Olympics: men’s marathon

How the sport works

The first athlete to finish running 26.2 miles wins.

I didn't have a ticket for the finish of the men's marathon, so I planned to get to the course early and grab a spot. I was really surprised to see how crowded the course was two full hours before the start, but I suppose with it being a sunny day, a free event, and the last day of an amazing Olympics, everyone wanted to take part.

I, for one, am glad this woman and her homemade hat showed up.

Less than three hours after the start, eighty five runners had crossed the finish line and twenty had dropped out. This was the exact same course the women had run a week prior, so the crowd got to see the runners pass by four times.

Ethiopians cheered for Ayele Abshero, before he abandoned. All three Ethiopians would eventually abandon.

American Ryan Hall, before he dropped out of the marathon.

Canada's three marathoners all finished in the top thirty, though I'm not sure what happened to Eric Gillis. How on earth do you rip your kit in a marathon?

With just five hundred meters to go, a South African runner violently pulled up and clutched his hamstring right in front of me. The crowd all understood the seriousness of a pulled hamstring and began to clap and cheer twice as loud to encourage the ailing runner. He gingerly rubbed the muscle and began to slowly limp towards the finish line.

Guor Marial ran as an Independent Olympic Athlete, IOA. Hailing from what is now South Sudan, Marial is not yet a US citizen and he declined an invitation to run as a member of the Sudanese team. This is understandable as more than two dozen of his relatives died in the Sudanese civil war.

The two North Koreans athletes ran side by side for the whole race and finished together.

Konstadinos Poulios is my kind of marathoner. When he passed by on the final lap, he was blowing kisses and waving to the spectators! If he was that happy to finish in eightieth place, imagine what he would have done if he had medaled!

I'm starting to wonder if Timor Leste has a tradition of being the penultimate finisher in a marathon! Juventina Napoleao was second to last in the women's race and Augusto Soares was the second last finisher in the men's marathon. It was great to see him running with his national flag with five hundred meters to go!

Tsepo Ramonene of Lesotho was the final athlete to cross the finish line.

Medal results

Gold: Stephen Kiprotich, Uganda

Silver: Abel Kirui, Kenya

Bronze: Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, Kenya