The men's marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea was held on Sunday October 2, 1988. The race started at 14:30h local time. A total of 98 athletes completed the race, with Polin Belisle from Belize finishing in last position in 3'14:02. There were 118 competitors from 60 countries. Twenty of them did not finish. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Gelindo Bordin of Italy, the nation's first victory in the Olympic men's marathon and first medal in the event since 1924. Kenya (Douglas Wakiihuri's silver) and Djibouti (Hussein Ahmed Salah's bronze) each won their first Olympic men's marathon medal.
Background
This was the 21st appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1984 marathon included silver medalist John Treacy of Ireland, bronze medalist Charlie Spedding of Great Britain, fifth-place finisher Robert de Castella of Australia, and sixth-place finisher Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania. The favorites included de Castella, Gelindo Bordin of Italy, and rising star Hussein Ahmed Salah of Djibouti. Douglas Wakiihuri of Kenya had won the 1987 world championship over Ahmed Salah and Bordin.
American Samoa, Angola, Belize, (the People's Republic of) China, Fiji, Guam, Guinea, the Maldives, Niger, Rwanda, and the Solomon Islands each made their first appearance in Olympic men's marathons. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
Gary Fanelli of the United States moved to Tafuna, American Samoa six months prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul in order to coach and attain his Olympic eligibility for America Samoa. Fanelli's time of 2:25:35, good for 51st place, is an American Samoan national record.
Competition format and course
As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over an out-and-back route starting and finishing at the Olympic Stadium, running along the Han River.
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.
No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)
Date Time Round Sunday, 2 October 1988 14:35 Final
Results
Rank Athlete Nation Time Gelindo Bordin 2:10:32 Douglas Wakiihuri 2:10:47 Hussein Ahmed Salah 2:10:594 Takeyuki Nakayama 2:11:055 Steve Moneghetti 2:11:496 Charlie Spedding 2:12:197 Juma Ikangaa 2:13:068 Robert de Castella 2:13:079 Toshihiko Seko 2:13:4110 Ravil Kashapov 2:13:4911 Jesús Herrera 2:13:5812 John Campbell 2:14:0813 Gerard Nijboer 2:14:4014 Pete Pfitzinger 2:14:4415 Marti ten Kate 2:14:5316 Orlando Pizzolato 2:15:2017 Hisatoshi Shintaku 2:15:4218 Kim Won-Tak 2:15:4419 Gianni Poli 2:16:0720 Dieudonné LaMothe 2:16:1521 Dave Long 2:16:1822 Henrik Jørgensen 2:16:4023 Ralf Salzmann 2:16:5424 Dick Hooper 2:17:1625 Miroslavo Vindiš 2:17:4726 Cai Shangyan 2:17:5427 Joaquim Silva 2:18:0528 Art Boileau 2:18:2029 Ed Eyestone 2:19:0930 Noureddine Sobhi 2:19:5631 Yu Jae-seong 2:20:1132 Mehmet Terzi 2:20:1233 Kevin Forster 2:20:4534 Bigboy Josie Matlapeng 2:20:5135 Allaoua Khellil 2:21:1236 Justin Gloden 2:22:1437 Alexandre Gonzalez 2:22:2438 Zhang Guowei 2:22:4939 Pedro Ortiz 2:23:3440 Ronald Lanzoni 2:23:4541 Bradley Camp 2:23:4942 Adolphe Ambowode 2:23:5243 John Burra 2:24:1744 Samuel Hlawe 2:24:4245 Juan Amores 2:24:4946 Peter Maher 2:24:4947 Abdou Manzo 2:25:0548 Diamantino dos Santos 2:25:1349 Omar Moussa 2:25:2550 Carlos Retiz 2:25:3451 Gary Fanelli 2:25:3552 John Woods 2:25:3853 Gideon Mthembu 2:25:5654 Baikuntha Manandhar 2:25:5755 Karel David 2:26:1256 Ivo Rodrigues 2:26:2757 Martín Mondragón 2:27:1058 Vusie Dlamini 2:28:0659 Inni Aboubacar 2:28:1560 Yohanna Waziri 2:29:1461 Noheku Nteso 2:29:4462 Benjamin Longiros 2:30:2963 Vincent Ruguga 2:31:0464 Alfonso Abellán 2:31:1065 Vithanakande Samarasinghe 2:31:2966 Tika Bogati 2:31:4967 Dave Edge 2:32:1968 Luis López 2:32:4369 Juan Camacho 2:34:4170 Abbas Mohamed 2:35:2671 Ahmet Altun 2:37:4472 James Gombedza 2:38:1373 Kamana Koji 2:38:3474 João Carvalho 2:40:4575 Aaron Dupnai 2:41:4776 Bineshwar Prasad 2:41:5077 Calvin Dallas 2:42:1978 Telesphore Dusabe 2:42:5279 Eugène Muslar 2:43:2980 Hassan Karimou 2:43:5181 Wallace Williams 2:44:4082 Mohala Mohloli 2:44:4483 Awadh Shaban Al-Sameer 2:46:5984 Derick Adamson 2:47:5785 Krishna Bahadur Basnet 2:47:5786 Fred Schumann 2:49:5287 John Mwathiwa 2:51:4388 Marlon Williams 2:52:0689 Kaleka Mutoke 2:55:2190 James Walker 2:56:3291 Mohiddin Mohamed Kulmiye 2:58:1092 Fred Ogwang 2:59:3593 Naser Babapour 3:00:2094 Ricardo Taitano 3:03:1995 Baba Ibrahim Suma-Keita 3:04:0096 Alassane Bah 3:06:2797 Nguyễn Văn Thuyết 3:10:5798 Polin Belisle 3:14:02 — Ahmed Mohamed Ismail Bruno Lafranchi Ibrahim Hussein Alain Lazare John Treacy Dirk Vanderherten Domingo Aguilar Honorato Hernández Jörg Peter Joseph Kipsang Gwon Seong-nak El Mostafa Nechchadi George Mambosasa Abdul Haji Abdul Latheef Hussein Haleem Geir Kvernmo Paulo Catarino John Maeke Martin Vrábeľ Mark Conover
See also 1986 Men's European Championships Marathon (Stuttgart) 1987 Men's World Championships Marathon (Rome) 1990 Men's European Championships Marathon (Split) 1991 Men's World Championships Marathon (Tokyo) 1992 Men's Olympic Marathon (Barcelona)
References
External links Official Report Marathon Info