Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

The men's marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place on the Olympic marathon street course on 12 August, the final day of the Games.[1] One hundred and five athletes from 67 nations competed.[2] The event was won by Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, the nation's first Olympic men's marathon victory and the nation's only medal in 2012. Kenya earned its fourth and fifth medals in five Games, with Abel Kirui's silver and Wilson Kipsang's bronze.

Men's marathon
at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Winner Stephen Kiprotich near the end of the course.
VenueMarathon course, central London
Date12 August
Competitors105 from 67 nations
Winning time2:08:01
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Stephen Kiprotich
 Uganda
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Abel Kirui
 Kenya
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Wilson Kipsang
 Kenya
← 2008
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Official Video

As is customary, the men's marathon medals were presented as part of the Closing Ceremony, which took place later that day, in the Olympic Stadium – the last medal presentation of the Games.

Summary edit

Stephen Kiprotich from Uganda won the gold medal — the country's only medal at the 2012 Games. Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang, both from Kenya, took silver and bronze respectively.[3] Twenty athletes did not finish the race, which took place on a warm and sunny day.[4][5]

The race started off slowly. In the first 5 miles (8.0 km), Brazilian runner Franck Caldeira broke away on two occasions, only to get swallowed up by the pack. Between 10K and 12K, Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich moved to the front in a more serious breakaway. The large pack broke up into a small chase pack of eight runners, primarily East African. With a fast 7 miles (11 km), Kipsang Kiprotich opened up a gap of about 15 seconds, which lasted for the next 10 miles but never increased significantly.[6] The chase group shrunk to Abel Kirui and Stephen Kiprotich, with Ayele Abshero just behind. While Abshero did not gain contact, the other three formed a lead pack. The two Kenyan teammates ran together, with the Ugandan trailing slightly. By 35K, the group of three had over a minute gap on the next competitor, Marilson dos Santos. At the 22 miles (35 km) marker, Kiprotich touched his leg as if he were struggling and he fell back a few seconds. At the 23 miles (37 km) marker, Kiprotich moved past the two Kenyans. His next mile was 4:42, opening up a 17-second gap on Kirui, with Kipsang falling back. Kiprotich extended his lead by 9 seconds and picked up a Ugandan flag before crossing the finish line.[7]

Background edit

This was the 27th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 2008 marathon included sixth-place finisher Viktor Röthlin of Switzerland, eighth-place finisher Yared Asmerom of Eritrea, and tenth-place finisher Ryan Hall of the United States. The 2004 silver medalist Meb Keflezighi of the United States, who had not competed in Beijing, also returned. Abel Kirui of Kenya had won the past two world championships in 2009 and 2011. His countryman Patrick Makau Musyoki had set the world record in 2011, but could not finish the 2012 London Marathon due to injury and was not selected for the Kenyan team. Wilson Kipsang and Emmanuel Mutai joined Kirui on the Kenyan team instead; Kipsang was the favorite in the hundred-plus runner field.[2]

Iceland made its first appearance in Olympic men's marathons. South Sudan had one runner appear as an Independent Olympic Athlete. The United States made its 26th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Competition format and course edit

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a course that started and finished on The Mall in central London. Runners completed one short circuit of 2.219 miles (3.571 km) around part of the City of Westminster and then three longer circuits of 8 miles (13 km) around Westminster, the Victoria Embankment and the City of London. The course was designed to pass many of London's best-known landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, St Paul's Cathedral, the Bank of England, Leadenhall Market, the Monument, the Tower of London and the Houses of Parliament.[8]

Records edit

Prior to this event, the existing world and Olympic records stood as follows.

World record   Patrick Makau Musyoki (KEN) 2:03:38 Berlin, Germany 25 September 2011
Olympic record   Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) 2:06:32 Beijing, China 24 August 2008

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

Schedule edit

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Date Time Round
Sunday, 12 August 2012 11:00 Final

