Browse content similar to BBC One: Day 16: 10.50-13.20. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning and welcome to the final straight of the London 2012 | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
Games. The morning after Tom's reverse triple, Mo's historic | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
double, and Usain's double triple. As far as the athletes pushing | :00:32. | :00:41. | |
themselves today are concered, it's a marathon not a sprint. Mind you, | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
judging by the calibre of some of these lads, they won't be hanging | :00:44. | :00:51. | |
around. Put Kenyans are so strong, they could leave the world record | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
holder at home. Could Team GB have a golden ending to the 2012 Games? | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
World champion Mhairi Spence and Samantha Murray have a tough day in | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
the Modern Pentathlon. We'll keep you up to date with their progress | :01:02. | :01:09. | |
throughout the day. We have an afternoon of boxing finals for you. | :01:09. | :01:16. | |
Fred Evans is in the final of the Welterweight competition at 2.15pm. | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
And an hour later, Anthony Joshua takes on defending champion Roberto | :01:18. | :01:28. | |
:01:28. | :01:32. | ||
Can you believe it? In around 12 hours time, that beautiful flame | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
will be extinguished and the Games will be brought to a close. We'll | :01:38. | :01:44. | |
be looking back at a wonderful 16 days at 7:30pm, ahead of the | :01:44. | :01:50. | |
closing ceremony which begins at 9pm. Before that, the Olympic | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
marathon today returns to the streets that set its distance, in | :01:53. | :02:01. | |
1908, at the first London Games. The marathon started at Windsor | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
Castle and ran past the royal box in the stadium, a distance of 26 | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
miles and 385 years. -- yards. So who do you look out for? Well, in | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
the run up to these Games, 278 kenyan men clocked the A time for | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
qualification. Absolutely incredible. Tanni Grey Thompson is | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
at The Mall to give us an idea of the three athletes are a made it | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
out of that extraordinary statistic. The the absolutely amazing, isn't | :02:27. | :02:37. | |
:02:37. | :02:38. | ||
it? The three guys who have made it reckon at the Olympic record at | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
least will go today. It shows the strength but the world record | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
holder, who has run up by 206, was left behind. How devastated would | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
you be as a world record holder, still in very good form but you | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
don't make the team at? Do you think a world record will go today | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
because the marathon runners are on form? We've seen three of the | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
fastest times in the world last year. At the weather is very good | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
for the African runners. It's quite warm although the sun keeps | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
disappearing and we get a bit of shade. We have rain predicted at | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
1pm which is hard to see at the moment. But, by then, the hard work | :03:18. | :03:25. | |
will be done. A cooling temperatures won't help some of the | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
guys who preferred to run in cooler conditions. That might be | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
refreshing for them after that bit of running the but what about the | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
terrain? Is it well suited to the African Nations? It's very | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
different from the big city marathons the athletes are used to | :03:41. | :03:48. | |
running. It's a four eight-mile it looks. It's good for the athletes | :03:48. | :03:54. | |
to be aborted test each other out. It's generally quite flat. On big | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
city marathons which go through the streets, it's much harder to pick | :03:58. | :04:00. | |
out people's strengths and weaknesses and I think we could see | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
a race where the real action happens in the second half while | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
everybody is watching what they are doing. OK, we will be back with you | :04:11. | :04:18. | |
shortly. Well. Team GB has two runners today. Lee Merrian and | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
Scott Overall. Scott was the only athlete to make the A time for | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
Great Britain. And finished fifth on this marathon debut last year in | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
Berlin. He was even an usher at Mo Farah's wedding. Here are his | :04:28. | :04:36. | |
thoughts on the big day. It's the pinnacle of our sport. When you | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
start running you may not immediately aspire to be in the | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
then picks but, as time progresses, and you continue to improve, it | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
becomes a reality and you start thinking about it. For me, but last | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
four years since Beijing, I've tried for the 5,000 metres in | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
Beijing and was seven seconds off the qualifying time, so now we have | :04:57. | :05:04. | |
switched it around a little bit and it has paid off. | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
COMMENTATOR: What a great run of four Scott Overall. I have got to | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
make sure I don't get carried away early on in the race. The crowds | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
must not make me go off too fast, I need to keep it under control, | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
impress the crowds, but to be honest, I'm not thinking about a | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
time. It's a championship race and position is more important than | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
time. The course is not the fastest in the world. It will be a tactical | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
race. I don't think the time it will be too important but, for me, | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
a top 10 finish is what I want. I'm going to be working towards that | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
and if I have to run a British record to get that, that will be | :05:44. | :05:50. | |
nice, as well. It's not just the weather which is glorious force at | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
The Mall is the most fantastic start to this men's marathon, so we | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
will go straight over to Brendan Foster and Steve Cram who will talk | :05:58. | :06:08. | |
final athletic event of these Olympic Games. It's been a | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
fantastic couple of weeks and I hope we are going to finish off | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
with a cracking marathon here. The Annika Schleu is looking absolutely | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
glorious in the sunshine this morning. -- The Mall is looking | :06:23. | :06:31. | |
absolutely glorious in the sunshine this morning. We might just get a | :06:31. | :06:41. | |
:06:41. | :06:41. | ||
little splash of rain up later on. This man here Wilson Kipsang | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
Kiprotich one at the London Marathon this year and will be | :06:43. | :06:53. | |
:06:53. | :06:56. | ||
hoping to repeat that. From Ethiopia, Ayele Abshero, one of the | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
strongest competitors. They are not necessarily picking up the | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
favourite but athletes we think will go well. Once were of interest | :07:05. | :07:15. | |
:07:15. | :07:16. | ||
to the crowd, as well. And that will include Scott Overall. Great | :07:17. | :07:25. | |
support. But we are expecting it on the streets and the world champion, | :07:25. | :07:32. | |
he Abel Kirui. The Americans will have very high hopes as well. Brian | :07:32. | :07:38. | |
Hall. Olympic marathon times, and not necessarily going completely | :07:38. | :07:46. | |
out of the window, but it will be as much as many other events in | :07:46. | :07:54. | |
athletics. The Brazilian will be hoping to go well. If you were with | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
us last week, when the whole thing got under way, the women's marathon | :07:59. | :08:08. | |
in very different conditions, we were trying to keep ourselves dry. | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
Very wet conditions. We're expecting something rather | :08:12. | :08:22. | |
:08:22. | :08:32. | ||
marathon. 105 entrants from the 68 countries. A pretty large field for | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
the Olympic marathon which, I'm delighted to see, and you can see, | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
just looking back down The Mall, this is where the London Marathon | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
normally finishes but is also a start point today. Four laps, one | :08:47. | :08:52. | |
short lap, and then three laps of around about eight miles each, for | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
the three big laps. We'll get to see them on four occasions. Coming | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
past us here in The Mall, and the first time around of calls will be | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
for the finish. We had got a grade C two. We have got a teacher to | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
honour. Sun screen at the ready. We are looking forward to a great | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
marathon. We are looking forward to a great marathon. Such an exciting | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
evening last night in the Olympic Stadium. We were talking last night | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
saying what a privilege it was after all those years to watch Mo | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
Farah, double Olympic champion. I talked to him this morning in the | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
studio, and he's agreed to give me his autograph because he's my new | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
hero. I mean that. This is going to be an interesting race because last | :09:43. | :09:49. | |
week we had a beautiful conditions, it was wet, as the runners | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
approached Admiralty Arch. Beautiful conditions for marathon | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
running last week. Today, it's beautiful conditions to be on the | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
streets of London and you can see the crowds are on the streets of | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
London. But not a beautiful conditions to be running on the | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
streets of London. A combination of the most wonderful two weeks of | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
sprawl to this country has ever had. I was think might at last night, | :10:13. | :10:21. | |
80,000 people in the stadium all smiling, because, unlike a big | :10:21. | :10:28. | |
football match, nobody lost or that they were all one when Mo Farah won, | :10:28. | :10:34. | |
and Usain Bolt broke the world record. Great were the food, | :10:34. | :10:40. | |
Jessica, 160,000 people could say they were there. -- Greg Rutherford. | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
London has responded to this marathon like you have never seen | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
anything like it before. If you have been to the Olympic Games, any | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
of the other events, you might as well come out on a nice morning and | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
work around the streets of London like we had to do to get here, | :10:55. | :11:03. | |
Steve. You were not happy with the booking, were you? It wasn't a | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
little walk, it was about half-a- mile. Sunday morning, it's far too | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
long run it. The crowds, when we did occur in a couple of hours ago, | :11:13. | :11:23. | |
:11:23. | :11:31. | ||
it was fairly quiet, but look at there. Many more people out | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
compared to the women's marathon although, admittedly, it was | :11:34. | :11:42. | |
raining on that day. It's great to see, just over two weeks, it has | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
really captured the imagination of the British public. The venues have | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
been well supported and this was always billed, the marathon, | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
triathlon, road cycling, billed as the free events, and people came | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
out in their hundreds of thousands to support these athletes and that | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
gives them something they don't normally get at the Olympic Games, | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
because, in the past, when we talk about this in the next couple of | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
hours, probably, the Olympic marathon has not always had the | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
best people there. It hasn't always been an event that has been | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
targeted but, in recent years, that trend has been turned around again. | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
I think the Olympic marathon, because it in August in London, | :12:22. | :12:28. | |
quite a warm day, to be fair, but the Olympic marathon is attracting | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
the best. Of course, as was said in the introduction, Kenya could only | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
have three. Ethiopia could only have three and they have put their | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
best to deliver their gold medals. That's exactly why we haven't got | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
the best runners in the world. The world record holder is not here | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
because he was not selected by the Kenyan team. The controversial | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
selection. You know when you have got 48 of the top 50 marathon | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
runners in the world, it's not surprising you can't have everybody. | :12:59. | :13:07. | |
Here we are. Coming under Westminster Bridge. A sight so | :13:07. | :13:17. | |
:13:17. | :13:22. | ||
touching its majesty, said William because there is not room. Look at | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
