Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon
| Men's marathon at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
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Samuel Wanjiru
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| Venue | Beijing | ||||||||||||
| Dates | August 24 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 98 from 57 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning time | 2:06:32 OR | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Samuel Kamau Wanjiru |
 Kenya
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Jaouad Gharib |
 Morocco
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Tsegay Kebede |
 Ethiopia
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The men's marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on 24 August at 7:30am in Beijing, ending in the Beijing National Stadium. The winner of the event was Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya, who set an Olympic record in the time of two hours, six minutes, and 32 seconds.
The qualifying standards were 2:15:00 (A standard) and 2:18:00 (B standard).
It began in the early morning instead of the traditional late at night start. Through 10k, a group of 8 was at front. They were all broken down to five at 20k. At the front was Eritrean Yonas Kifle, Ethiopian Deriba Merga, Kenya's Martin Lel and Sammy Wanjiru, and Moroccan Jaouad Gharib. over the next 10k Deriba Merga started to press the pace, dropping Lel and Kifle. Just after 30k, Sammy Wanjiru attacked Deriba Merga who would crack and fade out of the medals. Sammy Wanjiru continued to sustain his gap back to Gharib. Gharib slowly reeled the deficit back but Wanjiru won the gold medal in an Olympic record 2:06:32. Gharib got silver, and Tsegaye Kebede pulled himself into third to take the bronze.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
The following new Olympic record was set during this competition.
s.t. - same time.
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