| Marathon at the Olympic Games | |
|---|---|
 Burton Holmes' photograph entitled 1896: Three athletes in training for the marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens | |
| Overview | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Gender | Men and women |
| Years held | Men: 1896–2024 Women: 1984–2024 |
| Olympic record | |
| Men | 2:06:26 Tamirat Tola (2024) |
| Women | 2:22:55 Sifan Hassan (2024) |
| Reigning champion | |
| Men |  Tamirat Tola (ETH) |
| Women |  Sifan Hassan (NED) |
The marathon at the Summer Olympics is the only road running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's marathon has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first modern Olympics in 1896. Nearly ninety years later, the women's event was added to the programme at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
History
The modern marathon event was created and later refined through the Olympic competition. The idea of holding a marathon race at the first Olympics was suggested to Pierre de Coubertin by Michel Bréal. Based upon a popular myth stemming from the Battle of Marathon, in which Pheidippides ran to Athens from the town of Marathon, Greece to carry the message of a Greek victory, the 1896 course began in the town of Marathon and finished in Athens' Panathenaic Stadium – a distance of around 40 kilometres (25 mi). On April 10, 1896, Greek water-carrier Spyridon Louis won the first Olympic marathon in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds. The route between Marathon and Panathenaic Stadium was repeated when Athens hosted the 2004 Games.
The race distance varied from 40 to 42 kilometres (25 to 26 mi) in the early editions as it was typically based upon the distance between two points that the organisers felt were suitable. The 1908 London Olympics marked the introduction of the standard distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 km). However, it was not until the 1924 Paris Olympics that this distance became the standard at the Olympics.
The Olympic marathon proved immediately popular in the Western world and quickly spawned numerous long-running annual races, including the Boston Marathon in 1897, the Tour de Paris Marathon in 1902, the Yonkers Marathon in 1907, and the London Polytechnic Marathon in 1909. Such marathons played a key role in the expansion of the road running movement internationally over the course of the 20th century.
It has become a tradition for the men's Olympic marathon to be the last event of the athletics calendar, on the final day of the Olympics. For many years since the 1964 Tokyo Games, the race finished inside the Olympic stadium; however, at the 2004 Athens games, the finish was at the historic Panathenaic Stadium, at the 2012 London games, the start and finish were on The Mall, and at the 2016 Rio games, the start and finish were in the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí, the parade area that serves as a spectator mall for Carnival. At the 2020 Tokyo games, the marathon was instead held in Sapporo due to heat concerns in the host city. Often, the men's marathon medals are awarded at the closing ceremony. In 2020, both the men's and women's medals were presented. In the 2024 Summer Olympics, the women's marathon was the final event, recognising gender equality and women's rights, with the men's going off the day before.
The Olympic records for the event are 2:06:26 hours for men, set by Tamirat Tola in 2024, and 2:22:55 hours for women, set by Sifan Hassan in 2024. The men's marathon world record has been improved several times at the Olympics: in 1908, 1920, and then at successive Olympics by Abebe Bikila in 1960 and 1964. Abebe Bikila, Waldemar Cierpinski, and Eliud Kipchoge are the only athletes to have won two Olympic gold medals in the marathon. No athlete has won more than two medals of any colour. Ethiopia have won the most gold medals in the event, with six, while Kenya has the greatest medal total with fifteen overall.
