A marathon, 42.195 km, is a whole world. If they are held in the Olympics, it is a whole universe. This was the story of the Olympic marathon for 2024, the Paris Marathon that was held today (Saturday) and passed through all the attractions of the city. The Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles and everything that you can imagine.
Different runners came to the marathon with their own dreams, and in Tamirat Tula’s case they came true. The 32-year-old Ethiopian, who moved from 10,000 m, gradually improved, finishing third in Tokyo and London and winning in New York. He is an excellent runner who went down in history and rightfully so, under difficult conditions, all the way to breaking the Olympic record from 2008.
Eliud Kipchoga tried to fight against time. The Olympic champion from 2016 and 2020 dreamed of a third gold, but after finishing in tenth place in the Tokyo Marathon in which he participated this year, he crashed at the Olympics. He dropped from 7th to 58th in just a few miles, switched to walking but finished the marathon. This is probably the final chord of one of the greatest runners in history, who was expecting something else. Takhloini Gabriasos, born in Eritrea who lives in Israel and runs on behalf of the refugee team, finished in 42nd place with a time of 2:12.47 hours.
This is also true, apparently, in the case of our Israeli trio – Maru Tefri, Geshao Ayala and Guirma Amre. None of them were in the top 25 at any point in the marathon, despite the dreams of finishing in the top ten. In 2028 it might look different. Tafri accelerated towards the end and finished in 26th place, Ayala in 31st place and Amera in 44th place.
Difficult conditions, 81 runners. Some set personal records, some broke and retired, some finished their careers and some are satisfied with their parts. Only one, Tamirat Tula, went home with the gold and the Olympic record.
The top eight