that! They are all taking photographs. They all want to be | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
there. This is the traditional end of the Olympic Games, the men's | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
marathon. Historically this has been the way the Games have | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
finished. Often the event finishes in the stadium. Today it will | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
finish in The Mall. The whole of the British public who wanted to | :13:43. | :13:52. | |
come and see it has been able to. The fans will come to see it and | :13:52. | :13:58. | |
appreciate it and see some of the best runners in the world. Abel | :13:58. | :14:08. | |
:14:08. | :14:11. | ||
Kirui highs the World Champion. -- Abel Kirui as the World Champion. | :14:11. | :14:17. | |
In 1948 when London last held the Olympic Games, marathon started at | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
Wembley Stadium and finish them as well, which used to be the | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
tradition. They went out through Borehamwood and then returned to | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
Wembley. Even in those days, the streets were not lined with as many | :14:31. | :14:37. | |
people as this. They were well supported all around the course. | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
Certainly there were huge crowds around Wembley Stadium and in the | :14:40. | :14:46. | |
stadium, of course. But this is just magnificent. This marathon | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
course contained very much within the city. The Birdcage Walk, which | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
they will head down, familiar part of the London Marathon, of course. | :14:57. | :15:03. | |
Heading back towards Buckingham Palace. We expected big crowds for | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
the Olympic marathon but nothing like this. The great thing is that | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
it is four laps. The runners will appreciate the support. Hopefully | :15:11. | :15:18. | |
they will not get too carried away because they run for 26 miles, and | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
with the roaring of the crowd behind you that is an unusual | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
experience. To be fair, the athletes may respond to it. They | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
don't want to respond too early. The only thing I am concerned about | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
now, it is quite warm. They are going to be running in the midday | :15:35. | :15:42. | |
sun. It will be tough here. It was easier last week for the women's | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
marathon. As a result, I think we are going to see lots of changes in | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
positions. Some people are going to be going well at a certain point | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
and will not keep it going. Abdul Rahman of the United States is | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
trying to encourage the pace along. We watched the track events, men's | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
and women's, and none of them have been excessively quick. They have | :16:04. | :16:10. | |
all been steady in the early stages, gauging their pace. In a marathon, | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
you would expect it to be similar, but you just sense it from here, | :16:14. | :16:20. | |
and we will get some split times... They are role going for bottles of | :16:20. | :16:29. | |
water now, which is absolutely right. -- they are all. There was | :16:29. | :16:35. | |
nervousness when they took their labelled drinks. The Moroccan is | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
just going for bottle of water and I am not surprised. We would expect | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
that to be the case. They do look to me that they are going at an OK | :16:43. | :16:53. | |
:16:53. | :16:55. | ||
place. I am staggered. -- at an OK pace. There are so many people | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
watching. And flags from all over the world being waved. I guess if | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
people have come to the Games and they have been to the athletics, | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
the cycling, the hockey, the equestrian, whatever, and they are | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
still here in this city and they have taken the chance to come and | :17:13. | :17:19. | |
enjoy the very last event, which you do not need a ticket for... And | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
look at it. Fantastic. They are coming into The Mall, the Queen | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
Victoria Memorial, which overlooks it in front of Buckingham Palace. | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
This is absolutely wonderful. You do not get better than this. To win | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
this marathon in this setting, they have already got the traditional, | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
the famous, the wonderful mass participation marathon, the London | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
Marathon, but this is the icing on the cake. Just in front of | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
Buckingham Palace. The red carpet of The Mall leading up to | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
Buckingham Palace. The London Marathon team organised that event | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
so wonderfully in April. They are the main organisers of this, the | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
elite marathon. Easier to organise in some ways, but more difficult in | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
other ways to organise. They responded last weekend to the | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
women's marathon in those dreadful conditions. And they are responding | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
again. They are so much part of British sport. All of these | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
athletes know about the London Marathon. What will happen is we | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
will see the athletes, the medalists, and to be honest, you | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
will be able to remember them next spring because the best ones will | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
be back to run the London Marathon because that is the attraction of | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
this event. The Olympic marathon winner will certainly toe the line | :18:38. | :18:44. | |
in nine months' time when we'd all come back. That is Lee Merrien of | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
Great Britain, the Guernsey athlete. He has got a big fan club down the | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
road with a Guernsey flag and he will appreciate that support. He | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
has been in the London Marathon for the last couple of years. We were | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
delighted that he was selected because he deserved to be. They had | :18:59. | :19:05. | |
to go through a process of appeal. Scott Overall, the first British | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
athlete going through. Further down the road, I just noticed Lee | :19:10. | :19:18. | |
Merrien, too. Here they come, right in front of us. The crowds who | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
bought the tickets for the grandstands have got a fantastic | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
view. Scott Overall just at the back of that large group. Lee | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
Merrien is in the second group. Going in front of us now. Lots of | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
support out there. As Brendan was saying, Guernsey are so pleased | :19:36. | :19:42. | |
that he got selected. It was good that you did. Dave Webb got injured, | :19:42. | :19:50. | |
unfortunately. He was selected as well. Then we would have had three | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
in this. The training camp that the rest of the team were at, it was | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
hotter than this. They got some acclimatisation which they might | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
not have been expecting. We were chatting about how hot the serious | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
workouts were, and he said at least it will not be this hot in London | :20:08. | :20:16. | |
but it really is. In the North East, the 10 K, his form was much better | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
than last year. He has trained hard and worked well for this. He has | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
relaxed into it. He is feeling as though he has got a chance to run | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
well today. He is running very sensibly at the back of that | :20:29. | :20:39. | |
:20:39. | :20:56. | ||
massive group of athletes. Abel having completed that first short | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
lap. You will see a role to art every time. They turn down | :21:00. | :21:10. | |
:21:10. | :21:16. | ||
Arch. This design of the course is to show off as many sides of London | :21:16. | :21:24. | |
as well. When they go along the Embankment, they will turn away and | :21:24. | :21:31. | |
pick up St Paul's Cathedral and wind their way through the old city. | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
Around the Bank of England, the market, the Tower of London, where | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
they will turn around and head back along the Embankment and back to | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
Westminster. That pretty much completes the lap. Each lap is | :21:43. | :21:51. | |
about eight miles, the big ones. Twisting and turning, that might | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
have an effect. Brendan and I are sitting at the finish. There are | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
lots of great champions of the past working for various broadcasters | :22:01. | :22:08. | |
and we were chatting to the great Australian Rugby Costello. He was | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
saying that he thought the rhythm would be broken up by the twisting | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
and turning nature of the course. That is bound to be a little bit of | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
a factor. Coming back to the selection, the Kenyans have | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
certainly gone for what they think is a championship team. They will | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
be able to deliver championship style run. Wilson Kipsang has won | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
in London. And talking about the Australians, that is Michael | :22:37. | :22:45. | |
Shelley. The Ethiopians, there was a lot of thought they would go for | :22:45. | :22:55. | |
:22:55. | :22:56. | ||
a runner who knew London Zoo well. -- so well. But there have not done | :22:56. | :23:04. | |
that. -- but they have not done that. I think essentially the | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
Ethiopians picked their three fastest guys. Hayley Dobriskey | :23:07. | :23:14. | |
Lassie was telling me that he did not think they have the best | :23:14. | :23:21. | |
Ethiopian in this field. -- Haile Gebrselassie. The good news is that | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
he is with us. He has joined Tanni Grey-Thompson at the top of a mile. | :23:26. | :23:33. | |
He will be delighted to be watching. Let's hear from him. I will put | :23:33. | :23:39. | |
that question directly to him now. Thank you for joining us. You | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
thought that Ethiopia had not selected their best athletes. The | :23:42. | :23:51. | |
Dubai marathon was not the best selection process. Well, they are | :23:51. | :24:01. | |
:24:01. | :24:02. | ||
not just the fastest always. It is very difficult to say right now. | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
This is the race and everybody is just fighting to win the race. We | :24:07. | :24:17. | |
:24:17. | :24:21. | ||
will see the result. These three athletes, you know, they are OK. | :24:21. | :24:29. | |
They are good enough. The -- we will see. The Kenyans and | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
Ethiopians need each other to run well. A well, it is not helping | :24:33. | :24:40. | |
each other. But it is with the competition. It is a piece fight. | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
The Ethiopians want to be strong, stronger than the Kenyans. This is | :24:44. | :24:54. | |
:24:54. | :24:55. | ||
a competition. If the Kenyans just win always, that is not good. That | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
is why we need each other. This rivalry, it keeps going forever. | :25:00. | :25:06. | |
But now there is another rival, from Britain. That is Mo Farah. Now | :25:06. | :25:12. | |
we have to work hard. He has done OK in a 10,000 and the 5000. What | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
do think about him doing a marathon? That would give me a | :25:17. | :25:26. | |
fright! I would advise him not to go early. He needs to keep on the | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
track in the next few years and then the marathon will stay with | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
him forever. So he has plenty of time? Absolutely. The course is | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
very different with the short loop and then the four big ones. Will | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
the athletes use that to test each other out? Yes. Especially for the | :25:43. | :25:51. | |
Ethiopians, it is OK. We like this kind of course. We like that. Where | :25:51. | :26:00. | |
we trade in Ethiopia, it is not very flat. -- where we train. We | :26:00. | :26:07. | |
are used to training like this. That is why the Ethiopians often | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
win the marathon. And the weather, for most it is probably too warm, | :26:12. | :26:22. | |
:26:22. | :26:26. | ||
isn't it? Yes, it is. Five degrees higher. On most courses there is a | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
shade from the trees and the buildings, which is an advantage | :26:30. | :26:35. | |
otherwise it is too warm. If you had to bet today, who would you put | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
your money on? It is difficult to say. Between Kenya and Ethiopia! | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
Thank you so much. Now back to the commentators, Brendan Foster and | :26:45. | :26:51. | |
Steve Cram. That is why he has got a great | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
career in diplomacy ahead of him! He will be a politician. He is | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
brilliant. He commentates around the world in English on these | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
events but you can tell why he wanted to be really. He said they | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
did not have the best runners from Ethiopia in at the race. The | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
Olympic bronze medallist last time is missing. Highly Gebrselassie | :27:09. | :27:15. | |
