Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics - Men's marathon

Men's marathon at the Games of the IX Olympiad
Boughera El Ouafi, winner
Venue	Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam
Dates	August 5
Competitors	69 from 23 nations
Winning time	2:32:57
Medalists
Boughera El Ouafi France Manuel Plaza Chile Martti Marttelin Finland

Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men
400 m	men
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men
Road events
Marathon	men
Field events
Long jump	men
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Decathlon	men

The men's marathon event at the 1928 Summer Olympics took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Sunday, August 5, 1928. The race started at 15:14 local time. A total number of 57 athletes completed the race, with Willem van der Steen from the Netherlands finishing in last position in 3:29:21. There were 69 competitors from 23 countries. Twelve of them did not finish.^[1] The maximum number of athletes per nation was 6.^[2] The event was won by Boughera El Ouafi of France, the nation's first Olympic marathon victory since 1900 (and second overall). Manuel Plaza earned Chile's first Olympic marathon medal, while Martti Marttelin's bronze put Finland on the podium in the event for the third straight Games.

Background

This was the eighth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from 1924 included silver medalist Romeo Bertini of Italy, bronze medalist Clarence DeMar of the United States, fifth-place finisher Sam Ferris of Great Britain, sixth-place finisher Manuel Plaza of Chile, seventh-place finisher Boughera El Ouafi of France, and eighth-place finisher Gustav Kinn of Sweden. The field "was very open with no strict favorite."^[3]

Latvia, Mexico, Romania, and Yugoslavia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons. The United States made its eighth appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

Competition format

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The now-standard marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a course that "started and ended at the Olympic Stadium, but was not strictly out-and-back, as there were small loops near the halfway point, and on the return to the Stadium."^[3]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Albert Michelsen (USA)	2:29:01.8	Port Chester, United States	12 October 1925
Olympic record	Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN)	2:32:35.8(*)	Antwerp, Belgium	22 August 1920

(*) Course was list at 42.75 kilometres.

Schedule

Results

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Time
	Boughera El Ouafi	France	2:32:57
	Manuel Plaza	Chile	2:33:23
	Martti Marttelin	Finland	2:35:02
4	Kanematsu Yamada	Japan	2:35:29
5	Joie Ray	United States	2:36:04
6	Seiichiro Tsuda	Japan	2:36:20
7	Yrjö Korholin-Koski	Finland	2:36:40
8	Sam Ferris	Great Britain	2:37:41
9	Albert Michelsen	United States	2:38:56
10	Clifford Bricker	Canada	2:39:24
11	Harry Wood	Great Britain	2:41:15
12	Verner Laaksonen	Finland	2:41:35
13	Harry Payne	Great Britain	2:42:39
14	Eino Rastas	Finland	2:43:08
15	Väinö Sipilä	Finland	2:43:08
16	Alois Krof	Czechoslovakia	2:43:18
17	Johnny Miles	Canada	2:43:32
18	Léon Broers	Belgium	2:44:37
19	Hans Stelges	Germany	2:45:27
20	Dunky Wright	Great Britain	2:45:30
21	Herbert Bignall	Great Britain	2:45:44
22	Ernest Harper	Great Britain	2:45:44
23	Jean Gérault	France	2:46:08
24	Ilmari Kuokka	Finland	2:46:34
25	Gustav Kinn	Sweden	2:47:35
26	Silas McLellan	Canada	2:49:33
27	Clarence DeMar	United States	2:50:42
28	Marcel Denis	France	2:51:15
29	Guillaume Tell	France	2:51:18
30	Henri Landheer	Netherlands	2:51:59
31	Paul Hempel	Germany	2:52:01
32	Aurelio Terrazas	Mexico	2:52:22
33	František Zyka	Czechoslovakia	2:52:42
34	Giuseppe Ferrera	Italy	2:53:10
35	José Torres	Mexico	2:54:00
36	Johan Støa	Norway	2:54:15
37	Gerard Steuers	Belgium	2:54:48
38	Artūrs Motmillers	Latvia	2:56:45
39	James Henigan	United States	2:56:50
40	Matthew Steytler	South Africa	2:57:21
41	Harvey Frick	United States	2:57:24
42	Jean Linssen	Belgium	2:58:08
43	Frank Hughes	Canada	2:58:12
44	William Agee	United States	2:58:50
45	Percy Wyer	Canada	2:58:52
46	Georg Hoerger	Germany	2:59:01
47	Kurt Schneider	Germany	2:59:36
48	Juichi Nagatani	Japan	3:03:34
49	József Galambos	Hungary	3:05:58
50	Paul Gerhardt	Germany	3:09:30
51	Gottlieb Bach	Denmark	3:10:10
52	Emilio Ferrer	Spain	3:11:05
53	Dimitrije Stefanović	Yugoslavia	3:11:35
54	Joop Vermeulen	Netherlands	3:13:47
55	Pleun van Leenen	Netherlands	3:14:37
56	Jean Marien	Belgium	3:16:13
57	Willem van der Steen	Netherlands	3:19:53
—	Axel Elofs	Sweden	DNF
	Aksel Madsen	Denmark	DNF
	Orla Olsen	Denmark	DNF
	Vintilǎ Cristescu	Romania	DNF
	Romeo Bertini	Italy	DNF
	Attilio Conton	Italy	DNF
	Stefano Natale	Italy	DNF
	Vilis Cimmermans	Latvia	DNF
	Karl Laas	Estonia	DNF
	Teun Sprong	Netherlands	DNF
	Bram Groeneweg	Netherlands	DNF
	Franz Wanderer	Germany	DNF
—	Seghir Beddari	France	DNS
	Kārlis Bukass	Latvia	DNS
	Dionisio Carreras	Spain	DNS
	Pál Király	Hungary	DNS
	Antal Lovas	Hungary	DNS
	O. Molina	Chile	DNS
	L. Nicolas	France	DNS
	Henry Nielsen	Denmark	DNS
	Karel Šťastný	Czechoslovakia	DNS
	Harold Webster	Canada	DNS

References

External links

• Official Report
• (in French) Marathon Info