Marathon, Women

The dominant women marathoners were the Japanese and the Africans, notably those from Kenya and Ethiopia. The champions from 1992 and 1996, Valentina Yegorova and Fatuma Roba, were back though they did not figure in the race for medals. Yegorova did not finish while Roba placed ninth. No favorite could be chosen as the major women’s marathons since 1996 had been spread out among several different victors.

The point-to-point race began at 9 AM near the North Sydney Oval. The race came down to the closest finish in the women’s Olympic marathon, with Japan’s Naoko Takahashi winning by eight seconds from Romania’s Lidia Şimon. The time of 2-23:14 was an Olympic record, better than the mark of 2-24:52 set by Joan Benoit in winning the inaugural Olympic marathon for women in 1984.