told me he was the best marathon runner and that would be the one he | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
would like to see. But there could not be any more because you cannot | :27:20. | :27:30. | |
:27:30. | :27:34. | ||
very best here. And the support which has been shown to the | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
athletes, in the stadium in particular, all of the venues, has | :27:37. | :27:43. | |
been replicated out here on the streets. It is set out at a fairly | :27:43. | :27:49. | |
steady pace. The first five Kay, they were running at around 210. | :27:49. | :27:57. | |
Steady enough. We were talking about to the bronze medal position. | :27:57. | :28:06. | |
We had a fantastic race in Beijing. Sadly Sammy, he died in an accident | :28:06. | :28:12. | |
of. He was a great runner. He was a great front-runner. With that race | :28:12. | :28:16. | |
in Beijing, it was one which epitomise the type of marathon | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
runner he was, I think. With Haile Gebrselassie not being here, it | :28:21. | :28:26. | |
probably lacking a great marathon hero, if you like, so one of these | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
guys could push themselves forward for that. The guy who wins the | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
Olympic marathon in London will be an automatic hero. Back to Beijing, | :28:35. | :28:44. | |
2008, Sammy ran a marvellous race, in record time for that and he died | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
recently after falling off the balcony at his home. Following a | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
domestic dispute. They are still not sure if it was suicide or | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
homicide or even accidental. There is still a question hanging over | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
that sad situation. A great runner who will always be remembered for | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
the he would certainly have been in this event today and have been at | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
the man to beat. Here comes the Brazilian athlete, very | :29:11. | :29:18. | |
surprisingly taking the pace out, making a statement here, Franck de | :29:18. | :29:25. | |
Almeida, but there are strength in numbers, following him. Talking | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
about strength in numbers, wonderful crowds around St Paul's | :29:28. | :29:34. | |
Cathedral, and, really, remember, the story about the bishop a | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
Pennsylvania making a speech in a 90 no aid during the Olympic Games | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
in St Paul's Cathedral, and out of his speech came the Olympic motto, | :29:43. | :29:49. | |
the importance is not winning but taking part, twitched everybody has | :29:49. | :29:55. | |
adopted. It that has been the Olympic motto. In this event today, | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
it epitomises that. These are the best athletes in their own country. | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
They are not going to go anywhere near winning this race but the | :30:03. | :30:08. | |
number of countries represented around the world, being cheered on | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
by this wonderful crowd. The British public have certainly been | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
the winners at the Olympic Games. They have been absolutely fantastic. | :30:16. | :30:21. | |
They have support of the Olympic Games, by National Lottery tickets, | :30:21. | :30:25. | |
and the money which comes from that, to the good causes, some of it goes | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
into sport. It goes into UK Sport, and will you be able to fund and | :30:31. | :30:38. | |
manage the development of the government bodies, and the team's | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
performances have improved and improved and improved. The | :30:42. | :30:44. | |
improvement is happening at a time when the are staging the Olympic | :30:44. | :30:49. | |
Games which, again, was paid for largely out of the funding from the | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
National Lottery. If you are sitting at home and a but luckily | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
tickets over the years, you are part of this. You have all | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
supported the bid, the events, Britain staging it, watching it on | :31:02. | :31:09. | |
TV, and you had taken British sport to a completely new level, and the | :31:09. | :31:16. | |
winner is the British public. said. I think people sometimes | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
forget that the success we have seen, which we have all enjoyed, | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
would not have happened without that Investment Board that it's not | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
giving athletes money. That's not what it's about. It's about | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
providing infrastructure to allow them to train as hard as they can, | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
to have one of the best support systems, the best coaching, | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
medicine, and giving them the chance to show how good they can be. | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
Britain is leading the world in that respect also opt Mo Farah was | :31:48. | :31:54. | |
talking about the recovery process. He said a recovered from the | :31:54. | :32:04. | |
:32:04. | :32:09. | ||
race, but she did not recover. But he didn't bother if these Games | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
have been held 20 years ago, they would have been marvellous in every | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
sense, the Olympic Stadium, the crowds and so forth, but the | :32:16. | :32:23. | |
performances would not have been able to go alongside the staging. | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
So the coincidence of that staging ability of Great Britain has and | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
Sebastian Coe and his team have been wonderful, and the sporting | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
prowess and performance we had been able to demonstrate, means we had | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
the happiest of all coincidences and, as a result, sport is changing | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
the face of the nation. It's an amazing effect, this is having. The | :32:46. | :32:51. | |
next few months, we will see something changing in society | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
because have you ever seen so many happy faces around place? And | :32:55. | :33:01. | |
millions watching on TV. The oddly enough, I guess this is the one | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
event people have engaged in away from the elite events, the half | :33:05. | :33:11. | |
marathons, but the access to have to those events. It's very | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
straightforward ball that it's always great to see so many | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people taking part in | :33:17. | :33:24. | |
these events but, today, it's the turn of the leads. Scott Overall is | :33:25. | :33:31. | |
having a chat, checking his pace. When the group were together, they | :33:31. | :33:34. | |
were running at a pace he would have enjoyed but since then, there | :33:34. | :33:38. | |
has been an injection of pace at the front and it has broken up the | :33:38. | :33:43. | |
pack. It was probably about 50 athletes at the very beginning and | :33:43. | :33:48. | |
now, they are starting to spread out now and settle into a different | :33:48. | :33:53. | |
rhythm, defending on do race strategy. Whether you feel you want | :33:53. | :33:59. | |
to go with a pace which is beyond that which you normally run at or | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
you settle down and don't go too hard in the early stages. A very, | :34:06. | :34:12. | |
very experienced man will be hoping to replicate his great runs of the | :34:12. | :34:21. | |
past, Mebrahtom Keflezighi. I think the Americans are very high hopes. | :34:21. | :34:31. | |
And why not? Today at had their own at resurgence, as well. Marathon | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
running is so important in the USA. It's important for them to do well | :34:35. | :34:41. | |
in these events. I'm sure they will figure for that looking further | :34:41. | :34:46. | |
back down the field. We saw Scott Overall going through. Going past | :34:46. | :34:53. | |
the Museum of London heading down orders gate now, and I'm looking | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
for Lee Merrien. There he is on the left of the group, wearing | :34:57. | :35:04. | |
sunglasses. The man from Guernsey going through the picture. There's | :35:04. | :35:11. | |
one or two others in this field, who are fairly familiar. They are | :35:11. | :35:17. | |
running for local clubs. In Britain. You might think, how is that | :35:17. | :35:27. | |
:35:27. | :35:30. | ||
happening? 30 years of age now, the Mongolian, he runs for a local club, | :35:30. | :35:39. | |
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir, because he says it's easier running for local club. | :35:39. | :35:49. | |
Also running for Sri Lanka or, Anuradha Cooray, he runs for a | :35:49. | :35:55. | |
local club. He was told that the marriage yet under two hours and 18 | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
minutes in the London Marathon, they would pick him and he did it | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
by one minute. So, representing his country here. If you were not | :36:02. | :36:07. | |
watching the women's marathon, this could be sick of it in later on. I | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
remarked at the time it that it's a long feed station. 60 countries | :36:12. | :36:18. | |
taking place and you got to find your own flag, your own personal | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
drink. This is exactly where they are. They are part of the Bank of | :36:23. | :36:29. | |
England and the streets are quite narrow here. On occasion, the | :36:29. | :36:34. | |
feeder stations provided quite a bit of drama. If people on the | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
wrong side, they had got to cut across athletes and they start | :36:38. | :36:44. | |
throwing bottles, as well. Always a chance of one or two incidents. | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
Hopefully nothing like that will happen today. They need to be a | :36:47. | :36:54. | |
little bit careful. Scott Overall, there, just aiming for his own a | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
drink. The camera pulled away. I hope he got it. He did get it. | :36:59. | :37:07. | |
That's good news. Leaden will market. Isn't that great? -- Leader | :37:07. | :37:17. | |
:37:17. | :37:22. | ||
section, because it slightly downhill, it was quite slippery. It | :37:22. | :37:29. | |
was a popular place to stand. These crowds of phenomenal for that look | :37:29. | :37:37. | |
at that. And there are 15 or 20 Deco and can't even see. Maybe | :37:37. | :37:39. | |
they're out there Sunday-morning lunch and somebody said, what's | :37:39. | :37:46. | |
going on? Let's have a look. -- 50 not 20 deep. Remember last week | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
when it absolutely soaked. We were soaking wet. Commentating with wet | :37:52. | :38:02. | |
:38:02. | :38:18. | ||
feet is not to be recommended! But world, it is the old London people | :38:18. | :38:24. | |
love, isn't it? We had some fantastic new buildings. The London | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
Eye. We saw a glimpse of that earlier pulled up Buckingham Palace, | :38:27. | :38:33. | |
St Paul's. And the old part of the city. For people who have never | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
been to London, these pictures will go around the world. It shows the | :38:38. | :38:45. | |
City often a wonderful way. -- it shows the City off in a wonderful | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
way. At the idea of giving so many people the chance to see the | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
runners, come by, three or four times, it makes you feel really | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
part of the event. With the closing ceremony to look forward to this | :39:01. | :39:10. | |
evening, it's still running about two hours and 10. The only thing | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
you can guarantee here, there will be some drama in the later stages. | :39:15. | :39:21. | |
We are looking at the Brazilian, an eight-second lead, again some of | :39:21. | :39:30. | |
the East African talent, Franck de Almeida, and unless I'm mistaken, | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
it's an awful long way to try to lead a marathon. And then the race | :39:34. | :39:38. | |
will start to happen, it will change, and the racing will start | :39:38. | :39:47. | |
to happen. These weather conditions, because it's 11:30am, coming up to | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
the height of the midday sun, it is warm. I would like to see what the | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
official temperatures are, because sitting here, it feels very warm | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
indeed. The fact we haven't had much warm weather means the | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
athletes have been here preparing in the UK, and had not for the | :40:05. | :40:13. | |
chance to acclimatise, really. until I'd say around 19 degrees. | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
I'm a reading that of the computer for that the humidity is around 77%. | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
I'm not sure it is assume it is that. It does not feel like that. | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
I'm not sure I'm going to go with what the computer is telling me | :40:26. | :40:34. | |
there. We are sitting in a suntrap here. The temperature will rise. It | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
was supposed to go up to 27 degrees. A beautiful day for watching and | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
visiting the Tower of London. A little cooler in the stadium last | :40:42. | :40:48. | |
night, when Mo was running the 5,000 metres, but the warm weather | :40:48. | :40:58. | |
:40:58. | :40:59. | ||
has returned today. This is one of the Ethiopian. He's not one of | :40:59. | :41:05. | |
their most experienced. Dino Sefir. Perhaps this selection policy was a | :41:05. | :41:12. | |
misguided one. Haile Gebrselassie went to see the selectors. And he | :41:12. | :41:18. | |
pleaded on behalf of Dino Sefir, because he's been an athlete who | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
has run a three marathons, but the times from the Dubai marathon were | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
called into question. Ryan ball from the USA for for a big | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
following he has. A lot of people expecting him to run well. At the | :41:35. | :41:45. | |
:41:45. | :41:45. | ||
moment, he's letting the leaders do their own thing. Here is Wilson | :41:45. | :41:51. | |
Kipsang Kiprotich, the fastest runner in this field. Ayele Abshero. | :41:51. | :42:01. | |
He's following him. You sense, you know, the heat is having an effect | :42:01. | :42:07. | |
on some of his athletes. They are fading away already. I think some | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
