There is a wondrous and tragic history in Ethiopian marathoning.
Gezahgne Abera added another chapter Sunday and revived the bittersweet past by winning the 2000 Olympic marathon.
In 1960, Abebe Bikila ran barefoot through the streets of Rome to become the first black African to win an Olympic medal. Four years later, wearing shoes, Bikila won the marathon in Tokyo, becoming the only man ever to win two straight.
In 1969, five months after failing to finish the 1968 Olympic marathon, Bikila was involved in an automobile accident that left him unable to use his lower limbs and with little use of his arms. In 1973, he died of a brain hemorrhage at 51.
Another Ethiopian, Mamo Wolde, won the 1968 Olympic marathon and finished third in 1972. He now is one of some 3,200 political prisoners implicated but never formally charged for civil-rights abuses perpetrated by the previous Ethiopian government.
“This medal,” Abera would say, “is not only for me, but for the whole of Ethiopia.”
Abera won in 2 hours 10 minutes 11 seconds, with Eric Wainaina of Kenya second in 2:10:31 and Tesfaye Tola of Ethiopia third in 2:11.10.
It was the first African sweep of Olympic marathon medals, but Ethiopians already had been cleaning up in the distance races here. The East African nation of 64 million inhabitants won eight of the 18 medals in the six men’s and women’s races of 5,000 meters or more, including four golds.
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The United States, a country of 275 million, had no distance runner finish higher than 10th. The lone U.S. man in the marathon, Rod DeHaven of Madison, Wis., was 69th in 2:30:46. He suffered from intense stomach problems for much of the race.
With the wind gusting at nearly 40 m.p.h., Abera fell 10 miles into the race. He scraped his knee and shoulder. “I fell because of the pack jamming together in the wind,” he said. “I was about 20 meters behind, but the pace was so slow I was able to catch up with the pack. The wind was terrible, blowing in front and sideways.”
Abera took the lead in the 25th mile of a race that Tiyapo Maso of Botswana led by more than a minute after 12 miles. Maso, who was still in the lead at 15 miles, came undone after that and finished 77th in 2:38:53, covering the second half of the course 30 minutes slower than the first.
Wainaina, a bronze medalist four years ago in Atlanta, was named to the Kenyan team only after the Kenyan track federation dumped the three marathoners it had selected in April, citing lack of fitness.
Abera, 22, had run only four previous marathons, but two were memorable. He and Elijah Lagat of Kenya finished in the same time at this year’s Boston Marathon, with Lagat the winner. Last December, he won the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan with a personal-best time of 2:07:54.