many well-known authors, primarily in the field of nonfiction. He is the author of the narrative history 1969: The Year Everything Changed.
Darren Rovell is a sports business analyst who works for The Action Network. He previously worked for ESPN.
Bob Larsen is a Hall of Fame Track and field athletics coach, known largely for coaching distance runners, though he has had success coaching across a full range of events. His most notable athlete is Mebrahtom Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon. Building on that success, Keflezighi won the men's division of the 2009 New York Marathon, and the 2014 Boston Marathon. Previous to that Larsen coached the UCLA cross country and then track teams between 1979 and his retirement in 1999.
Ron Tabb Ron is a retired male long-distance runner from the United States, who competed in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the men's marathon. He won the 1981 edition of the Paris Marathon ex-æquo with England's Dave Cannon. He won the 1983 Beijing Marathon and competed at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics later that year, finishing in 18th place overall. He qualified for the 1980 Olympic team but never competed due to the U.S. boycott on the Moscow Games that year. He once held the fifth fastest marathon time ever run by an American. Tabb is a four time United States Olympic trials qualifier. He is one of only four Americans to run more than 20 marathons under 2:20 and he is one of two Americans to a win major marathon on five different continents.
The Carlsbad 5000 is an annual five kilometer road running event that takes place each spring in the city of Carlsbad, California along the north coast of San Diego County.
Jason Hartmann is an NCAA coach and a former American long-distance runner who specializes in marathon races. He won the Twin Cities Marathon in 2009. He was the top American finisher at the 2010 Chicago Marathon and was fourth at the Boston Marathon in both 2012 and 2013. His personal record for the event is 2:11:06.
The 2004 United States Olympic trials for track and field were held at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California. Organised by USA Track and Field, the ten-day competition lasted from July 9 until July 18 and served as the national championships in track and field for the United States.
Jeffrey Eggleston is an American distance runner who competed at the World Championships in Athletics in 2011, 2013, and 2015. He finished eighth at the 2014 Boston Marathon.
Lauren Kleppin is an American long-distance runner. Kleppin competes in marathon, half-marathon, and numerous road distances. She holds the second highest American finish at the Los Angeles Marathon since 2012, having finished third in 2014. She is also a ten-time NCAA All-American, twice in cross country and eight times in track and field.
The 2015 Boston Marathon was the 119th running of the Boston Athletic Association's mass-participation marathon. It took place on Monday, April 20. The men's race was won by Lelisa Desisa from Ethiopia in a time of 2:09:17. Caroline Rotich of Kenya won the women's race with a time 2:24:55.
Jared Ward is an American long distance runner. He qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics when he placed third in the marathon at the 2016 US Olympic Trials. He finished sixth at the 2016 Olympics.
Shadrack Kiptoo Biwott is a Kenyan-born American long-distance runner.