of them and make no tries, they are not going to go up at a pace in | :42:11. | :42:19. | |
this heat and then they will hope the others will survive. The you | :42:19. | :42:29. | |
have more of a cushion if you are running 2.5, rather than 2.10. The | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, he's wearing his Sunday best name it | :42:32. | :42:42. | |
:42:42. | :42:57. | ||
names on the forms, so sometimes they are credited with different | :42:57. | :43:07. | |
:43:07. | :43:08. | ||
names. Normally when we see Wilson Kipsang, that is his name. We all | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
thought that they would hang around before this would happen. We see | :43:12. | :43:17. | |
two of the favourites at the front. Wilson Kipsang is already making an | :43:17. | :43:27. | |
effort here, pulling Ayele Abshero away with him. The reference point | :43:27. | :43:37. | |
:43:37. | :43:38. | ||
is the Tower of London. Coming back towards Blackfriars. They will drop | :43:38. | :43:43. | |
back down on to... Well, there are hardly any hills. There is one | :43:43. | :43:51. | |
little section on the Embankment and near St Paul's. On the Flat, | :43:51. | :43:54. | |
there is the familiar curve of the river that takes them towards | :43:54. | :44:04. | |
:44:04. | :44:05. | ||
Westminster. Emmanuel Mutai is there, Wilson Kipsang, go to for | :44:05. | :44:15. | |
Lecky, all tried to go with this injection of pace. Abel Kirui is | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
slightly adrift. The Kenyans need each other for competition. That is | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
what keeps us going and that is what makes us go. At the end of the | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
day, I did not think it would be happening this early. 11 kilometres | :44:29. | :44:35. | |
into the race. It is starting earlier than people expected. When | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
you think about the contrast between this London Marathon and | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
the regular London Marathon, for the first half of the London | :44:42. | :44:52. | |
:44:52. | :44:53. | ||
Marathon itself, the pacemakers deliver a pace. They trained | :44:53. | :45:02. | |
specifically for this race. You watch Victor now. He has trained | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
specifically and I can tell you that he will finish higher than | :45:05. | :45:13. | |
this. He will be working his way through unpicking of the positions. | :45:13. | :45:21. | |
-- and picking off the positions. Distance running in Japan is about | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
marathon running. They were disappointing in the women's race. | :45:25. | :45:30. | |
They are not featuring too much so far in the men's race. Just to | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
bring you up to date with the British athletes, with Wilson | :45:35. | :45:42. | |
Kipsang building a lead of 10m. Scott Overall was not too far | :45:42. | :45:52. | |
:45:52. | :45:53. | ||
behind. 43rd place. Lee Merrien is a little further back. He was in | :45:53. | :46:03. | |
:46:03. | :46:04. | ||
50th place, 47 seconds behind the leaders. -- 58 place. Wilson | :46:04. | :46:13. | |
Kipsang has made his decision to go for it. He has a different name on | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
his chest. He is better known as Wilson Kipsang. The fastest in his | :46:17. | :46:23. | |
field. He is the favourite. He has got all the credentials and he has | :46:23. | :46:32. | |
made his move. That is it. It is up to him now. Up to him to see if he | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
can maintain it. It is up to the rest of them to see if they can do | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
something about his lead and catch it. He has only run five marathons. | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
In his first one, he was third in Paris in 2010. He has won the other | :46:46. | :46:54. | |
four. So he knows how to win. He knows how to run quick. He knows | :46:54. | :47:00. | |
how to gauge his pace. He looks completely relaxed. At the moment | :47:00. | :47:05. | |
Kenya have won two Olympic gold medals. The steeplechase, | :47:05. | :47:11. | |
inevitably. Ezekiel Kemboi, and the men's 800, with that world record | :47:11. | :47:18. | |
by David. The marathon, they are top of the pile in the marathon and | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
they expect to win it. To be honest, they need to win it to be | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
respectable in the medals table. They were expecting to win six | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
Olympic gold medals and they are not going to. There will be an | :47:30. | :47:33. | |
inquiry because they have not done so well because they have dominated | :47:33. | :47:38. | |
distance running all the year round. They are not able to convert it | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
during the major championships. They have lots of favourites going | :47:40. | :47:48. | |
into the races that were not able to win them. The Japanese athletes | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
are looking at a gap of 15 seconds. The fastest man in the world, four | :47:53. | :48:01. | |
seconds outside the world record, on his best performance. He has | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
laid down his intent. The marathon will be a challenge for him but it | :48:06. | :48:16. | |
:48:16. | :48:23. | ||
will be a bigger challenge for the All of the French team were not | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
born in France but they all showed service in the French Foreign | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
Legion and they have all ended up competing for France. There is a | :48:30. | :48:35. | |
certain romanticism. I like that, it is good. The lesson is, Doge | :48:35. | :48:37. | |
joint the French Foreign Legion because you might end up running | :48:37. | :48:47. | |
:48:47. | :48:55. | ||
the marathon! -- don't joined the leading it as Wilson Kipsang, even | :48:55. | :49:00. | |
though he has a different name on his chest. He has broken away and | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
it has taken the others by surprise. You have to work out your strategy. | :49:05. | :49:12. | |
What is your response going to be? Abel Kirui, particularly him. We | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
were hoping that Wilson Kipsang would run well, but we were | :49:16. | :49:25. | |
expecting him to as well, with all of his experience at World | :49:25. | :49:31. | |
Championship experience, to be the right sort of selection as well. | :49:31. | :49:34. | |
This is a small group and these guys are moving at a really good | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
place now. They are trying to do something about not letting him get | :49:37. | :49:44. | |
too far away. He is a very good athlete. Like Haile Gebrselassie, | :49:44. | :49:51. | |
who has run three times under two hours and five minutes. His bench | :49:51. | :49:58. | |
market so much higher than everybody else's. -- benchmark is | :49:58. | :50:05. | |
so much higher. This is a flight station now. When we were arriving, | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
Brendan, the buses were there with all the various drinks teams and | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
team members, taking the drinks for the athletes. They are five in a | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
different way so they can recognise their own bottles and not grab the | :50:18. | :50:20. | |
wrong one because they were all have their own mixtures and | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
concoctions that they are used to running with. They use them in | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
training as well. It is important that they are put there in the | :50:27. | :50:32. | |
right place. Then they do not worry about grabbing the wrong drink. We | :50:32. | :50:37. | |
do see them sharing them occasionally. Plenty of fluids on | :50:37. | :50:43. | |
board today. This is the chasing group and there are good athletes | :50:43. | :50:49. | |
in this group. Several of them have run two hours and four minutes. | :50:49. | :50:52. | |
There is a strong move in that chasing group, but he has declared | :50:52. | :51:01. | |
his intent. He ran last year in Frankfurt and he ran at four | :51:01. | :51:11. | |
:51:11. | :51:12. | ||
seconds outside the world record. The only man who has run faster | :51:12. | :51:17. | |
than home was in a world record race and the only other man is | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
Haile Gebrselassie. That tells you that this man is top class, an | :51:21. | :51:25. | |
outstanding distance runner, but very, very brave to lay it out like | :51:25. | :51:31. | |
this. His gap is 16 seconds. He is glancing over his shoulder. It is a | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
bit early to be worrying about what is going on behind. The thing about | :51:35. | :51:40. | |
the marathon that has been consistent in marathon history, | :51:40. | :51:46. | |
marathon=drama. You are looking at a chasing group of seven athletes. | :51:46. | :51:53. | |
The two Ethiopians and two Kenyans, top-notch distance runners. And | :51:53. | :52:00. | |
there will be changes in this group and changes from behind. And when | :52:00. | :52:08. | |
we looked down the road, is Wilson Kipsang going to be good enough? | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
Izzie great enough to run it from 10 kilometres all the way to the | :52:12. | :52:21. | |
finish? -- will he be great enough? Brave decision. The crowds at | :52:21. | :52:28. | |
Westminster Bridge, where they will go past Big Ben. That is always | :52:28. | :52:34. | |
great. It is a great side anyway but even for the marathon runners, | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
you can spot Big Ben in the distance. There is a real curved | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
around the river. It is a popular spot for some of us trying to get | :52:43. | :52:51. | |
fit in London. Sometimes Big Ben does not come as quickly as you | :52:51. | :52:57. | |
would like! Do you mean as quickly as it used to? I think that is what | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
I mean! Our sport has never seen anything like this before. We have | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
never seen as many people. I don't think the London Marathon has ever | :53:05. | :53:11. | |
had as many spectators as this. Truthfully, you cannot believe | :53:11. | :53:16. | |
these numbers. It would be wonderful if somebody could go | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
round and count them and tell us how many there are. It is | :53:19. | :53:25. | |
staggering. 10 and 15 deep. They have not got a great view but they | :53:25. | :53:33. | |
do see the athletes every four laps. Both sides of the roads, the | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
windows, the walls, every vantage point is full. A celebration of the | :53:38. | :53:44. | |
Olympic Games. Seb Coe wanted to get out quickly to watch the | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
marathon. When he what is this, we are so proud of what he has done. - | :53:49. | :53:55. | |
- when he watches this. We are so proud of what LOCOG have done, and | :53:55. | :53:58. | |
we are so proud that our sport has risen to the top of the pile, | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
because you have never seen support like this before. Going back all | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
those years, running against Seb Coe, I shared a room with him in | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
1980 in Moscow when he went from losing the 800m to win in the | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
1,500m, and he has steered us into this position and he has steered | :54:15. | :54:20. | |
the nation into supporting this thing. It is absolutely | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
unbelievable what we are seeing here today. We are seeing a man who | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
may be worthy to carry off the position of running a marathon in | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
front of more spectators than have ever witnessed a marathon before. I | :54:34. | :54:41. | |
cannot claim that statistic with any fact. But I would like it to be | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
challenged because I don't know where we have ever seen it before. | :54:45. | :54:49. | |
There is a formula. The length of the course, you estimate how many | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
people there are. Get your pan out, do the sums, inventor number and we | :54:55. | :55:05. | |
:55:05. | :55:08. | ||
will stick with it! -- get your pen. If you think this will be a one | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
athlete race with Wilson Kipsang getting ahead, then stay tuned. He | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
is a very good athlete but it is a brave decision of his at this stage | :55:17. | :55:27. | |
:55:27. | :55:40. | ||
second 10, then he ran much quicker. He ran well under 15 minutes for | :55:41. | :55:45. | |
that section, Sony is picking up 45 seconds on the previous five | :55:45. | :55:55. | |
kilometres action. -- so he is picking up. Dos Santos, with a | :55:55. | :56:03. | |
couple of the Brazilians will appear. He went off pretty quickly. | :56:03. | :56:11. | |
The Queen Victoria Memorial looking resplendent in the sunshine. Steve, | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
what happens to British sport after this? It can't get any better, can | :56:15. | :56:21. | |
it? What is the next stage of this? You cannot just have the Olympic | :56:21. | :56:28. | |
Games and celebrated and everybody cheering and then just stop. | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
next thing is the Paralympics, which I am sure will be supported | :56:31. | :56:35. | |
very well, and Great Britain will do very well and get lots of medals. | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
I hope that the crowds come out and support our Paralympians in the | :56:39. | :56:44. | |
same way and I am support that they will. It is a difficult question, | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
because I think we are going to continue producing great athletes, | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
and I mean that in a generic cent across all of the sports. We are in | :56:51. | :56:57. | |
the position that none of us thought we would be in the medal | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
table. We always knew that USA, China and Russia would be up there, | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
because they are big nations. But we are now the third best sporting | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
nation at the Olympic Games, which is phenomenal. If you think back to | :57:10. | :57:16. | |
1996, not that long ago, we were at 36, with one gold medal. It has | :57:16. | :57:19. | |
been a massive transformation. The important thing is that we do not | :57:19. | :57:27. | |
step back from that. It has been a particularly tough lesson for the | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
Russians. They were 4th in the world and they have fallen back | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
from that. Let's use this as a springboard to push on to the Rio | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
Games. We can look forward to hosting many more major events. | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
Great Britain has shown that the sporting public love our own | :57:41. | :57:45. | |
athlete and those from around the world as well. As they come in | :57:45. | :57:53. | |
