Posted: August 30, 2004

Athletics: Keflezighi Wins Olympic Silver Medal in Marathon

Baldini, de Lima Take Gold and Bronze Medals

Part of the appeal of the Olympics is when an athlete rises to the occasion and performs beyond the expected, and on Sunday, August 29, Meb Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. showed the world and his country his mettle with a stirring silver medal performance at the men's Olympic Marathon. With a final race surge, Italian Stefano Baldini won the gold medal in 2:10:55 to Keflezighi's 2:11:29, while Brazil's Vanderlei de Lima, a near upset winner, earned the bronze in 2:12:11.

Keflezighi, 29, like his Team Running USA teammate and fellow Olympic Marathon medalist Deena Kastor the week before, put together a patient and controlled race, but unlike Kastor, Keflezighi ran with the contenders from the gun.

The men faced the same daunting from Marathon to Athens course as the women, but fortunately, the race day temperatures were cooler (70-80 degrees) than last Sunday's Olympic Marathon.

For the race's first hour, a huge pack stuck together at 2:14 marathon pace as the men respected the weather and the course. Just past the 20K mark and where the long uphill march to 32K begins, de Lima made his break from the pack. One hour and twenty minutes into the race, de Lima, 35, a two-time Pan Am Games marathon champion, had a 33 second lead over Baldini, Keflezighi, marathon world record holder Paul Tergat, 2003 world champion Jaouad Gharib and Jon Brown.

By 19 miles, de Lima, the 2004 Hamburg Marathon winner, led by 46 seconds as the chase pack of nine tried to maintain contact. At 20 miles as the course headed downhill into Athens, Baldini, Tergat and Keflezighi went after de Lima. Unbelievably, at approximately 1:52:30 into the race, on de Lima's left, a crazed man came onto the course and grabbed de Lima and pushed him to the curb. With help from spectators, de Lima escaped, but lost 8-10 seconds. Impressively, the Brazilian ran his 23rd mile in 4:55 and his lead was still 30 seconds, but Baldini and Keflezighi were closing in.

At exactly two hours, Baldini passed the slowing de Lima and Keflezighi soon moved into second. At 39K, Keflezighi looked ready to challenge Baldini, but the Italian, a two-time marathon bronze medalist at the World Championships, put the hammer down with a 4:28 mile to separate himself from the UCLA grad.

Baldini, 33, entered the marble Panathenaiko Stadium, site of the first modern Olympics, alone to win the second Olympic Marathon gold medal by an Italian (Gelindo Bordin won the first at Seoul 1988). Keflezighi followed 34 seconds later, while de Lima secured his well-deserved bronze medal. Both Baldini and Keflezighi ran big negative splits (1:07:38/1:03:17 and 1:07:40/1:03:49 respectively).

After the race, Keflezighi, who also trains in San Diego, Calif., enthused: "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Going in I wasn't a favorite, but that's why we run the race. I'm happy to win the silver medal. USA distance running is back! There should be no more question about that."

"It was hot and humid out there. I was prepared for the worst. I tried to do what Deena [Kastor, women's marathon bronze medalist] did - stay relaxed and keep working on it," he continued.

Keflezighi gave Team USA its 25th medal of these Olympics - the most successful Olympics for Team USA track & field since 1992. He also was the first U.S. male to win an Olympic Marathon medal since Frank Shorter's 1976 silver medal in Montreal (Shorter also won the 1972 gold medal in Munich). In addition, with Kastor and Keflezighi's medals, it was the first time that the U.S. won marathon medals at the same Olympics.

Trials champion Alan Culpepper of Lafayette, Colo. finished a solid 12th in 2:15:26 and Dan Browne of Portland, Ore. was 65th (2:27:17). Twenty of the 101 starters from 59 countries did not finish the race.

Fittingly, for de Lima, in the spirit of fair play and in recognition of his courage during incident, the IOC later awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal to him.

Olympic Marathon - Men's, Hilly, point-to-point course Marathon to Athens, Greece, Sunday, August 29, 2004

1) Stefano Baldini (ITA), 2:10:55, Gold
2) Meb Keflezighi (USA), 2:11:29, Silver
3) Vanderlei de Lima (BRA), 2:12:11, Bronze
4) Jon Brown (GBR), 2:12:26
5) Shigeru Aburaya (JPN), 2:13:11
6) Toshinari Suwa (JPN), 2:13:24
7) Eric Wainaina (KEN), 2:13:30
8) Alberto Chaica (POR), 2:14:17
9) Alberico Di Cecco (ITA), 2:14:34
10) Paul Tergat (KEN), 2:14:45
12) Alan Culpepper (USA), 2:15:26 
65) Dan Browne (USA), 2:27:17 

For complete results, go to: IAAF.org.