Monday, October 2, 2000
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Monday, October 2, 2000
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SA marathon men blown away SYDNEY -- Defending Olympic marathon champion Josia Thugwane and team-mates Hendrick Ramaala and Johannes Maremane were blown off the wire in the marathon, the grand finale of the Sydney Olympics, yesterday. The marathon, the tightrope act of the Olympics, had the added dimension of wind to highlight the amazing quality of gold medalist Gezahgne Abera of Ethiopia who ran 2hrs, 10min, 11sec to beat Kenyan Eric Wainaina and countryman Tsefaye Tola. Abera's performance was an example of tactical perfection when he attacked Wainaina -- the bronze medalist behind Thugwane at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics -- with four kilometres to go to beat the Kenyan by 20 seconds. The South Africans were blown off the tightrope by a combination of furious pace-setting up front and the nagging wind that hit them square in the face like a sledgehammer over the second half of the course. Thugwane, the slightest figure in the field, sat in the pack slip-streaming like a cyclist in the main bunch. He held out until the group became strung out when Wainaina went to the front and he fell off to deal with the wind on his own. The heart was there, but he lacked the strength as the elements pushed him back and eventually Ramaala reeled him in to come home first South African in 12th in 2:16:19. Thugwane held on grimly for 20th in 2:16:59, while Maremane trailed in 2:21:25 for 43rd. "I tried," said Thugwane, who so much wanted a medal to dedicate to his deceased manager, coach and best friend, Jacques Malan, who died of cancer in June. "I did my best. I wanted to win for my country, but it was not my time. The pace was fast from the start and once I lost contact, the wind pushed me back. "But I'm not finished yet. I'm over my injuries now. I'll have my chance to race again." Ramaala said the wind blew him away. "I struggled to breath out there for some reason," he said. "I thought I'd back off from the pace, hoping to come back again. But by then we were coming out of Sydney and the wind hit. I lost my concentration. Things went wrong after 25km." Maremane, the national marathon champion, said his focus was to stay with Thugwane. "But once I lost contact, that was it. I went backwards. Phew, the wind was very strong out there," he said. The leaders, however, ran as though they were in a vacuum. Wind is no obstacle in the zone where Olympic glory beckons and Abera put the wind under his wings and soared to gold. -- Sapa
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