front of us, the chasing pack, about 15 seconds still behind. The | :57:53. | :58:03. | |
:58:03. | :58:10. | ||
chasing pack just keeping an eye on glory in the London Rubber On. He | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
has a lot of hard running ahead of him, we are not even approaching | :58:14. | :58:22. | |
halfway yet. That lead is staying about the same. There are some good | :58:22. | :58:30. | |
athletes end that chasing group. Ayele Abshero. The fastest debut | :58:30. | :58:37. | |
marathon ever, when he ran two hours and four minutes. He is only | :58:37. | :58:47. | |
:58:47. | :58:50. | ||
21. Out of the athlete's highly deborah glass and St -- Haile | :58:51. | :59:00. | |
:59:01. | :59:08. | ||
Scott Overall working nicely through the field, heat is on for a | :59:08. | :59:12. | |
good run today, let us hope he can sustain it. He seems to be getting | :59:12. | :59:22. | |
:59:22. | :59:39. | ||
stronger. Looking down the road, Scott Overall. Lee Merrien has gone | :59:39. | :59:48. | |
through. Kenneally is running just ahead of him. | :59:48. | :59:54. | |
And, here comes Lee Merrien, the flags of the Guernsey supporters | :59:54. | :00:02. | |
are waving at him. He is getting a great reaction here. Just across | :00:02. | :00:08. | |
from us, I can see Ed Warner, the chairman of British athletics. He | :00:08. | :00:18. | |
:00:18. | :00:33. | ||
was so excited last night. So American who might have had a | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
little chance here. He is a big favourite in America but he has | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
stepped off. He looked in a bed of pain, rather than struggling in | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
terms of fitness. The American journalists are disappearing to | :00:48. | :00:55. | |
find out what has happened to him. The coming back, there he is. He | :00:55. | :01:01. | |
decides, enough is enough. He was holding the back of his leg. Maybe | :01:02. | :01:11. | |
:01:12. | :01:13. | ||
a hamstring. Around his hip area. Hall it is out of the London | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
Olympics Marathon, which is sad to see. | :01:18. | :01:25. | |
The third 5K was 14.11, which has caused this break-up. It is a | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
:01:35. | :01:35. | ||
higher risk strategy that Wilson Kipsang is operating, he didn't | :01:35. | :01:42. | |
build it gradually, he went about hard, quickly. A lead of 21 seconds. | :01:42. | :01:51. | |
It looks as if that group is set to ring. Here is Emmanuel Mutai -- | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
Emmanuel Mutai. He is struggling to stay with the chasing group which | :01:57. | :02:07. | |
:02:07. | :02:08. | ||
is breaking as well. Just trying to spot, Abel Kirui it is in there. | :02:08. | :02:18. | |
:02:18. | :02:19. | ||
Asmerom is in there. Abdirahman and, two of the Americans have gone. It | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
is not good for the Americans. They have a trial system, the first | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
three past the post, they have to run a very hard are met -- Marathon | :02:30. | :02:40. | |
:02:40. | :02:41. | ||
to getting the team. -- get in the team. | :02:41. | :02:50. | |
There is the group. You get a sense of the pace that he | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
is running at, the camera following him, the crowd behind him. That was | :02:56. | :03:06. | |
:03:06. | :03:11. | ||
a very aggressive 5K split. One minute faster. This is a very good | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
group of athletes. Emmanuel Mutai looks as if he has dropped away | :03:16. | :03:26. | |
:03:26. | :03:43. | ||
from the group. The world champion, getting great support around the | :03:43. | :03:52. | |
route. It is not a day for being it up there on your own, the | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
loneliness of the long-distance runner and that sort of thing. | :03:55. | :04:04. | |
is great to see, that's signed about drinks. In the women's | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
marathon, they were having difficulty with this. They know | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
they have to get themselves in position. To Weymouth for their own | :04:12. | :04:22. | |
:04:22. | :04:27. | ||
drinks. On this kind of day, it is crucial. -- To aim for their drinks. | :04:27. | :04:36. | |
The temperature is rising. Asmerom of Eritrea, they haven't had a good | :04:36. | :04:43. | |
Games. The Kenyans haven't been the best they have ever been. Kiprotich | :04:43. | :04:51. | |
of Uganda. Alongside Abel Kirui. Ayele Abshero, the fastest | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
debutante in history. Dos Santos is a very good athlete, he won the New | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
York Marathon a couple of times. He is in the right place. That group | :05:00. | :05:10. | |
:05:10. | :05:11. | ||
is going to provide a challenge. Also in that group, Mokoka of South | :05:11. | :05:21. | |
:05:21. | :05:37. | ||
Africa. Semenya, he coaches her too. This is a good group. They can just | :05:37. | :05:43. | |
about keep him in sight, as they go through this section, where they do | :05:43. | :05:50. | |
Twist And Turn. He is a deceptive runner. He looks as if he is not | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
running quite as well for some reason. Our head on shocks macro | :05:55. | :06:05. | |
:06:05. | :06:09. | ||
never give you the best to -- head- on shots. | :06:09. | :06:19. | |
:06:19. | :06:21. | ||
He has taken a gamble. Now, he has got to hope it pays off. The | :06:21. | :06:31. | |
:06:31. | :06:37. | ||
saw earlier. He was a reserve initially, then he came in. Even at | :06:37. | :06:47. | |
:06:47. | :06:52. | ||
that point, there were questions about selection. He is a man who | :06:52. | :06:59. | |
knows London very well. But he is struggling today. | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
Six athletes in that the group. Seven athletes now, but they are | :07:04. | :07:13. | |
:07:14. | :07:14. | ||
good athletes. Getu Feleke. From Ethiopia. | :07:14. | :07:24. | |
:07:24. | :07:27. | ||
They are approaching St Paul's around. F&C people heading down | :07:27. | :07:36. | |
across the bridge -- I often see people. | :07:36. | :07:44. | |
This is not a foregone conclusion. He hasn't blown the field a way. He | :07:44. | :07:50. | |
has run a very aggressive bipolar split. I have noticed they are | :07:50. | :07:57. | |
anxious to get a drink which is right. They are doing it sensibly. | :07:57. | :08:03. | |
Dos Santos gets his drink, then accelerates into the group. | :08:03. | :08:10. | |
Alongside Mokoka of South Africa. Asmerom of Eritrea. Here comes | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
Wilson Kipsang, approaching the 20km. In these races, they talk | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
about getting halfway and then the race starts, but it has started | :08:21. | :08:31. | |
early this time. In front of St Paul's Cathedral. | :08:31. | :08:41. | |
:08:41. | :08:41. | ||
The chasing group going after Wilson Kipsang. He ran 15 minutes, | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
just under, for that 5K section. He has slowed down, he had to. He can | :08:47. | :08:55. | |
keep it up all the way. But the gap has also got a little bit less, | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
down from 21 seconds, down to 14 seconds. They are closing in and a | :09:01. | :09:11. | |
:09:11. | :09:12. | ||
pink Kitson it is in a bit of bother. -- and I think Kipsang is | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
in a bit of bother. This chasing group are working | :09:17. | :09:23. | |
together, helping one another. The Japanese have come out to support | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
this marathon. In previous ravens, we would have had a couple of | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
Japanese in that leading group. So far today, they are not quite up to | :09:32. | :09:41. | |
He now needs to just stick with the game plan, there is no going back | :09:41. | :09:51. | |
:09:51. | :09:52. | ||
from this. His leader has been chipped into, is he aware of it? In | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
this section of the course. It is his team-mate's pushing things | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
along at the front of this group. Abel Kirui, who ran so well in | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
different conditions at the World Championships last year. He is | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
looking behind already, I think he is struggling, I do think he has | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
got this wrong. He is such a good athlete. He may well be able to | :10:18. | :10:27. | |
:10:28. | :10:30. | ||
resurrect something from that. From that stars and in quick -- that | :10:30. | :10:40. | |
:10:40. | :10:41. | ||
quick first section. If here is the next group. You can | :10:41. | :10:49. | |
see Keflezighi. And a couple of South Africans. But the lead is | :10:49. | :10:59. | |
:10:59. | :10:59. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 47 seconds | :10:59. | :11:46. | |
halfway point. 13 miles. 10K exceptions. -- sections. It is | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
an interesting way to do it. To do that running from the halfway point | :11:52. | :11:58. | |
on, it is more acceptable, more understandable. The halfway point | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
for the others, 16 seconds behind. So, the race is starting to get | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
exciting. The world champion is in there, the fastest marathon | :12:09. | :12:16. | |
debutant is in there. Mokoka from South Africa is in there. Dos | :12:16. | :12:26. | |
:12:26. | :12:34. | ||
Santos, a very good athlete from to be chasing group because you | :12:34. | :12:44. | |
:12:44. | :12:47. | ||
want to, you give it away because you have to. You can see how far | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
back the other athletes are. The chasing group has been broken up as | :12:52. | :13:00. | |
well. Plenty of us Eritrean flags flying around here. There would | :13:00. | :13:10. | |
:13:10. | :13:11. | ||
have been high hopes. Mutai who quickly went off the back of the | :13:11. | :13:18. | |
chasing group. He is still leading. Maybe he can settle into a more | :13:18. | :13:25. | |
comfortable pace. We said earlier on he has so much ability. That | :13:25. | :13:34. | |
leader might have eked out a little bit more. This is the area around | :13:34. | :13:41. | |
the Bank of England. Look at the crowds! Steve, I love marathons and | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
I love watching them because they are so dramatic and you sense this | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
will be a dramatic one. But even in a dramatic marathon like this, I | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
have never been overawed so much. I don't think the race has ever been | :13:57. | :14:06. | |
such that the crowd is overwhelming. It is unbelievable. You watch these | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
marathons and you, and tech -- commentator on them over the years | :14:10. | :14:16. | |
and you get embroiled in the drama itself. That was a bit of drama, he | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
nearly missed his drink. He didn't even go to the side, he was called | :14:21. | :14:27. | |
on by his team manager. The race is playing second fiddle today to the | :14:27. | :14:37. | |
crowds. I don't mean that in a bad way, it is absolutely wonderful. | :14:37. | :14:43. | |
That was a bad sign, concentrations. And there is a sign to say 100m to | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
go to the feed stations. He was running along in the middle of the | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
road. Not necessarily doing anything about it. There he is, | :14:54. | :15:03. | |
just running a long. He gets a call from his team manager. Turns back, | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
goes to the side, gets his drink. You have got to stop for that. It | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
doesn't matter if you lose a few seconds, but what matters is he | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
gets a drink on board. He looks like Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
moving ahead of the group of Africans. We are getting used from | :15:24. | :15:30. | |
our American television colleagues Ryan Hall came into this with a | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
tight hamstring or wanted to give it a go. Rather than just go on | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
regardless Lee, it is the first time he has ever dropped out of a | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
race. He felt it was the best policy. It is a long way to run, he | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
will only do himself more permanent damage will stop disappointing for | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
the Americans. But the leader looking more rejuvenated now. As | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
Brendan was saying, this like laps of confrontation -- concentration | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
as he passed the feat stations will stop this is the second chasing | :16:05. | :16:15. | |
:16:15. | :16:37. | ||
group. -- a slight laps. They will The field is so strung-out, there | :16:37. | :16:45. | |
are runners going past all of the time. This is dos Santos from | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
Brazil and running well. The chasing group is split up. The | :16:52. | :16:58. | |
second Ethiopian has fallen away from the group, that is Feleke. His | :16:58. | :17:06. | |
manager, who manages Gebrselassie told us the of the day he had high | :17:06. | :17:15. | |
hopes for Feleke, but it looks as though he is tiring. Dos Santos | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
moves into that position. This is the chasing group, which is down to | :17:20. | :17:30. | |
:17:30. | :17:32. | ||
three. Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda. The world champion, Kirui. They are | :17:32. | :17:42. | |
:17:42. | :17:42. | ||
chasing down the leader. Wilson Kipsang. Once he burst away he has | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
had a chance to recover, which is probably why you are saying, Steve, | :17:47. | :17:52. | |
he looks more comfortable and relaxed? This is an interesting | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
part of the course. They do a turn around and he will be able to see | :17:57. | :18:03. | |
where they are. I think it is about 13 seconds now. It hasn't short and, | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
it hasn't got any bigger. But look at the crowds at the Tower of | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
London cheering on the leader of the marathon. He can see the | :18:13. | :18:20. | |
chasing group is getting closer, and it contains the best of the | :18:20. | :18:26. | |
Ethiopians, Abshero and the world champion from his own country, Abel | :18:26. | :18:34. | |
Kirui. Also, Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda. The Tower of London is one | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
of the biggest tourist attractions, but it has never seen crowds like | :18:39. | :18:48. | |
this before. It has been there since 1068. If you wanted to see | :18:48. | :18:56. | |
the crown jewels, that she would be very long! -- that you. Have you | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
seen the cue for the ice-creams at the back? Lovely day, and a great | :19:02. | :19:09. | |
