London 2012 Olympic Marathon

Women's Marathon: On the narrow streets of Sunday’s women’s Olympic marathon, Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia reached for her water bottle and collided with another runner just beyond the halfway point. She fell to the ground and scraped her right elbow. She got up and was bumped again. “I said, ‘Oh wow, I’m not going to finish,’ ” Gelana said. “I just concentrated on running. All of a sudden I made it.” She did not see the runner who knocked her down inadvertently as runners scrambled to get their liquids and avoid dehydration. But Gelana climbed to her feet, remained poised and set an Olympic record to win in 2 hours 23 minutes 7 seconds. On a cool, rainy day, she surged to victory over the final one and a half miles, running the second half of the 26.2-mile race more than three minutes faster than the first. Gelana covered the first half in 1:13:13 and the final half in 1:09:54. And then she had her elbow treated with a patch. Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya took second in 2:23:12 on a twisty, loop course that passed many familiar London landmarks and sometimes puddled with rain. Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova of Russia made a charge over the final miles and finished third in a personal best of 2:23:29. She had finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2008 Beijing Games

Men's Marathon: Kiprotich finished in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 1 second, holding off the Kenyan duo of Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang. Kirui finished 26 seconds behind Kiprotich, while Kipsang, the leader much of the race, faded late but held on for bronze just ahead of American Meb Keflezighi. On an extremely warm afternoon, the marathoners wound their way through a scenic route packed with swarms of fans. Kiprotich had such a big lead near the finish that he grabbed a flag from the stands and wore it on his way to the finish. After finishing, he dropped to his knees, bowed and then raised his hands high over his head

Men's Marathon

Course Description

The 2012 Olympic Marathon Course will be used for both the men's and women's marathon races at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The 42.195-kilometre (26.219-mile) route will consist of one short circuit of 3.571 kilometres (2.219 miles) followed by three circuits of 12.875 kilometres (8.000 miles). The course, which was designed to pass as many of London's notable landmarks as possible, starts on The Mall, within sight of Buckingham Palace, and extends as far as the Tower of London in the east and the Victoria Memorial in the west.

The route of the marathon has been changed, for various logistical reasons, from that originally envisaged in London's original bid for the Games and now breaks with the normal Olympic tradition that the race finishes inside the main Olympic Stadium.

London 2012 Olympic Marathon (Men)