Marathons at the Olympics
| Marathon at the Olympic Games |
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|---|---|
Burton Holmes' photograph entitled "1896: Three athletes in training for the marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens"
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| Overview | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Gender | Men and women |
| Years held | Men: 1896 – 2012 Women: 1984 – 2012 |
| Olympic record | |
| Men | 2:06:32 Samuel Wanjiru (2008) |
| Women | 2:23:07 Tiki Gelana (2012) |
| Reigning champion | |
| Men |  Stephen Kiprotich (UGA) |
| Women |  Tiki Gelana (ETH) |
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 1896. Nearly ninety years later, the women's event was added to the programme at the 1984 Olympics.
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]
The race distance varied from 40 km to 42 kilometres (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]
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.[6] Abebe Bikila and Waldemar Cierpinski 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 has won the most gold medals in the event, with six, while the United States has the greatest medal total with twelve overall.
Contents
Medal summary
Men
Multiple medalists
| 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 |
| 3 | Frank Shorter |  United States (USA) |
1972–1976 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Mamo Wolde | Ethiopia (ETH) |
1968–1972 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5= | Karel Lismont |  Belgium (BEL) |
1972–1976 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 5= | Erick Wainaina |  Kenya (KEN) |
1996–2000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Medals by country
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethiopia (ETH) |
4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 2 | United States (USA) |
3 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| 3 |  France (FRA) |
3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 |  South Africa (RSA) |
2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 |  Italy (ITA) |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 |  Argentina (ARG) |
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 |  Finland (FIN) |
2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 8 | East Germany (GDR) |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Kenya (KEN) |
1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 10 |  South Korea (KOR) |
1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 11= |  Greece (GRE) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11= | South Korea (KOR) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 13= |  Czechoslovakia (TCH) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13= |  Portugal (POR) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13= | Uganda (UGA) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 |  Great Britain (GBR) |
0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 17 |  Morocco (MAR) |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | Belgium (BEL) |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 19= |  Chile (CHI) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 19= |  Estonia (EST) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 19= |  Ireland (IRL) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 19= |  Netherlands (NED) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 19= |  Yugoslavia (YUG) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 24= |  New Zealand (NZL) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 24= |  Sweden (SWE) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 26= |  Brazil (BRA) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26= |  Djibouti (DJI) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26= |  Germany (GER) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26= |  Hungary (HUN) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26= |  Soviet Union (URS) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Women
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 Los Angeles |
Joan Benoit (USA) |
 Grete Waitz (NOR) |
Rosa Mota (POR) |
| 1988 Seoul |
Rosa Mota (POR) |
 Lisa Martin (AUS) |
Katrin Dörre (GDR) |
| 1992 Barcelona |
 Valentina Yegorova (EUN) |
 Yuko Arimori (JPN) |
Lorraine Moller (NZL) |
| 1996 Atlanta |
22x20px Fatuma Roba (ETH) |  Valentina Yegorova (RUS) |
Yuko Arimori (JPN) |
| 2000 Sydney |
 Naoko Takahashi (JPN) |
 Lidia Șimon (ROU) |
Joyce Chepchumba (KEN) |
| 2004 Athens |
Mizuki Noguchi (JPN) |
Catherine Ndereba (KEN) |
Deena Kastor (USA) |
| 2008 Beijing |
Constantina Tomescu (ROU) |
Catherine Ndereba (KEN) |
 Zhou Chunxiu (CHN) |
| 2012 London |
Tiki Gelana (ETH) |
Priscah Jeptoo (KEN) |
Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova (RUS) |
Multiple medalists
| 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 |
Medals by country
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan (JPN) |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Ethiopia (ETH) |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Romania (ROM) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 4= | Portugal (POR) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4= | United States (USA) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Unified Team (EUN) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Kenya (KEN) |
0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Russia (RUS) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9= | Australia (AUS) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9= | Norway (NOR) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11= | China (CHN) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11= | East Germany (GDR) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11= | New Zealand (NZL) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Intercalated Games
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.[10]
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.[11]
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 Athens |
22x20px Billy Sherring (CAN) | 22x20px John Svanberg (SWE) |  William Frank (USA) |
References
- Participation and athlete data
- Athletics Men's Marathon Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Athletics Women's Marathon Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Olympic record progressions
- Mallon, Bill (2012). TRACK & FIELD ATHLETICS - OLYMPIC RECORD PROGRESSIONS. Track and Field News. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Specific
- ↑ Athletics at the 1896 Athina Summer Games: Men's Marathon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- ↑ Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Marathon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- ↑ Athletics at the 1924 Paris Summer Games: Men's Marathon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- ↑ Longest Running Marathons. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- ↑ Lovett, Charlie (1997). Prologue: The Legend. Marathon Guide. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The IOC attributes Théato's medal to France, despite later sources finding that his nationality was Luxembourgish.
- ↑ Corey is described in the 1904 Games report as a "Frenchman wearing the colors of the Chicago Athletic Association", but the IOC attributes his medal to the United States.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Both Sohn Kee-chung (Son Kitei) and Nam Sung-yong (Nan Shoryu) were from Korea. The IOC attributes both medals to Japan due to Korea being a Japanese colony at the time. All Korean Olympians during the Japanese colonial rule could only participate in the games as a representative of Japan and had to compete with Japanese names instead of their original Korean names. However, some sources still refer to Son Kitei as the first Korean to win an Olympic marathon today.
- ↑ 1906 Athina Summer Games. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.
- ↑ Athletics at the 1906 Athina Summer Games: Men's Marathon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
External links
- IAAF marathon homepage
- Official Olympics website
- Olympic athletics records from Track & Field News
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