Baldini wins Olympic Marathon 2004

Athens Men's Marathon 2004

This event was a fitting finale to the end of the Athen’s 2004 Olympics. It had everything, from raw determination to the unexpected.

The race itself got off under warm skies and progressed as expected, with nothing much in the way of excitement taking place in the form of breaks early on. The first break worthy of comment was from Hendrik Ramaala of South Africa, who went to the front with no one in the main pack showing scant interest. That was until team mate, Ian Syster, inexplicably decided to give chase.

Early Splits: 5km in 15:57 .. 10K in 31:54 .. 15K in 48:15

The race as it happened:

Syster’s pulling the pack towards compatriot, Ramaala, why? Not 5K later he stops on the side of the course.

Jaouad Gharib the Paris World Champs marathon in 2003, is now doing most of the donkey work to close the gap on Vanderlei de Lima. The Brazilian escaped once the pack closed in and engulfed Ramaala.

At the halfway point in the race – 1:07:23, De Lima leads the pack by 14 seconds. This gap continues to grow in small margins and when it comes to pursuers to close the gap it is proving to be more difficult to bridge than that of the South African. Tergat, imo, doesn’t look magnificent and him spitting is not a good sign. [slightly thick white spittle often indicates dehydration, these conditions are not suitable to run a marathon.]

Top 30 positions
01.Baldini (Ita) 2:10:55
02. Keflezig:i (USA) 2:11:29
03. de Lima (Bra) 2:12:11
04. Brown (Gbr) 2:12:26
05. Aburaya (Jpn) 2:13:11
06. Suwa (Jpn) 2:13:24
07. Wainaina (Ken) 2:13:30
08. Chaica (Por) 2:14:17
09. di Cecco (Ita) 2:14:34
10. Tergat (Ken) 2:14:45
11. Gharib (Mor) 2:15:12
12. Culpepper (USA) 2:15:26
13. Shvetsov (Rus) 2:15:28
14. Ju Lee (Kor) 2:15:33
15. Tolosa (Et:) 2:15:39
16. Th:ys (Rsa) 2:16:08
17. Joon Ji (Kor) 2:16:14
18. Pena (Spa) 2:16:38
19. Andreyev (Rus) 2:16:55
20. Satayin (Isr) 2:17:25
21. Wyatt (Nzl) 2:17:45
22. Holmen (Fin) 2:17:50
23. Robinson (Gbr) 2:17:53
24. Polias (Gre) 2:17:56
25. Bas:ingili (Bot) 2:18:09
26. Loskutov (Est) 2:18:09
27. Rios (Spa) 2:18:40
28. Troop (Aus) 2:18:46
29. Buchleitner (Aut) 2:19:19
30. Cooray (Sri) 2:19:24

See the the race in images : The Men’s Marathon in images