Medal summary
Men
Multiple medalists
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1= | Abebe Bikila | Ethiopia (ETH) |
1960–1964 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1= | Waldemar Cierpinski |  East Germany (GDR) |
1976–1980 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 1= | Eliud Kipchoge |  Kenya (KEN) |
2016–2020 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Frank Shorter |  United States (USA) |
1972–1976 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Mamo Wolde | Ethiopia (ETH) |
1968–1972 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6= | Karel Lismont |  Belgium (BEL) |
1972–1976 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 6= | Erick Wainaina | Kenya (KEN) |
1996–2000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 6= | Bashir Abdi | Belgium (BEL) |
2020–2024 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Medals by country
- As of the 2020 Olympics
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 5 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | Kenya (KEN) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | United States (USA) | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| 4 |  France (FRA) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 |  South Africa (RSA) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 |  Italy (ITA) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 |  Argentina (ARG) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 |  Finland (FIN) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | East Germany (GDR) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 |  Japan (JPN) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 11 |  Greece (GRE) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 South Korea (KOR) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 13 |  Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Portugal (POR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Uganda (UGA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 16 |  Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 17 |  Morocco (MAR) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 19 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 20 |  Chile (CHI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Estonia (EST) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Ireland (IRL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Yugoslavia (YUG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 24 |  New Zealand (NZL) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 26 |  Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Djibouti (DJI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Germany (GER) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Soviet Union (URS) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (30 entries) | 30 | 29 | 29 | 88 | |
Women
Multiple medalists
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valentina Yegorova |  Unified Team (EUN) Russia (RUS) |
1992–1996 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Rosa Mota | Portugal (POR) |
1984–1988 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Catherine Ndereba | Kenya (KEN) |
2004–2008 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | Yuko Arimori | Japan (JPN) |
1992–1996 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Medals by country
- As of the 2020 Olympics
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenya (KEN) | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | Japan (JPN) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 |  Romania (ROM) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | United States (USA) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Portugal (POR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Unified Team (EUN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Russia (RUS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 |  Australia (AUS) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Bahrain (BRN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Norway (NOR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 |  China (CHN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| East Germany (GDR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| New Zealand (NZL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (14 entries) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 | |
Intercalated Games
The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon.
At this event a men's marathon was held over 41.86 km and Canada's Billy Sherring won the competition. John Svanberg, the runner-up in the 1906 5-mile race, was also runner-up in the marathon. American William Frank was the bronze medalist.
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 Athens details |
 Billy Sherring (CAN)
|
 John Svanberg (SWE)
|
 William Frank (USA)
|
References
- Participation and athlete data
- Martin, David and Roger Glynn. 2000. The Olympic Marathon: The History and Drama of Sport's Most Challenging Event. Human Kinetics; Champaign, Illinois.
- Athletics Men's Marathon Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Athletics Women's Marathon Medalists. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Olympic record progressions
- Mallon, Bill (2012). TRACK & FIELD ATHLETICS - OLYMPIC RECORD PROGRESSIONS. Track and Field News. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Specific
- Athletics at the 1896 Athina Summer Games: Men's Marathon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Marathon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Athletics at the 1924 Paris Summer Games: Men's Marathon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Longest Running Marathons. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- Lovett, Charlie (1997). Prologue: The Legend. Marathon Guide. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
- "Marathon Race". Marathon Run Museum. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
- "Mapping out the London Olympic Marathon course". The AZ Blog. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
- "Visualizing the Rio Olympic Marathon Course". Runner's World. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
- INC, SANKEI DIGITAL (2021-08-08). "大迫、服部は先頭集団 男子マラソン５キロ通過". 産経ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-08-08.
- "Paris 2024 marathon route revealed: A challenging race through history and incredible monuments". Olympics.com. October 5, 2022. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
- Butler, Mark, ed. (2011). 13th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Daegu 2011 (PDF). Monaco: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. pp. 595, 612, 614–615, 705, 707. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 18, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
- Sometimes listed as representing Luxembourg.
- "Paris 1900 marathon men Results - Olympic athletics". olympics.com. IOC. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- Arriving without correct documents, a French immigrant to the United States Albert Corey is inconsistently listed as performing in a mixed team in the four mile team race (with four undisputed Americans) and performing for the US in the marathon. Currently, the IOC attributes his medal in the marathon to France and in the team race to a mixed team.
- "St. Louis 1904 Athletics Marathon Men Results". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
- ^ Both Sohn Kee-chung and Nam Sung-yong were from Korea. The IOC attributes both medals to Japan due to Korea being a Japanese colony at the time. All Korean Olympians during the Japanese colonial rule could only participate in the games as a representative of Japan and had to compete with Japanese names instead of their original Korean names. However, some sources still refer to Son Kee-chung as the first Korean to win an Olympic marathon today.
- 1906 Athina Summer Games. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.
- Athletics at the 1906 Athina Summer Games: Men's Marathon. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-03-12.
External links
- IAAF marathon homepage
- Official website - Athletics
- Olympic athletics records from Track & Field News
| Marathon at the Olympic Games | |
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| Summary | |
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| Women | |
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