Posted: May 4, 2004

Athletics: Spain Announces Olympic Marathon Squad

From David Monti

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

By Bob Ramsak

Julio Rey, the silver medallist at last year's world championships, leads the Spanish marathon team for August's Olympic games, RFEA, the Spanish Athletics Federation, announced today.

Joining Rey on the men's team will be Antonio Peña and José Ríos, while the women's team includes Beatriz Ros, María Abel and Dolores Pulido. Oscar Fernández and Kamel Ziani were named as alternates.

Rey hasn't completed a marathon since capturing the silver medal in Paris last summer, clocking 2:08:38. At the ING New York City Marathon in November, he was tripped up at a fluid station in the fourth mile, while injury kept him out of last month's Paris Marathon. He ran his personal best of 2:07:27 at Hamburg in 2003. Peña closed out an impressive 2003 season with a fourth place finish at the Fukuoka Marathon in 2:08:10 and also ran 2:07:59 at Lake Biwa last year, finishing second. He finished sixth in his most recent marathon, the Xiamen International on March 27, in 2:13:17. Rios made an impressive debut over the distance at the Lake Biwa marathon on March 7, winning in 2:07:42, the third-fastest time ever on the course.

The 29-year-old Abel was fourth in April's Fortis Rotterdam Marathon in 2:29:46, her most recent race. She has a personal best of 2:26:58 from 2002. Ros was seventh in the Paris Marathon last month in 2:30:43, while Pulido was third in Padua last month (2:36:44) in her marathon debut.

RFEA recommended that all team members race in the national half-marathon championships in Ribadavia on July 4, though participation is not mandatory.

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