2012 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Marathon (Women)
sport | athletics | ||||||||
discipline | Marathon run | ||||||||
gender | Women | ||||||||
Attendees | 118 athletes from 67 countries | ||||||||
Competition location | London | ||||||||
Competition phase | 5th August 2012 | ||||||||
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The London 2012 Olympic Games women's marathon was held on a course in central London on August 5, 2012. 118 athletes took part, of which 107 made it to the finish.
The Ethiopian Tiki Gelana became the Olympic champion . The Kenyan Priscah Jeptoo won the silver medal, bronze went to the Russian Tatjana Petrowa .
Susanne Hahn and Irina Mikitenko started for Germany . Hahn reached the goal in 32nd place, Mikitenko in fourteen.
The Swiss Maja Neuenschwander was 53rd, the Austrian Andrea Mayr 54th.
Athletes from Liechtenstein did not take part.
Current titleholders
Olympic Champion | Constantina Diță-Tomescu ( Romania ) | 2:26:44 h | Beijing 2008 |
world champion | Edna Kiplagat ( Kenya ) | 2:28:43 h | Daegu 2011 |
European champion | Anna Incerti ( Italy ) | 2:32:48 h | Barcelona 2010 |
Centr'amer. u. Caribbean Master | Michelle Coira ( Puerto Rico ) | 1:21:07 h - half marathon | Mayagüez 2011 |
South America Champion | Competition not in the championship program | Buenos Aires 2011 | |
Asian champion | Noriko Higuchi ( Japan ) | 2:44:10 h | Pattaya 2011 |
African champion | Competition not in the championship program | Porto-Novo 2012 | |
Oceania champion | Sally Gibbs ( New Zealand ) | 2:41:15 h | Gold Coast 2012 |
Existing records
World record | Paula Radcliffe ( Great Britain ) | 2:15:25 h | London , UK | April 13, 2003 |
Olympic record | Naoko Takahashi ( Japan ) | 2:23:14 h | Sydney Marathon , Australia | September 24, 2000 |
Note:
All times in this post are given according to London local time ( UTC ± 0 ).
Routing
The start and finish of the marathon was on The Mall , within sight of Buckingham Palace . First it went northeast to Trafalgar Square , then right to the banks of the Thames . There it went further to the right towards the south along the embankment. At the London landmark Big Ben , the course turned right again in a westerly direction. We continued along St. James' Park and at its end in an arc to the north. The route at the Victoria Memorial led back onto The Mall .
The path now ran to the Thames, this time to the left to the north, where the route ended in a circular course of around twelve kilometers that had to be completed three times. The path followed the north bank of the Thames to Blackfriars Bridge and then turned left into the city center. The St Paul's Cathedral was passed, then the Museum of London . Then the path turned east and followed a winding route. It went past the Mansion House , the Bank of England and Leadenhall Market to the Tower of London . Here the course turned towards the banks of the Thames. It went back to Big Ben , along St. James' Park to the Victoria Memorial and then to the start and finish point. After two more laps, the race finally ended on The Mall .
Overall, the athletes had to cope with a difference in height of around sixteen meters. The start and finish were at a height of five meters, the deepest point at around 1.5 meters on the banks of the Thames. The highest point of 17.7 meters was reached at St Paul's Cathedral .
Starting position
Since it is not possible for the runners to show their capabilities in several marathons in a season, as in other disciplines , it is always difficult to identify a favorite group. The female athletes from Africa, who had replaced the Chinese women at the top at the last World Championships, had very good prospects . The Kenyan world champion Edna Kiplagat, vice world champion Priscah Jeptoo, also from Kenya, were among the top runners. But also the Ethiopian Aselefech Mergia, third in the 2009 World Championships and the Chinese Zhu Xiaolin, fifth in the World Championships in 2009 and 2011 as well as the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, should not be underestimated.
Race course
August 5, 2012, 11 a.m.
The competition took place in rainy outdoor conditions. From the beginning, the pace was consistently high with 5 km sections of around 17:20 minutes. But the field of runners stayed close together for a long time. The Italian Valeria Straneo took the initiative and took the lead, the pace remained as fast as before and no one was able to break away.
Shortly after half of the route, the Ethiopian Tiki Gelana fell at a refreshment station, but was able to continue the race undamaged and catch up with the field again, although the Kenyan Mary Keitany made the race even faster. From then on, all 5 km sections were run in under seventeen minutes. Now the field was gradually falling apart. Initially, a six-person leadership group was formed, which consisted of Keitany, the Ethiopian Mare Dibaba, Kiplagat, Gelana, Jeptoo and Mergia, all of which consisted of African runners. Mergia was the first to fall back from this group, a short time later Dibaba could no longer follow the pace. Four kilometers further, the Russian Tatiana Petrowa joined the lead group. At the same time, Kiplagat fell back, but she fought her way back after another kilometer.
But Kiplagat lost the connection again at kilometer 35. The decision had to be made between the four leading runners Gelana, Jeptoo, Keitany and Petrowa, whose lead over the pursuers grew more and more. The four leaders stayed together until 1500 meters before the finish, then Keitany had to let go. Gelana increased the pace once more so she could leave Petrowa and Jeptoo behind. Her final increase secured her Olympic victory with a new Olympic record ahead of Jeptoo and Petrowa. Jeptoo also remained below the previous Olympic record of the Japanese Naoko Takahashi from 2000 .
Priscah Jeptoo won the third consecutive Kenyan silver medal in the discipline. This made Kenya the leading nation in the total number of medals - four - along with Japan.
Split times | |||
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Intermediate mark |
Meanwhile | Leading | 5 km time |
5 km | 17:20 min | Shalane Flanagan with a large group | 17:20 min |
10 km | 34:46 min | Valeria Straneo with a large group | 17:26 min |
15 km | 52:10 min | Yoshimi Ozaki with a large group | 17:24 min |
20 km | 1:09:26 h | Valeria Straneo with a large group | 17:16 min |
25 km | 1:26:23 h | Keitany with 6-headed group 5 seconds ahead of the larger chasing group | 16:57 min |
30 km | 1:42:44 h | Keitany with the top group of five 9 seconds ahead of Flanagan and 11 seconds ahead of Augusto | 16:21 min |
35 km | 1:59:29 h | Petrowa, Gelana, Keitany, Jeptoo 4 s before Kiplagat and 27 s before Flanagan and Dibaba | 16:45 min |
40 km | 2:16:10 h | Gelana, Jeptoo, Keitany, Petrowa 1:12 min before Zhu; 1:19 min before Schmyrko and 1:31 min before Augusto | 16:41 min |
Result
Web links
- Final result of the women's marathon on the IAAF website , accessed on September 21, 2018
- London 2012 - Event Report - Women's Marathon , article by Chris Turner on IAAF website, August 5, 2012, accessed September 21, 2018
- Official report , accessed September 21, 2018
- Games of the XXX Olympiad • Biographical Entry List, Women's Marathon on the IAAF website ( Internet Archive ). PDF, accessed on September 21, 2018
Video
- Athletics - Women Marathon - Day 9 | London 2012 Olympic Games on youtube.com, published August 5, 2012, accessed September 21, 2018
Individual evidence
- ^ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 807 , accessed on September 21, 2018
- ↑ David Monti in the Running.competitor portal on April 24, 2012 (English) , accessed on September 21, 2018