Narrow marathon victories
August 24, 2008 edition
The men’s marathon, a signature event of any Olympics, is traditionally held on the final day. Samuel Kamau Wansiru of Kenya won Sunday’s event in Beijing by 44 seconds, but other victors have had much small margins of victory. The closest men’s Olympic marathons, with year, the gold medalist, his country, and margin of victory in seconds:
1996: Josia Thugwane (S. Africa) 3
1920: Hannes Kolehmainen (Finland) 13
1988: Gelindo Bordin (Italy) 15
1948: Delfo Cabrera (Argentina) 16
1980: Waldemar Cierpinski (E. Germany) 17
1932: Juan Carlos Zabala (Argentina) 19
2000: Gezahgne Abera (Ethiopia) 20
1992: Hwang Young-cho (S. Korea) 22
1960: Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia) 26
1928: Boughera El Ouafi (France) 26
Compiled by Ross Atkin.
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