The men's marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, was held on Sunday October 20, 1968. The race started at 15:00h local time. There were 75 competitors from 41 countries. Eighteen 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 Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia, the nation's third consecutive gold medal in the Olympic marathon (matching France for most golds overall in the event).
Background
This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1964 marathon included two-time defending champion Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia, fifth-place finisher József Sütő of Hungary, and eighth-place finisher Kenji Kimihara of Japan. Abebe would have been favored but was recovering from an appendectomy and stress fracture. His countryman Mamo Wolde (who had run in 1964 but had not finished, while his brother Demissie Wolde finished 10th) was a "formidable contender," particularly with the high altitude of Mexico City seen as being favorable to the Ethiopian team, used to high altitudes.
Costa Rica, Guyana, Kuwait, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zambia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons; East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 16th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.
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 a point-to-point course. The course ran from the Zócalo to the Olympic Stadium.
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics.
No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)
Date Time Round Sunday, 20 October 1968 15:00 Final
Results
Rank Athlete Nation Time Mamo Wolde 2:20:26 Kenji Kimihara 2:23:31 Mike Ryan 2:23:45 4 İsmail Akçay 2:25:18 5 Bill Adcocks 2:25:33 6 Gabrou Merawi 2:27:16 7 Derek Clayton 2:27:23 8 Tim Johnston 2:28:04 9 Akio Usami 2:28:0610 Andy Boychuk 2:28:4011 Gaston Roelants 2:29:0412 Pat McMahon 2:29:2113 Alfredo Peñaloza 2:29:4814 Kenny Moore 2:29:4915 Jürgen Busch 2:30:4216 George Young 2:31:1517 Manfred Steffny 2:31:2318 Thin Sumbwegam 2:32:2219 Naftali Temu 2:32:3620 Maurice Peiren 2:32:4921 Antonio Ambu 2:33:1922 Ron Daws 2:33:5323 Karl-Heinz Sievers 2:34:1124 Gyula Tóth 2:34:4925 Hüseyin Aktaş 2:35:0926 Pablo Garrido 2:35:4727 Aad Steylen 2:37:4228 Anatoly Sukharkov 2:38:0729 Lee Myeong-jeong 2:38:5230 Ivaylo Sharankov 2:39:4931 Gioacchino De Palma 2:39:5832 Josef Gwerder 2:40:1633 Hubert Riesner 2:41:2934 Georg Olsen 2:42:2435 Douglas Zinkala 2:42:5136. Ezequiel Baeza 2:43:1537 Dave McKenzie 2:43:3638 Kim Bong-nae 2:43:5639 Carlos Cuque 2:45:2040 Godwin Kalimbwe 2:45:2641 Mick Molloy 2:48:1342 Nikola Simeonov 2:48:3043 John Farrington 2:50:1644 Helmut Kunisch 2:50:5845 Alifu Massaquoi 2:52:2846 Lee Sang-Hoon 2:52:4647 Hla Thein 2:54:0348 Paul Mose 2:55:1749 Benjamin Silva-Netto 2:56:1950 Harry Prowell 2:57:0151 Wimalasena Perera 2:59:0552 Fulgencio Hernández 3:00:4053 Gustavo Gutiérrez 3:03:0754 Martin Ande 3:03:4755 Mustafa Musa 3:04:5356 Enoch Muemba 3:06:1657 John Stephen Akhwari 3:25:17 — Carlos Pérez Rafael Pérez Abebe Bikila Jerome Drayton Pentti Rummakko Guy Texereau René Combes Jim Alder Lajos Mecser József Sütő Seiichiro Sasaki Mraljeb Ayed Mansoor Saoud Obaid Daifallah José García Edgar Friedli Mukhamed Shakirov Armando González Nedo Farčić — Hernán Barreneche Ton Eykenboom Mohammed Gammoudi Jürgen Haase Jouko Kuha Ettore Milone Edward Stawiarz Yury Volkov
References
External links Marathon Info