climax we are hoping is for this Olympic Games. Can other medals | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
being one around different venues today. Hoping Britain can pick up | :19:13. | :19:20. | |
more success before the climax of the closing ceremony tonight. Now | :19:20. | :19:26. | |
13 million people watch Mo Farah win his gold medal last night. Some | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
great moments over these couple of weeks, shared by millions and | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
millions of people. You know what? There is a good few hundred 1000 if | :19:38. | :19:45. | |
not approaching a million or so, but there is an awful lot of people. | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
I thought you said earlier you did know how to work it out? In the old | :19:50. | :19:59. | |
days they used to make up a word for an amount of people will stop | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
our editor has just said, why don't you just say there is a lot! Which | :20:04. | :20:14. | |
:20:14. | :20:18. | ||
I think there is. He is usually more specific than that. Kiprotich | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
is realising there is a bit of a push on thought stop when he looked | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
around, and I am surprised it is coming from Stephen Kiprotich from | :20:28. | :20:38. | |
:20:38. | :20:38. | ||
Uganda. Looking at Kirui, he has a lot of respect the Kirui. They must | :20:38. | :20:44. | |
be thinking, are we going to let him go. A great deal of the London | :20:44. | :20:54. | |
:20:54. | :21:07. | ||
Kiprotich, the Ugandan. Abshero in third place, the Ethiopian false | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
start and Kirui trying to go with them. The gap is only seven or | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
eight seconds now. It is a significant move from Stephen | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
Kiprotich. The Ugandan, who not surprisingly, decided he wanted to | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
be a top-class runner. He was making progress, but there wasn't | :21:26. | :21:36. | |
:21:36. | :21:41. | ||
enough training partners in Uganda, so he moved. He moved to El The | :21:41. | :21:51. | |
:21:51. | :21:54. | ||
Ruts, and Wilson Kipsang and Kiprotich is building a hotel there. | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
It wouldn't be difficult to count in your head, and you are all doing | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
that now. To look at this, it is such a hot day, you don't normally | :22:04. | :22:12. | |
see a leads runners going for a bit of spray, certainly races in the UK. | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
Kirui, I think he still has something to say here, Kirui. He | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
judges his races very well. This attempt, dos Santos is struggling | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
now. These athletes in front of him are pushing on. The attempt to | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
close the gap, maybe it is a little rash from Stephen Kiprotich. But it | :22:34. | :22:44. | |
:22:44. | :22:57. | ||
them. Abel Kirui, twice what champion, Steve was saying, he | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
judges his races well. You don't become world champion twice if you | :23:03. | :23:10. | |
don't judge your races well, moving into second place. So, for the | :23:10. | :23:15. | |
first time the Kenyans now have first and second in the marathon. | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
The famous red, green and black vest of Kenya. Slightly | :23:21. | :23:27. | |
disappointing Games overall for them, two gold medals in the back. | :23:27. | :23:33. | |
Two chances of a gold medal in this event. You almost feel as though | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
they have to win the marathon. They dominate the marathon throughout | :23:36. | :23:46. | |
:23:46. | :23:48. | ||
the year, and may have done throughout the years. The gap was | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
seven seconds as suggested. Kirui looks the strongest and looks as | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
though he is ready for this four- star heat allow it Kiprotich to | :24:00. | :24:04. | |
accelerate a little bit too much but went with him. Kirui looking | :24:04. | :24:14. | |
:24:14. | :24:17. | ||
relaxed and strong. The leader has slowed down again. He is not | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
slowing dramatically, but the others are sensing its and they | :24:21. | :24:28. | |
have made a more gradual move back. So when they are running at B15 | :24:28. | :24:38. | |
:24:38. | :24:43. | ||
minute pace, it was the 15km section. -- 1, five kilometres | :24:43. | :24:53. | |
:24:53. | :24:53. | ||
section. Only time will tell. Time is ticking away. That lead, only | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
seven seconds, and how many times have we seen over the years, and | :24:58. | :25:04. | |
Brendan has said, the last two, three miles, these positions can | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
change and you can lose a couple of minutes it just in the last couple | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
of miles. If you look at the position of 25 kilometres, this | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
won't be the same order as the finishing. Because it is a warm day, | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
it has been unusual the way the race has been run. Some of them | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
will be tired from the way they did it will stop others will be more | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
control because they gradually picked the pace up. But it is | :25:34. | :25:42. | |
Kiprotich, Kirui, Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, and then Abshero. That | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
order won't be the same at the finish because that is what happens. | :25:46. | :25:53. | |
You cannot tell and I think it will hit them late. This is a brave | :25:53. | :26:01. | |
effort by the fastest marathon runner in the field. That is the | :26:01. | :26:08. | |
world champion Kirui, just behind him now. Has him in his sights. If | :26:08. | :26:15. | |
you are just joining us, the lead was around 20 seconds at one point, | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, but Wilson Kipsang, he is more | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
generally known as, at the winner of the London Marathon, the fastest | :26:26. | :26:34. | |
man in the field, has been leading since the six-mile mark. He made a | :26:34. | :26:42. | |
big effort and probably went too hard. He senses, he has his team | :26:42. | :26:52. | |
:26:52. | :26:55. | ||
mate, Kirui following him. Dos Santos is very consistency but not | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
the quality of these guys. And Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda is | :27:00. | :27:10. | |
:27:10. | :27:21. | ||
having the best race of his career effects on the leader, as it looks | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
as though the lead will disappear in the next mile or so. Will he be | :27:26. | :27:36. | |
:27:36. | :27:38. | ||
able to go with them as they come past? There is the blue line, it | :27:38. | :27:48. | |
:27:48. | :27:54. | ||
signifiers the shortest route and route around. | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
We were privileged to have Haile Gebrselassie to join us, to give us | :27:59. | :28:06. | |
an insight into how the Ethiopians have chosen their team. They didn't | :28:06. | :28:11. | |
win the 5,000, they didn't win the 10,000. They don't look as if they | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
will win the marathon. The Ethiopian men have struggled in | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
these Olympic Games. The leader is just going part, | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
water and sponge. Abel Kirui seems to be more tuned in, he spotted it | :28:27. | :28:37. | |
:28:37. | :28:42. | ||
a while back. Whereas our Leader is just focusing ahead. Now, after 15 | :28:42. | :28:48. | |
kilometres, he has been rejoined by his team-mate, the world champion | :28:48. | :28:56. | |
Abel Kirui, and Kiprotich of Uganda. All three of these men trained in | :28:56. | :29:06. | |
:29:06. | :29:09. | ||
the rift Valley End Uganda. -- in Kenya. Psychologically, this is | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
important for Wilson Kipsang. Will he let them run with him or when he | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
tried to break away again. There are huge crowds here, we sink a | :29:18. | :29:25. | |
great race. We had a leader, at some point in athletics history, | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
you see men run away from a field like this. He had a 21 second gap. | :29:31. | :29:37. | |
And now, he is running abreast with two men he knows very well, two men | :29:37. | :29:44. | |
he runs with when he is at home in Kenya. Now, can Kenya when their | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
third a Olympic gold medal, or, is the man from Uganda going to be the | :29:48. | :29:56. | |
first man from Uganda to win a gold medal in the marathon? | :29:56. | :30:02. | |
Interesting times. Ayele Abshero, in the distance, in 4th place. | :30:02. | :30:12. | |
:30:12. | :30:13. | ||
Further down the road, Dos Santos of Brazil in 5th place. The bike | :30:13. | :30:21. | |
camera behind the lead three. It is odd, this almost feels like | :30:21. | :30:29. | |
this should be the last couple of miles. They have another lap to go. | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
It really feels as though this would be reaching the climax of the | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
race. There is an awful lot of running still to do. When you talk | :30:38. | :30:44. | |
about another lap to go, that doesn't sound bad, but a lack is | :30:44. | :30:54. | |
:30:54. | :30:54. | ||
eight miles. -- a lap. Big Ben Clarke's the point where they take | :30:54. | :31:04. | |
:31:04. | :31:08. | ||
a right town. -- marks the point of a right turn. | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
The south bank providing a fantastic view. I don't think | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
anybody could ever believe London would have responded like this to | :31:17. | :31:27. | |
:31:27. | :31:29. | ||
the Olympic Games, or in that total, and to the mad and in particular. | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
As they run along the Embankment. The great sights of London being | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
transported in all their glory, all around the world. Dos Santos of | :31:39. | :31:49. | |
:31:49. | :31:53. | ||
Brazil. He isn't sick place. -- is in sixth place. | :31:53. | :32:00. | |
The leading group has settled down. Wilson Kipsang, Kiprotich, the | :32:01. | :32:07. | |
early leader led for almost half the distance. Now, he has company. | :32:07. | :32:15. | |
The fabled Abel Kirui, and the man with ambition. At the age of 17, he | :32:15. | :32:22. | |
said he would leave home, go to Kenya, and be a full-time runner. | :32:22. | :32:32. | |
The leading Ethiopian. There may be better of runners at home than the | :32:32. | :32:38. | |
three days selected today for the London 2012 Olympics Marathon. | :32:38. | :32:46. | |
Scott Overall was in the 27th position, at the 25 kilometre or | :32:46. | :32:56. | |
:32:56. | :32:58. | ||
point. Scott Overall, he has done pretty well, half way it in at 65. | :32:58. | :33:08. | |
:33:08. | :33:10. | ||
Not far off his personal best. Lee Merrien was not far behind. 46th | :33:10. | :33:17. | |
position. As we see them come into the mile - | :33:17. | :33:27. | |
:33:27. | :33:28. | ||
- Mall. Ayele Abshero can see that group of three ahead. But as | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
Brendon and I keep saying, more than eight miles of the toughest of | :33:32. | :33:42. | |
:33:42. | :33:43. | ||
races. I was worried he would give me more poetry today it! Robert | :33:43. | :33:50. | |
Browning wrote a poem in the early part of the 19th century, always | :33:50. | :33:57. | |
credited with publicising the myth of what he did, running the | :33:57. | :34:07. | |
:34:07. | :34:09. | ||
marathon, Athens, announcing victory, the idea of running from | :34:09. | :34:14. | |
Marathon. And that became the world's most gruelling event. | :34:14. | :34:22. | |
is a brilliant introduction to you recited it, Steve! I could read it, | :34:22. | :34:28. | |
if it were in front of me. They are grabbing at water bottles and | :34:28. | :34:35. | |
sponges. Olsson hasn't been bothering with that. -- Wilson | :34:35. | :34:43. | |
Kipsang. There were some words exchanged with Abel Kirui, I wonder | :34:44. | :34:53. | |
:34:54. | :34:56. | ||
if he is saying, we can work together. To get Stephen Kiprotich, | :34:56. | :35:06. | |
I presume they know each other pretty well. They will want to work | :35:06. | :35:15. | |
together to ensure there is a Kenyan one, two. After Buckingham | :35:15. | :35:25. | |
:35:25. | :35:30. | ||
Palace, the last laps macro. -- lap. The gaps behind these lead 3 are | :35:30. | :35:40. | |
:35:40. | :35:44. | ||
getting bigger and bigger. Look at the crowds. Incredible. Buckingham | :35:44. | :35:54. | |
:35:54. | :36:21. | ||
as if he is running tide at the be the finishing straight the next | :36:21. | :36:25. | |
time around. A eight miles a go, the crowds | :36:25. | :36:31. | |
around us are getting really cheering. Kiprotich of Uganda, | :36:31. | :36:39. | |
Wilson Kipsang of Kenya. In 4th place, Ayele Abshero. If you look | :36:39. | :36:46. | |
at those four places, the only thing for certain is it won't be | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
the same order when they come back the next time. Some of them are | :36:50. | :36:57. | |
struggling. Ayele Abshero, only in his second marathon. And I imagine | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
I good friend Haile Gebrselassie will be disappointed with the way | :37:00. | :37:07. | |
the selectors of Ethiopia have picked their team. Dos Santos, | :37:07. | :37:17. | |
:37:17. | :37:22. | ||
through in 6th place. A real delight to watch the race unfold on | :37:22. | :37:29. | |
TV, but, to be here, where this atmosphere is magical. The red | :37:29. | :37:39. | |
:37:39. | :37:41. | ||
carpet of the Mall. The Queen Victoria Memorial. Mokoka looks | :37:41. | :37:51. | |
tired. We are able to get a close- up view. We are looking for the | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
British athletes who are acquitting themselves really well, this must | :37:55. | :37:58. | |
be an experience of a lifetime for those men. They have worked hard | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
for it, Scott Overall and Lee Merrien. They both deserve to be | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
here. The boat handling themselves quite well. For British athletics | :38:09. | :38:18. | |
and British distance running, these are marvellous hours. | :38:18. | :38:26. | |
Through Admiralty Arch, into Trafalgar Square. That is where it | :38:26. | :38:33. | |
all began. Singapore, Trafalgar Square, the celebrations in 2005. | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
The players went crazy then, and it is going crazy today. They turned | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
down Northumberland Avenue, back towards Embankment again. Ayele | :38:44. | :38:54. | |
:38:54. | :39:09. | ||
Abshero chooses to vote through the That is because it was Wilson | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
Kipsang who had been reading. The others have maintained their pace, | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
