Posted: April 16, 2004

Athletics: Mostly Overlooked, Pinto Hopes To Make Fifth Olympics

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

LONDON (16-Apr) -- You have to flip to the second page of the elite athlete listing for Sunday's Flora London Marathon to find his name. Just four names up from the bottom, assigned bib number 94, is a three-time winner of this race, and the European record co-holder, Antonio Pinto.

It seems odd to find the name of one of Europe's most successful career distance runners so far down on the list. With a personal best time of 2:06:36, Pinto has run 2:09:00 or better eight times. He was the first European to break 2:07:00 for the marathon, won the European 10,000m title in 1998, and is the fastest European-born runner ever for 10,000m (27:12.47). But at 38 years-old, he sees retirement, and perhaps full-time wine making, ahead and is looking for at least two more solid performances: one here and one in Athens.

"He's just qualifying for the Olympics," said his long-time manager, Luis Posso of Tampa, Fla. "He needs to run under 2:11 to qualify," added Posso, pointing out that 2:11 was the qualifying time set by his federation for Olympic selection. Alberto Chaíça, fourth at last summer's world championships in 2:09:25, has already been selected.

Pinto has run only one race this year, a mediocre 1:06:04 half-marathon in Lisbon on 28-Mar. However, after the race he went home to train and was joined by the Ethiopian-born Australian, Sisay Bezabeh, who is also slated to run here in London. Bezabeh was in for a surprise when the pair did their hard sessions.

"Sisay coundn't keep up with Antonio," said Posso with a smile. "And Sisay is in the best shape of his life."

Pinto won here in 1992 (2:10:02), 1997 (2:07:55), and again in 2000 (2:06:36). He was also second in 1998 (2:08:13) and finished third three times, in 1995 (2:08:48), 1998 (2:08:13) and 2001 (2:09:36). In his last appearance here in 2002 he was seventh in 2:09:10, his last full marathon.

"You know, he was a finalist in 1988 in Seoul," Posso added wistfully.

Pinto has appeared in the Olympic Games four times. In Seoul in 1988 he finished 13th in the 10,000m in 28:09.53. In Barcelona in 1992 he entered the marathon, but did not finish. In Atlanta in 1996 he finished 14th in the marathon in 2:16:41, and in Sydney in 2000 he also ran the marathon, finishing 11th in 2:15:17.

The other top Europeans in the race are Stefano Baldini of Italy (2:07:29 PB), Mark Carroll of Ireland (2:10:54) and Jon Brown of Great Britain (2:09:44).

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