Marathon, Men

The 1928 marathon course 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. The race was very open with no strict favorite in the field. The race started at 3:14 PM on a cool, windy day, with high humidity. By 37 km. a small lead group had formed with Algerian-born Frenchman Boughera El Ouafi, Chile’s Manuel Plaza, American Joie Ray, Finland’s Martti Marttelin, and Japan’s Kanematsu Yamada. Ray briefly took the lead but was quickly passed and faded to finish fifth. Yamada then assumed the lead but he fell to the ground with cramps. Though he was able to get up and finish, he would finish fourth. Over the last five km., El Ouafi and Plaza opened up ground on Marttelin. El Ouafi would pull away shortly before entering the stadium and won the gold medal by 26 seconds over Plaza, with Marttelin third. El Ouafi was the first native-born African to win an Olympic gold medal. He had competed at the 1924 Olympics, but had competed very little since then. However, he served as a dispatch carrier for the French army in the war against Abdel Krim in 1926, running long distances in the desert which maintained his condition. After the Olympics, he turned professional and competed briefly in the United States.