but even they have slowed a little from chasing him down. Look at | :39:19. | :39:27. | |
Emmanuel Mutai and Asmerom, who sat back a little, who decided not go | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
with that surge. They are picking athletes off, moving into the top | :39:30. | :39:40. | |
:39:40. | :39:42. | ||
10. The two Japanese athletes, Arata Fujiwara and Nakamoto, | :39:42. | :39:46. | |
committing to the split times in their mind. If you cut bladed long, | :39:46. | :39:54. | |
you don't do so well but if you calculated right, there are some | :39:54. | :40:04. | |
:40:04. | :40:09. | ||
than usual. They will tell us that the conditions have been difficult. | :40:09. | :40:17. | |
Dos Santos running comfortably, pulling away from Emmanuel Mutai. | :40:17. | :40:27. | |
:40:27. | :40:30. | ||
On to the last lap. Welcome shelter. The leaders at the feeding station. | :40:30. | :40:35. | |
Again, up Wilson Kipsang goes straight past. The Kenyan badger | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
road distributing the drinks but he didn't 11. Scott Overall has picked | :40:40. | :40:50. | |
:40:50. | :40:52. | ||
up a few places. If O oar, looking a bit tired. | :40:52. | :41:01. | |
Scott Overall. He had these two have been having a | :41:01. | :41:11. | |
:41:11. | :41:15. | ||
good few conversations. Kiprotich, he has done well. | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
Stephen Kiprotich, for the first time, looking as if he is | :41:18. | :41:23. | |
struggling to stay with the two Kenyans. Starting to look more | :41:23. | :41:33. | |
:41:33. | :41:34. | ||
laboured. He looks tired. Dos Santos was close to him. 49 seconds | :41:34. | :41:40. | |
to the leaders, he is not catching them. Lean -- Lee Merrien, | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
representing Great Britain and Guernsey where he comes from. He | :41:44. | :41:54. | |
:41:54. | :41:59. | ||
crosses the line with one lap to go. Just ahead of Kenneally of Arles | :41:59. | :42:09. | |
:42:09. | :42:27. | ||
and. -- Ireland. About five minutes any Bath and will feel increasingly | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
more uncomfortable. When it is hot, everything from your feet to the | :42:32. | :42:41. | |
top of your head starts to hurt. They are heading back, and for the | :42:41. | :42:51. | |
:42:51. | :42:56. | ||
last time, out a long the river, Probably going as well as any of | :42:56. | :43:02. | |
these athletes in the top three. It could be a top two shortly because | :43:02. | :43:08. | |
Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, can sense these two are working | :43:08. | :43:15. | |
together. He is sitting in behind them. Has run one marathon so far. | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
If you wonder how all of the pictures appear the next day, they | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
are in the media centre here, and that group of photographers were | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
put on their bus about an hour beforehand false start and they | :43:30. | :43:37. | |
have a prime a view of this race. And Kirui is the chatterbox amongst | :43:37. | :43:43. | |
this group. He is probably the one that commands on more respect. When | :43:43. | :43:48. | |
you have won titles, that is when you get to the business end of the | :43:48. | :43:54. | |
Championship races, and they will start to look to him, I think. | :43:54. | :44:04. | |
:44:04. | :44:05. | ||
Three of them together now. Running together, starting to feel this is | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
where the medals are going to go. Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda was | :44:10. | :44:16. | |
going through a bit of a bad patch. I thought Dos Santos was chasing | :44:16. | :44:21. | |
and running well. He is still running well. But he is 46 seconds | :44:21. | :44:31. | |
behind the leaders. Abshero, but tiring Ethiopian. I am sure there | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
will be an inquiry into the Ethiopian men's distance running. | :44:34. | :44:43. | |
The women had one the 10,000m, and the marathon. At the men have not | :44:43. | :44:53. | |
:44:53. | :44:56. | ||
want any of them. They are fierce rivals with the Kenyans. Macca | :44:57. | :45:06. | |
:45:07. | :45:21. | ||
working so hard, we are going to be seeing in the Mile, in half-an-hour, | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
we will be seeing some very tired athletes false start and they have | :45:25. | :45:32. | |
worked hard for it. -- in the Mall. You gave the crowd a bit of | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
rehearsal when you jogged down here earlier? They got a bit of Hu | :45:37. | :45:47. | |
didn't I? Very impressive. It was a rehearsal for the cameras? No car I | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
was in a hurry coming back from an interview position at the other end | :45:51. | :46:01. | |
:46:01. | :46:12. | ||
of the Mall. But a similar pace, obviously! Wilson Kipsang and Kirui. | :46:12. | :46:19. | |
Not moving as quick as they were, these three, in the middle section | :46:19. | :46:26. | |
of the race. Saw the race apart the very early stage. They have had to | :46:26. | :46:33. | |
pick themselves up after that. You can see how things stand. Dos | :46:33. | :46:39. | |
Santos in fourth place, Abshero in 5th, he is going backwards all of | :46:39. | :46:48. | |
the time. Were one of those three to faltered, 50 seconds is a lead | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
that could disappear. But they look comfortable together, working | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
through this section. One of them at some point, you feel, will make | :46:59. | :47:03. | |
a bit of a move as they circumnavigate St Paul's Cathedral | :47:03. | :47:13. | |
:47:13. | :47:41. | ||
getting the best deal possible. -- view. The Kenyan flags waving. The | :47:41. | :47:49. | |
Japanese contingent it as well. The Games Kenya were hoping to have, | :47:49. | :47:54. | |
there was all sorts of talk about how many medal they were going to | :47:54. | :47:59. | |
win false start their coaches came out and said they were going to win | :47:59. | :48:07. | |
a hatful of gold medals. It comes across as disrespectful to the | :48:07. | :48:15. | |
other teams. 800, 1,500m, steeplechase, the marathon, they | :48:15. | :48:21. | |
are difficult medals to win. They are looking to finish on a high | :48:21. | :48:29. | |
here. There are some very tired athletes. About 12 I reckon have | :48:29. | :48:39. | |
:48:39. | :48:40. | ||
dropped out already out of the 100 as and odds and that started. | :48:41. | :48:46. | |
have just spoken to the assistant general secretary of the | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
international athletics federation and he said it is the best Olympic | :48:50. | :48:56. | |
SFA athletics. He said the response to the marathon is absolutely | :48:56. | :49:02. | |
staggering. Eyesore his boss when I was coming in, President of the I | :49:03. | :49:11. | |
double left, -- I f f. He was referring to the stadium and he | :49:11. | :49:19. | |
said it was incredible. And I think his words a will be echoed. It is a | :49:19. | :49:25. | |
fantastic response to these Games by the British public, and they are | :49:25. | :49:32. | |
carrying it right to the finish line, and of course the | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
international athletics a federation, the mouth-watering | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
prospects for them to have the World Championships in London in | :49:43. | :49:51. | |
2017, back in the Olympic Stadium. It will be wonderful to have these | :49:51. | :49:57. | |
sides back again. It it would be wonderful to see Mo Farah back in | :49:57. | :50:07. | |
:50:07. | :50:15. | ||
the Olympic stadium in 2017. That is Mutai and Asmerom. These are two | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
very good runners. But they are struggling now. They are very good, | :50:20. | :50:27. | |
but they look as if they are slowing down. Mutai was going to be | :50:27. | :50:36. | |
one of the dangers. He is an outstanding a marathon runner but | :50:36. | :50:46. | |
:50:46. | :50:46. | ||
was unable to compete today. It looks now as though we are going to | :50:46. | :50:54. | |
get a real, real race. One hour 42 minutes behind them. Just over 20 | :50:54. | :51:02. | |
minutes of running left. One of three, the world champion, Abel | :51:02. | :51:05. | |
Kirui false start Dos Santos not able to make any inroads into the | :51:05. | :51:14. | |
gap. Still running well in a lonely positions. He has a long road on | :51:14. | :51:24. | |
:51:24. | :51:25. | ||
his own. That is Kirui, that is Wilson Kipsang. I am just worrying | :51:25. | :51:31. | |
or why the experience of Wilson Kipsang, who has won four macro out | :51:31. | :51:37. | |
of five marathons, why he ran the way he did. Why did he go out and | :51:37. | :51:47. | |
:51:47. | :52:07. | ||
run at -- run so quickly, had a will be interesting this neck split | :52:07. | :52:14. | |
when they go through 35 kilometres. After the 14.11 which was Wilson | :52:14. | :52:23. | |
Kipsang, I suspect it might be slower. Abshero being caught now. | :52:23. | :52:31. | |
The Ethiopian hasn't got the experience at this event yet. | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
Finding this is difference to just going out with nice pacemakers, | :52:36. | :52:45. | |
setting out with a game plan. This is not the same, they go off slow | :52:45. | :52:51. | |
and then after 10 kilometres, suddenly find the pace is run at a | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
world record pace for five kilometres, then it comes back | :52:54. | :52:59. | |
again. Trying to make decisions whether you go with it, or sit back | :52:59. | :53:04. | |
and take the risk others will does appear and you won't get them back | :53:04. | :53:10. | |
again. He has learnt a lesson today. Maybe the Ethiopian selectors have | :53:10. | :53:20. | |
:53:20. | :53:24. | ||
as well? The two Kenyans, the Bank of England have probably never seen | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
sites like this. This is alongside the Guild Hall. Dos Santos is | :53:29. | :53:35. | |
running strongly, but he is not catching them. The lead they have | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
is extending am very, very slightly false start he is in fourth place, | :53:39. | :53:45. | |
and if any mishap were to occur to the front three, he is in a strong | :53:45. | :53:54. | |
position. There is nothing in happening behind him. The Japanese | :53:54. | :54:04. | |
runner looking strong. Abshero is going further back. And de Almeida, | :54:04. | :54:11. | |
the silver-medallist from Athens flying the flag. I hope they have a | :54:11. | :54:16. | |
head for heights false start you wouldn't catch me doing that. | :54:16. | :54:24. | |
kilometres. 7.2 kilometres to go sol stop the result is far from | :54:24. | :54:33. | |
decided. Stephen Kiprotich, from Uganda at the back of the three. | :54:33. | :54:39. | |
The two Kenyans, the two better known athletes, Wilson Kipsang, the | :54:39. | :54:46. | |
second fastest marathon runner in history. 15.48, it is the slowest | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
five kilometres split of the race. And these conditions are taking | :54:50. | :54:56. | |
their toll. The way Wilson Kipsang round the middle of the race is | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
also taking its toll. It is breaking up, a gap is opening | :55:01. | :55:07. | |
between the two Kenyans and Stephen Kiprotich. Stephen Kiprotich | :55:07. | :55:13. | |
holding his leg. It is a bad sign. The Ugandans, he looks as though he | :55:13. | :55:19. | |
is struggling. Uganda have only ever won two medals in the Olympic | :55:19. | :55:25. | |
Games. They won a gold medal for two years ago in the 400-metre | :55:25. | :55:33. | |
hurdles in Munich. They won a bronze medal in 1996 in the 400m. | :55:33. | :55:38. | |
Is this man going to run into Ugandan distance and running | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
history? I hope he does. He has a problem with his leg and is losing | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
a few yards on the leading group. He sacrificed his whole existence, | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
moving away from Uganda to train in Kenya. It has paid off so far, but | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
he is going through a difficult point will stop you look further | :55:59. | :56:04. | |
down the field at the speed stations. The gaps are significant. | :56:04. | :56:13. | |
In distance and in time. And those two, Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, and | :56:13. | :56:18. | |
Abel Kirui, the twice world champion, beginning to break away | :56:18. | :56:23. | |
from Stephen Kiprotich. I hope he can stay in touch. There is a long | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
way to go. An awful lot is going to change. You cannot predict the gold | :56:29. | :56:36. | |
medal. You cannot even predict the podium finish. It looks to be | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
locked on for these three, but I am worried about Stephen Kiprotich. He | :56:40. | :56:46. | |
keeps clutching at the top of his leg. This is a renewed effort from | :56:46. | :56:53. | |
the man who certainly earlier on, went too hard when he went to the | :56:53. | :57:01. | |
front. He was pegged back. This is another effort from Wilson Kipsang. | :57:01. | :57:11. | |
:57:11. | :57:14. | ||
That is the battle for 5th and 6th. The American trying to hang on to | :57:14. | :57:19. | |
the Japanese athlete. When your legs are dead, this is not a | :57:19. | :57:25. | |
particularly enjoyable way to have to keep running. He is having a | :57:25. | :57:34. | |
look behind. Looking to see of this gap starts to build will he be | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
under pressure from behind. Might think he will be happy with a top- | :57:39. | :57:46. | |
six finish. It is Wilson Kipsang making a big effort. At the second | :57:46. | :57:51. | |
time he is wanting to push on. Making an effort to try and win | :57:51. | :57:56. | |
this. The first time was too early. It was too quick, couldn't be | :57:56. | :58:03. | |
maintained all sustained. And now, he finds Kirui once more moves | :58:03. | :58:13. | |
:58:13. | :58:26. | ||
along the Embankment. Abel Kirui. The two of them pulling a few yards | :58:26. | :58:34. | |
away. Stephen Kiprotich. When you hear about an athlete life -- like | :58:34. | :58:41. | |
him, at the age of 17, deciding to be a runner. It means more in Kenya | :58:41. | :58:48. | |
and Uganda. So, he moves from Uganda, to Kenya. He is now in a | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
position, with six kilometres remaining. A medal position, for | :58:53. | :59:00. | |
his country. Never been there before in a distance race. Never | :59:00. | :59:07. | |
been there beyond 400m from the track. I certainly really hope that | :59:07. | :59:13. | |
Stephen Kiprotich can just hang on and get a medal. Maybe even better | :59:13. | :59:19. | |
than that. He has not lost this race to get. There is Dos Santos. | :59:19. | :59:29. | |
:59:29. | :59:32. | ||
Look how far behind, they turned a while ago. Four minutes. 1.14 | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
minutes behind the leaders. He is well aware of it. He is still | :59:36. | :59:46. | |
:59:46. | :59:56. | ||
running strong, Dos Santos. Nakamoto and Kifle. -- Keflezighi. | :59:56. | :00:02. | |
Having a good race. I think they were hoping that Hall would produce | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
something special but he was the first to drop out with a hamstring | :00:05. | :00:12. | |
problem. You are right, Kiprotich has not lost this yet. They have | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