Results edit

Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
  Stephen Kiprotich   Uganda 2:08:01
  Abel Kirui   Kenya 2:08:27
  Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich   Kenya 2:09:37
4 Meb Keflezighi   United States 2:11:06
5 Marílson Gomes dos Santos   Brazil 2:11:10
6 Kentaro Nakamoto   Japan 2:11:16
7 Cuthbert Nyasango   Zimbabwe 2:12:08 PB
8 Paulo Roberto Paula   Brazil 2:12:17
9 Henryk Szost   Poland 2:12:28
10 Ruggero Pertile   Italy 2:12:45
11 Viktor Röthlin   Switzerland 2:12:48
12 Oleksandr Sitkovskyy   Ukraine 2:12:56 SB
13 Franck De Almeida   Brazil 2:13:35
14 Aleksey Reunkov   Russia 2:13:49
15 Wirimai Juwawo   Zimbabwe 2:14:09 SB
16 Michael Shelley   Australia 2:14:10
17 Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai   Kenya 2:14:49
18 Rachid Kisri   Morocco 2:15:09
19 Yared Asmerom   Eritrea 2:15:24
20 Dylan Wykes   Canada 2:15:26
21 Raúl Pacheco   Peru 2:15:35
22 Eric Gillis   Canada 2:16:00
23 Dmitriy Safronov   Russia 2:16:04
24 Carles Castillejo   Spain 2:16:17
25 Iaroslav Musinschi   Moldova 2:16:25
26 Marius Ionescu   Romania 2:16:28
27 Reid Coolsaet   Canada 2:16:29
28 Martin Dent   Australia 2:16:29 SB
29 Vitaliy Shafar   Ukraine 2:16:36
30 Lee Merrien   Great Britain 2:17:00
31 Ignacio Cáceres   Spain 2:17:11
32 Lee Duhaeng   South Korea 2:17:19
33 Faustine Mussa   Tanzania 2:17:39
34 José Carlos Hernández   Spain 2:17:48
35 Miguel Barzola   Argentina 2:17:54
36 Urige Buta   Norway 2:17:58
37 Grigoriy Andreev   Russia 2:18:20
38 José Amado García   Guatemala 2:18:23
39 Daniel Vargas   Mexico 2:18:26
40 Ryo Yamamoto   Japan 2:18:34
41 Jesper Faurschou   Denmark 2:18:44
42 Kári Steinn Karlsson   Iceland 2:18:47
43 Lusapho April   South Africa 2:19:00
44 Mike Tebulo   Malawi 2:19:11 SB
45 Arata Fujiwara   Japan 2:19:11
46 Primoz Kobe   Slovenia 2:19:28
47 Guor Marial   Independent Olympic Athletes 2:19:32
48 Luis Feiteira   Portugal 2:19:40 SB
49 Stephen Mokoka   South Africa 2:19:52
50 Miguel Ángel Almachi   Ecuador 2:19:53
51 Ser-Od Bat-Ochir   Mongolia 2:20:10
52 Pak Song-Chol   North Korea 2:20:20
53 Kim Kwang-Hyok   North Korea 2:20:20
54 Dong Guojian   China 2:20:39
55 Anuradha Cooray   Sri Lanka 2:20:41
56 Methkal Abu Drais   Jordan 2:21:00
57 Mark Kenneally   Ireland 2:21:13
58 Yonas Kifle   Eritrea 2:21:25
59 Ivan Babaryka   Ukraine 2:21:52
60 Carlos Cordero   Mexico 2:22:08
61 Scott Overall   Great Britain 2:22:37
62 Pedro Mora   Venezuela 2:22:40
63 Jeff Hunt   Australia 2:22:59
64 Stsiapan Rahautsou   Belarus 2:23:23
65 César Lizano   Costa Rica 2:24:16
66 Samson Ramadhani   Tanzania 2:24:53 SB
67 Jan Kreisinger   Czech Republic 2:25:03
68 Mohammed Abduh Bakhet   Qatar 2:25:17
69 Jussi Utriainen   Finland 2:26:25
70 Arturo Malaquias   Mexico 2:26:37
71 Wissem Hosni   Tunisia 2:26:43
72 Tamás Kovács   Hungary 2:27:48
73 Jang Sinkweon   South Korea 2:28:20
74 Toni Bernadó   Andorra 2:28:34
75 Marcel Tschopp   Liechtenstein 2:28:54
76 Bekir Karayel   Turkey 2:29:38
77 Chang Chia-Che   Chinese Taipei 2:29:58
78 Ram Singh Yadav   India 2:30:06
79 Jean Pierre Mvuyekure   Rwanda 2:30:19
80 Konstantinos Poulios   Greece 2:33:17
81 Zohar Zimro   Israel 2:34:59
82 Jeong Jinhyeok   South Korea 2:38:45
83 Juan Carlos Cardona   Colombia 2:40:13
84 Augusto Soares   East Timor 2:45:09
85 Tsepo Ramonene   Lesotho 2:55:54
Li Zicheng   China DNF
Ilunga Mande Zatara   Democratic Republic of the Congo DNF
Darko Zivanovic   Serbia DNF
Gunther Weidlinger   Austria DNF
Abraham Kiprotich   France DNF
Patrick Tambwé   France DNF
Valerijs Zolnerovics   Latvia DNF
Ali Mabrouk El Zaidi   Libya DNF
Ryan Hall   United States DNF
Abdihakem Abdirahman   United States DNF
Getu Feleke   Ethiopia DNF
Dino Sefir   Ethiopia DNF
Samuel Tsegay   Eritrea DNF
Ayele Abshero   Ethiopia DNF
Tayeb Filali   Algeria DNF
Rui Pedro Silva   Portugal DNF
Coolboy Ngamole   South Africa DNF
Abderrahime Bouramdane   Morocco DNF DSQ
Roman Prodius   Moldova DNF
Abdellatif Meftah   France DNF

References edit

  1. ^ "Athletics – Summer Olympic Sport". london2012.com. 29 May 2018. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Marathon, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Kiprotich claims gold for Uganda". The Irish Times. 12 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Stephen Kiprotich wins gold for Uganda". BBC Sport. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda wins marathon". USA Today. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Stephen Kiprotich becomes Uganda's second ever Olympic gold medallist with historic men's marathon victory". Daily Telegraph. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Stephen Kiprotich's Olympic marathon win gives Uganda second gold ever". Guardian. 12 August 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Olympic Documents – Annual Reports, Code of Ethics & more" (PDF). london2012.com. 2 February 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.

External links edit