Marathon at the Olympic Games | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Sport | Athletics |
Gender | Men and women |
Years held | Men: 1896 – 2020 Women: 1984 – 2020 |
Olympic record | |
Men | 2:06:32 Samuel Wanjiru (2008) |
Women | 2:23:07 Tiki Gelana (2012) |
Reigning champion | |
Men | Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) |
Women | Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) |
The marathon at the Summer Olympics is the only road running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's marathon has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first modern Olympics in 1896. Nearly ninety years later, the women's event was added to the programme at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The modern marathon event was created and later refined through the Olympic competition. The idea of holding a marathon race at the first Olympics was suggested to Pierre de Coubertin by Michel Bréal. Based upon a popular myth stemming from the Battle of Marathon, in which Pheidippides ran to Athens from the town of Marathon, Greece to carry the message of a Greek victory, the 1896 course began in the town of Marathon and finished in Athens' Panathenaic Stadium – a distance of around 40 kilometres (25 mi). [1] On April 10, 1896, Greek water-carrier Spyridon Louis won the first Olympic marathon in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds. The route between Marathon and Panathenaic Stadium was repeated when Athens hosted the 2004 Games.
The race distance varied from 40 to 42 kilometres (25 to 26 mi) in the early editions as it was typically based upon the distance between two points that the organisers felt were suitable. The 1908 London Olympics marked the introduction of the now standard distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 km). [2] However, it was not until the 1924 Paris Olympics that this distance became the standard at the Olympics. [3]
The Olympic marathon proved immediately popular in the Western world and quickly spawned numerous long-running annual races, including the Boston Marathon in 1897, the Tour de Paris Marathon in 1902, the Yonkers Marathon in 1907, and the London Polytechnic Marathon in 1909. Such marathons played a key role in the expansion of the road running movement internationally over the course of the 20th century. [4] [5]
It has become a tradition for the men's Olympic marathon to be the last event of the athletics calendar, on the final day of the Olympics. [6] For many years since the 1964 Tokyo Games, the race finished inside the Olympic stadium; however, at the 2004 Athens games, the finish was at the historic Panathenaic Stadium, at the 2012 London games, the start and finish were on The Mall, [7] and at the 2016 Rio games, the start and finish were in the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí, the parade area that serves as a spectator mall for Carnival. [8] At the 2020 Tokyo games, the marathon was instead held in Sapporo due to heat concerns in the host city. [9] Often, the men's marathon medals are awarded at the closing ceremony. In 2020, both the men's and women's medals were presented.
The Olympic records for the event are 2:06:32 hours for men, set by Samuel Wanjiru in 2008, and 2:23:07 hours for women, set by Tiki Gelana in 2012. The men's marathon world record has been improved several times at the Olympics: in 1908, 1920, and then at successive Olympics by Abebe Bikila in 1960 and 1964. [10] Abebe Bikila, Waldemar Cierpinski, and Eliud Kipchoge are the only athletes to have won two Olympic gold medals in the marathon. No athlete has won more than two medals of any colour. Ethiopia have won the most gold medals in the event, with six, while Kenya has the greatest medal total with fifteen overall.
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1= | Abebe Bikila | Ethiopia (ETH) | 1960–1964 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
1= | Waldemar Cierpinski | East Germany (GDR) | 1976–1980 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
1= | Eliud Kipchoge | Kenya (KEN) | 2016–2020 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
4 | Frank Shorter | United States (USA) | 1972–1976 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
5 | Mamo Wolde | Ethiopia (ETH) | 1968–1972 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
6= | Karel Lismont | Belgium (BEL) | 1972–1976 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
6= | Erick Wainaina | Kenya (KEN) | 1996–2000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | France (FRA) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
2 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
3 | Kenya (KEN) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
4 | United States (USA) | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
5 | South Africa (RSA) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
6 | Italy (ITA) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
7 | Argentina (ARG) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
8 | Finland (FIN) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
9 | East Germany (GDR) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
10 | Japan (JPN) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
11 | Greece (GRE) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
South Korea (KOR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
13 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Portugal (POR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
Uganda (UGA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
16 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
17 | Morocco (MAR) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
19 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
20 | Chile (CHI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Estonia (EST) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Ireland (IRL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Yugoslavia (YUG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
24 | New Zealand (NZL) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
26 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Djibouti (DJI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Germany (GER) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Soviet Union (URS) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (30 entries) | 30 | 29 | 29 | 88 |
Rank | Athlete | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Valentina Yegorova | Unified Team (EUN) Russia (RUS) | 1992–1996 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
2 | Rosa Mota | Portugal (POR) | 1984–1988 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
3 | Catherine Ndereba | Kenya (KEN) | 2004–2008 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
4 | Yuko Arimori | Japan (JPN) | 1992–1996 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kenya (KEN) | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
2 | Japan (JPN) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
3 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
4 | Romania (ROM) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
5 | United States (USA) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
6 | Portugal (POR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
7 | Unified Team (EUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
8 | Russia (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
9 | Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Bahrain (BRN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
Norway (NOR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
12 | China (CHN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
New Zealand (NZL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (14 entries) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon. [16]
At this event a men's marathon was held over 41.86 km and Canada's Billy Sherring won the competition. John Svanberg, the runner-up in the 1906 5-mile race, was also runner-up in the marathon. American William Frank was the bronze medalist. [17]
Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
---|---|---|---|
1906 Athens | Billy Sherring (CAN) | John Svanberg (SWE) | William Frank (USA) |
The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad and commonly known as Athens 1896, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had been created by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896.
Paul Kibii Tergat is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. He became the first Kenyan man to set the world record in the marathon in 2003, with a time of 2:04:55, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished long-distance runners of all time. Runnerworld called him the "Most comprehensive runner of all time".
Shambel Abebe Bikila was an Ethiopian marathon runner who was a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He was the first Ethiopian Olympic gold medalist, winning his and Africa's first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he won his second gold medal, making him the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title. In both victories, he ran in world record time.
Adolphe Jules Grisel was a French athlete and gymnast. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.
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. 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.
Two athletes, both men, competed under the Egyptian banner at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece, and took part in five events across three sports. Arthur Marson, a track and field athlete, did not place within the top six in the 5 mile and failed to finish the marathon. Eugenio Colombani competed in cycling and Greco-Roman wrestling, but did not reach the finals of either event. Egypt, therefore, did not win any medals at the Games.
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