Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

The men's marathon event at the 1928 Summer Olympics took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Sunday, 5 August 1928. The race started at 15:14 local time. A total number of 57 athletes completed the race, with Willem van der Steen from the Netherlands finishing in last position in 3:29:21. There were 69 competitors from 23 countries. Twelve of them did not finish.[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation was 6.[2] The event was won by Boughera El Ouafi of France, the nation's first Olympic marathon victory since 1900 (and second overall). Manuel Plaza's silver made him the first Olympic medalist from Chile, while Martti Marttelin's bronze put Finland on the podium in the event for the third straight Games.

Men's marathon
at the Games of the IX Olympiad
VenueOlympisch Stadion, Amsterdam
Dates5 August
Competitors69 from 23 nations
Winning time2:32:57
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Boughera El Ouafi  France
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Manuel Plaza  Chile
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Martti Marttelin  Finland
← 1924
1932 →

Background

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This was the eighth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from 1924 included silver medalist Romeo Bertini of Italy, bronze medalist Clarence DeMar of the United States, fifth-place finisher Sam Ferris of Great Britain, sixth-place finisher Manuel Plaza of Chile, seventh-place finisher Boughera El Ouafi of France, and eighth-place finisher Gustav Kinn of Sweden. The field "was very open with no strict favorite."[3]

Latvia, Mexico, Romania, and Yugoslavia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its eighth appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format

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As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The now-standard marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a course that "started and ended at the Olympic Stadium, but was not strictly out-and-back, as there were small loops near the halfway point, and on the return to the Stadium."[3]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record   Albert Michelsen (USA) 2:29:01.8 Port Chester, United States 12 October 1925
Olympic record   Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN) 2:32:35.8(*) Antwerp, Belgium 22 August 1920

(*) Course was list at 42.75 kilometres.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Sunday, 5 August 1928 15:14 Final

Results

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Rank Athlete Nation Time
  Boughera El Ouafi   France 2:32:57
  Manuel Plaza   Chile 2:33:23
  Martti Marttelin   Finland 2:35:02
4 Kanematsu Yamada   Japan 2:35:29
5 Joie Ray   United States 2:36:04
6 Seiichiro Tsuda   Japan 2:36:20
7 Yrjö Korholin-Koski   Finland 2:36:40
8 Sam Ferris   Great Britain 2:37:41
9 Albert Michelsen   United States 2:38:56
10 Clifford Bricker   Canada 2:39:24
11 Harry Wood   Great Britain 2:41:15
12 Verner Laaksonen   Finland 2:41:35
13 Harry Payne   Great Britain 2:42:39
14 Eino Rastas   Finland 2:43:08
15 Väinö Sipilä   Finland 2:43:08
16 Alois Krof   Czechoslovakia 2:43:18
17 Johnny Miles   Canada 2:43:32
18 Léon Broers   Belgium 2:44:37
19 Hans Stelges   Germany 2:45:27
20 Dunky Wright   Great Britain 2:45:30
21 Herbert Bignall   Great Britain 2:45:44
22 Ernest Harper   Great Britain 2:45:44
23 Jean Gérault   France 2:46:08
24 Ilmari Kuokka   Finland 2:46:34
25 Gustav Kinn   Sweden 2:47:35
26 Silas McLellan   Canada 2:49:33
27 Clarence DeMar   United States 2:50:42
28 Marcel Denis   France 2:51:15
29 Guillaume Tell   France 2:51:18
30 Henri Landheer   Netherlands 2:51:59
31 Paul Hempel   Germany 2:52:01
32 Aurelio Terrazas   Mexico 2:52:22
33 František Zyka   Czechoslovakia 2:52:42
34 Giuseppe Ferrera   Italy 2:53:10
35 José Torres   Mexico 2:54:00
36 Johan Støa   Norway 2:54:15
37 Gerard Steuers   Belgium 2:54:48
38 Artūrs Motmillers   Latvia 2:56:45
39 James Henigan   United States 2:56:50
40 Matthew Steytler   South Africa 2:57:21
41 Harvey Frick   United States 2:57:24
42 Jean Linssen   Belgium 2:58:08
43 Frank Hughes   Canada 2:58:12
44 William Agee   United States 2:58:50
45 Percy Wyer   Canada 2:58:52
46 Georg Hoerger   Germany 2:59:01
47 Kurt Schneider   Germany 2:59:36
48 Juichi Nagatani   Japan 3:03:34
49 József Galambos   Hungary 3:05:58
50 Paul Gerhardt   Germany 3:09:30
51 Gottlieb Bach   Denmark 3:10:10
52 Emilio Ferrer   Spain 3:11:05
53 Dimitrije Stefanović   Yugoslavia 3:11:35
54 Joop Vermeulen   Netherlands 3:13:47
55 Pleun van Leenen   Netherlands 3:14:37
56 Jean Marien   Belgium 3:16:13
57 Willem van der Steen   Netherlands 3:19:53
Axel Elofs   Sweden DNF
Aksel Madsen   Denmark DNF
Orla Olsen   Denmark DNF
Vintilă Cristescu   Romania DNF
Romeo Bertini   Italy DNF
Attilio Conton   Italy DNF
Stefano Natale   Italy DNF
Vilis Cimmermans   Latvia DNF
Karl Laas   Estonia DNF
Teun Sprong   Netherlands DNF
Bram Groeneweg   Netherlands DNF
Franz Wanderer   Germany DNF
Seghir Beddari   France DNS
Kārlis Bukass   Latvia DNS
Dionisio Carreras   Spain DNS
Pál Király   Hungary DNS
Antal Lovas   Hungary DNS
O. Molina   Chile DNS
L. Nicolas   France DNS
Henry Nielsen   Denmark DNS
Karel Šťastný   Czechoslovakia DNS
Harold Webster   Canada DNS

References

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  1. ^ "Athletics at the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Games: Men's Marathon". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 374.
  3. ^ a b "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
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