Ethiopian Tamirat Tola wins Olympic gold in the marathon. Matthias Kyburz and Tadesse Abraham finish the race in 30th and 38th place respectively on rough terrain.
The backgrounds of the two Swiss athletes could not have been more different. Here is the seasoned marathon runner Abraham, who, two days before his 42nd birthday, was competing for the third time on the big stage under the sign of the five rings. Eight years ago at the Games in Rio de Janeiro, the Eritrean-born runner had shone with 7th place, three years ago in Tokyo breathing problems forced him to retire.
Eight-time orienteering world champion Kyburz, who had also competed in his first 42.195 kilometer race in Paris just four months earlier, had embarked on the ambitious project in collaboration with former World Championship bronze medallist and European champion Viktor Röthlin in order to find an answer to the simple question "How fast am I really? On Saturday, Kyburz crossed the finish line a good five minutes after Olympic champion Tamirat Tola - and 50 seconds ahead of Abraham.
World Championship gold followed by Olympic gold
The 32-year-old Tola won by 21 seconds ahead of Bashir Abdi. The winning time of 2:06:26 is an Olympic record. Somali Abdi, who competes for Belgium, finished third three years ago in Tokyo and Sapporo respectively. The podium was completed by Kenyan Benson Kipruto.
It was Tola's second major victory. Two years ago, he had already become world champion in Eugene, Oregon. He had also won a medal once before at the Olympic Games. Eight years ago at the Games in Rio de Janeiro, he secured bronze in the 10,000 meters.
Kipchoge's triple mission failed
Eliud Kipchoge, who could have made history with another triumph and who could have been the first to win the marathon three times, did not play a role. In addition to him, the Ethiopian Abebe Bikila had also achieved this twice in 1960 and 1964 and Waldemar Cierpinski, an athlete from the former GDR, in 1976 and 1980. Kipchoge dropped out of the race before half the distance due to obvious physical complaints.
