Gary Fanelli

Gary M. Fanelli (born October 24, 1950) is a long-distance runner from the United States who represented American Samoa in the marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Fanelli's 2:25:35 performance at the Olympics is an American Samoan national record. Known for running in costume, he has been called "the crown prince of road racing", "the king of costume", and "road-racing's longest-running joke".

Fanelli was born and raised in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. He attended school in Ardsley, Pennsylvania where "he was just another class cut-up". In 1969, Fanelli dropped out of Montgomery County Community College and reportedly joined a commune in Maui, Hawaii, but eventually returned to Ardsley where he began training. By 1980, he was a bee pollen salesman and a natural food advocate living in Oreland, Pennsylvania. He reportedly took 10 bee pollen tablets before races.

Fanelli qualified for the marathon at the United States Olympic Trials in Buffalo, New York held May 24, 1980. Wearing a shirt that read "The Road to Moscow Ends Here" in order to protest the American boycott of the Summer Olympics, he jumped out front at the start and by 11 miles had extended his lead over the pack to 150 yards. Fanelli crossed the half-way point in 1:04:39, but began to slow after yelling, "a blister on my left foot!" He maintained the lead for 15 miles before dropping back and finishing in 22nd place (2:16:49). Fanelli claimed that he set a fast pace so that the three American qualifiers, Tony Sandoval, Benji Durden, and Kyle Heffner who ran under 2:11:00 at that race, would all have better times than the eventual Olympic champion, Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany who ran a 2:11:03 in Moscow.

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