Marathon, Women

The heavy favorite in 2004 was Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, who dominated women’s marathoning since turning to the roads in 2002. At the 2002 London Marathon she made her marathon début with a victory in 2-18:55, the second fastest time ever. But later that year, she broke the world marathon best at Chicago, running 2-17:47. In 2003 she stunned the athletics world by winning London in 2-15:25, a mark that would place her highly in most major men’s marathons.

The race began at Marathon, and ran point-to-point to the Olympic Stadium in Athina, although it was not exactly the same course as that used for the 1896 Olympic marathon. It started at 6 PM, but the day was brutally hot, with temperatures reaching 35° C. (95° F.) Given that weather nobody expected fast times. By 20 km. a pack of five runners held the lead, which included Radcliffe, Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, Mizuki Noguchi and Reiko Tosa of Japan, and Elfenesh Alemu of Ethiopia. Noguchi attached at 25 km. on an uphill stretch of the course, and quickly opened a lead of 23 seconds over Alemu, with Radcliffe trailing. Radcliffe would drop out at 36 km. Noguchi held her narrow lead to the finish, winning by 12 seconds over Ndereba. The bronze medal went to American Deena Kastor, who ran the second half of her race four minutes fastest than the first half, closing rapidly, though she still finished almost a minute behind Ndereba.