Sport
London 2012: Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia wins marathon gold and breaks record
Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia wins the Olympic marathon. PHOTO/(Jae Hong/AP
Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia won the women’s Olympic marathon on Sunday in a race that began in heavy rain, was briefly drenched in sunshine and ended in another downpour.
Gelana was soaked from head to toe as she crossed the finish line, but she didn’t seem to mind, despite slipping at one point on the slick streets.
She raised her hands high to celebrate after navigating the rainy course in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 7 seconds to hold off Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya by five seconds. Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova of Russia won the bronze in the typcial London weather.
“I love running in the rain. I have been doing that since I was a small child,” Gelana said. “I slipped in the middle of the race and my elbow is still injured. But I didn’t feel any pain during the race.”
There were four runners in a bunched pack over the last three miles. But with the finish line around the bend, Gelana made her move, grimacing as she surged to the front. With the rain picking up, going from a light drizzle to a deluge, she kept glancing over her shoulder to see if Jeptoo was gaining ground.
She wasn’t.
No one could catch Gelana as she easily coasted across the line to win the biggest race of her life.