pushed on a little. Certainly, Wilson Kipsang pushed on. Abel | :00:16. | :00:22. | |
Kirui was not ready to push on. He joined his team mate. But they | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
haven't been able to sustain that pace. Therefore, Kiprotich is still | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
in contention, at least for him at will, if not actually to win this. | :00:32. | :00:40. | |
He is only six metres adrift. What happened there? Steve, I think he | :00:40. | :00:47. | |
heard you. Suddenly, at Stephen Kiprotich, the athlete who lives in | :00:47. | :00:57. | |
Kenya, who was brought up in Uganda. He moved to better his running. Now | :00:57. | :01:04. | |
he leads an Olympic marathon. go quite so hard up? You feel good, | :01:04. | :01:12. | |
are you think, I am ready. He is either thinking he is feeling | :01:12. | :01:18. | |
incredibly well. Abel Kirui, started to try to give chase but | :01:18. | :01:24. | |
that is a gap which has built very quickly. If it has been too quick, | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
remains to be seen. The Kenyans couldn't get away. They went around | :01:29. | :01:36. | |
a couple of corners, it has turned into a 20-metre lead. We saw in | :01:36. | :01:43. | |
Manchester a few weeks ago, 4th in the 10K, behind Haile Gebrselassie | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
and Ayele Abshero. If you had said he would be leading the Olympic | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
marathon in London, at this point in the race, the Ugandan athlete, a | :01:54. | :02:00. | |
country which has never won an Olympic medal beyond 400m. | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
Unbelievable. How quickly has he responded? I thought he was | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
struggling earlier with his leg, that doesn't seem to be bothering | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
him in the last few minutes. He is getting the roar of the crowd. It | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
is a sight we have never seen in a marathon before, so close to the | :02:20. | :02:26. | |
finish, an athlete from Uganda. Another African athlete. It is not | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
over yet but this is a significant lead. He was 10m behind. The camera | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
went behind. When we picked him up on the other side, he was in the | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
lead. That was like a 1,500m surge. It has paid off for him, he is | :02:43. | :02:50. | |
reading. That lead, if anything, it is being extended. He is looking | :02:50. | :02:59. | |
strong. Every stride is a strong one for the Ugandan, but in | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
daylight between himself and the world champion, Abel Kirui, of | :03:04. | :03:13. | |
Kenya. He was running much wider around that bend and he needs to. | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
Look at Wilson Kipsang, in their place, the fastest man in the field. | :03:18. | :03:25. | |
He ran a strange race, going off so quickly. He has ignored his own | :03:25. | :03:32. | |
drinks at the water stations. I am surprised the overall way he has | :03:33. | :03:39. | |
run this race. At the halfway point, one hour and three minutes. Stephen | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
Kiprotich was off the pace, well away from the lead. An update on | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
Scott Overall, he is really suffering. He has dropped 20 places | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
in the last five kilometre section. He has been passed by Lee Merrien | :03:56. | :04:04. | |
who has picked up 10 places. In 34th position. Six minutes behind | :04:04. | :04:14. | |
:04:14. | :04:16. | ||
the leaders. 45 seconds behind him is a struggling Scott Overall. | :04:16. | :04:19. | |
Kiprotich leading. Abel Kirui constantly dropping that right arm, | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
trying to relax. But it doesn't matter. About relaxing at this | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
point. He has to try to find something, somehow, all hope that | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
Kiprotich has some have judged this wrong. With about are four | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
kilometres to go. Dos Santos, does he have a chance of catching Wilson | :04:41. | :04:49. | |
Kipsang, a good minute ahead. I don't know if Wilson Kipsang will | :04:49. | :04:59. | |
:04:59. | :04:59. | ||
fade that badly. But you can lose a minute in the last mile easily. | :04:59. | :05:09. | |
:05:09. | :05:15. | ||
Keflezighi and Nakamoto, contesting Keflezighi... There is Scott | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
Overall, the first because we have seen him. Really struggling, he has | :05:20. | :05:27. | |
slowed down significantly. He went halfway in 65 minutes, which would | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
be expected of him. But he is really struggling. And though he | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
won't want to give up, he will want to get to the finish line if he | :05:37. | :05:44. | |
possibly can. We will keep you posted. We hope to stay to watch | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
the two British athletes over the line. Is this over, Brendan, or is | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
there more to come? He has spent a lot of time looking over his | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
shoulder. What a remarkable story it if Stephen Kiprotich can win | :05:59. | :06:06. | |
this. Running along the Embankment. This is what we see every year in | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
the London Marathon. He had never run here before. Lots of the others | :06:11. | :06:18. | |
have. Their fears, crossing over, looking for the Ugandan flak. Sorry, | :06:18. | :06:25. | |
that is the Kenyan, Abel Kirui, in second place. We are looking, | :06:25. | :06:32. | |
previously, at Stephen Kiprotich. Now, the world champion gets his | :06:32. | :06:42. | |
:06:42. | :06:42. | ||
drink. I am not sure if Kiprotich bothered. 38.8 kilometres. As | :06:42. | :06:52. | |
Stephen Kiprotich, a shock, a pleasant shock, a great one. The | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
crowds of roaring him on and he will appreciate that. It will be | :06:56. | :07:06. | |
:07:06. | :07:06. | ||
interesting, they might start closing down. Mo farrow macro has | :07:06. | :07:16. | |
:07:16. | :07:31. | ||
been there to train, to see how the the south Bank, the Royal Family. | :07:31. | :07:38. | |
To cheers and support along the route has not waned one bit. Still | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
looking behind but that lead is getting bigger with every stride. | :07:41. | :07:47. | |
Abel Kirui, the world champion. Solid, in second place, but not | :07:47. | :07:55. | |
able to do anything about this. Stephen Kiprotich. Relaxed. Of | :07:55. | :08:05. | |
course he is tight, it has been a tough way to run this race. -- he | :08:05. | :08:15. | |
:08:15. | :08:25. | ||
two miles to go, for those two. One more look behind for Kiprotich, | :08:25. | :08:32. | |
PCS Abel Kirui going across for some water. He looks too strong to | :08:32. | :08:39. | |
come under pressure. They he looks really strong. I | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
don't want him to be worrying and looking over his shoulder, I want | :08:43. | :08:52. | |
him to concentrate on how far to go. There is a bronze medal position at | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
the moment, Wilson Kipsang. He won the London Marathon here, he beat | :08:58. | :09:07. | |
his team-mate Abel Kirui on that occasion who was 6th. Abel Kirui, | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
one of the best. Kiprotich, acknowledging the support, already | :09:12. | :09:22. | |
:09:22. | :09:39. | ||
see some Ethiopian flags. He will be looking for a Ugandan flag. He | :09:39. | :09:47. | |
is quite a well known 1000 on the road rage -- road racing circuit. | :09:47. | :09:54. | |
Goodness knows what this will mean when he goes home. His training | :09:54. | :10:01. | |
mate, the former world champion. We are looking at the second place, | :10:01. | :10:10. | |
Abel Kirui. If you look at that gap, 19 seconds. They are beyond the 40 | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
kilometre point. Now, he has to concentrate. Please, don't look | :10:16. | :10:22. | |
over your shoulder. Just keep running, finish this last mile, do | :10:22. | :10:32. | |
:10:32. | :10:37. | ||
all the celebrating you want to. That 40 kilometre., reached in the | :10:37. | :10:47. | |
two hours, one minute and 12 seconds. Considering what had | :10:47. | :10:54. | |
happened 5K before, 15.48. An injection of pace. Which was begun | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
by the Kenyans. Then he picked it up and has pushed on and they have | :10:58. | :11:06. | |
suffered. He had a little glass behind at the corner. -- little | :11:06. | :11:16. | |
:11:16. | :11:39. | ||
honestly did not think we would be saying that. Kenya have dominated | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
Marathon all throughout the year, the major city marathons, the | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
Kenyans have been winning. Stephen Kiprotich first entered the mouth | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
and because he was invited to be a pacemaker a few years ago. He | :11:52. | :12:02. | |
:12:02. | :12:10. | ||
stayed on, after being a pacemaker the years we have been doing the | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
London Marathon, I never thought I would see more people on the roads | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
in London than we do seek in the London Marathon. Today, in the | :12:18. | :12:28. | |
:12:28. | :12:28. | ||
Olympic marathon, we are looking at Stephen Kiprotich. Looking strong. | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
Doing the business. Not far to go now. The crowds are beginning to | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
gather around here. They will see a site not one of them would have bet | :12:38. | :12:47. | |
:12:48. | :12:48. | ||
on. Two hours and seven, his best of time. Uganda have waited 40 | :12:48. | :12:58. | |
:12:58. | :13:02. | ||
years since Munich 19 scented to -- 1972. Only the second ever gold- | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
medallist from that country, it will be a huge beast -- boost. | :13:08. | :13:15. | |
Wilson Kipsang has faded away. He has run, not a clever race. Stephen | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
Kiprotich has run a brilliant race. I had thought he was struggling | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
with his race but he relaxed. He is taking on water, I am delighted to | :13:25. | :13:33. | |
see that. He is on his way to history. A proud country, a proud | :13:33. | :13:43. | |
:13:43. | :13:53. | ||
at the age of 17. He is now 23. I bet the London Marathon seen will | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
be getting hold of him straight after this. He will be coming back | :13:58. | :14:07. | |
to London, he loves it so much. What a great story, what a great | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
result. What a great young man and what great ambition he has shown to | :14:12. | :14:20. | |
move away from his home, to pursue his athletic dream. And there he | :14:20. | :14:27. | |
comes, Abel Kirui in second place for start Kenya, two gold medals in | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
the Olympic Games. A disappointing Olympic Games from their point of | :14:32. | :14:42. | |
:14:42. | :14:43. | ||
view. This man, in front of Buckingham Palace and the Queen | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
Victoria Memorial, with the crowds thronging the streets, what an | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
experience this must have been, as he swings round and he lines up. | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
All he has to look at is the red carpets of the Mall and he knows he | :14:58. | :15:07. | |
is on his way to the finish. Well done Stephen Kiprotich. The last | :15:07. | :15:15. | |
corner of the marathon. About 350 metres away he will be able to see | :15:15. | :15:21. | |
the finished tape. They have got it out ready for him. This man, who | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
came here with a personal best of just two hours, seven minutes and | :15:25. | :15:32. | |
20, completely unfancied. Nobody would have put him down as a medal | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
contender. He won't be too far outside his personal best. The | :15:38. | :15:43. | |
smile breaks out across his face. One of seven children. The | :15:43. | :15:49. | |
sacrifices he went on to make for his athletics career. They have | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
come too rich fruition at the Olympic Games. Stephen Kiprotich of | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
Uganda, enjoying these last few strides as the crowd in the Mall | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
rise to him. The cameras are out, the flags are being waved. The | :16:05. | :16:11. | |
world champion, Kirui wasn't able to do anything about it. The | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
Kenyans thought they have this one in terms of another gold medal for | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
them. But it wasn't to be. It is the flag of Uganda draped across | :16:20. | :16:25. | |
the shoulders of Stephen Kiprotich will be waived. The gold medal for | :16:26. | :16:35. | |
Uganda. The race of his life, he is the Olympic champion. One of the | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
quickest races of his career, in these conditions. What a time to | :16:40. | :16:50. | |
:16:50. | :16:51. | ||
find the best you have ever done. World champion, Kirui comes in for | :16:51. | :17:01. | |
:17:01. | :17:03. | ||
Kenya, vindicating his selection. It has been a long wait the Uganda. | :17:03. | :17:10. | |
As Brendan was saying, since 1972 and now they have a new hero. | :17:10. | :17:20. | |
:17:20. | :17:24. | ||
this man, Wilson Kipsang, I think ramp a strange race, Steve? Wilson | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
Kipsang is in the Mall, on his way to the finish for the bronze medal | :17:30. | :17:38. | |
for Kenya. And there he is. To be honest, I think he lost the race | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
because of his own tactics. Disappointing to see the fastest | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
man in the field, the second fastest marathon runner in history, | :17:47. | :17:53. | |
not able to judge it in a big competition. They get so used to | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
pacemakers in these races, when you run a race, you sometimes make a | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
wrong judgment. And that was the wrong judgments by a very talented | :18:04. | :18:14. | |
:18:14. | :18:15. | ||
runner. A bronze medal for his efforts. Kenya, a silver and a | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
bronze in an Olympic marathon is a great achievement for the | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
individual athlete, but their team management will be looking at it as | :18:27. | :18:37. | |
:18:37. | :18:38. | ||
a failure. Keflezighi, ahead of Dos Santos. Nakamoto in 6th place at | :18:38. | :18:45. | |
the moment. Keflezighi, a very good run from him, the man who took the | :18:45. | :18:51. | |
silver-medal eight years ago. He he might be as surprised as anyone to | :18:51. | :19:01. | |
find out who the winner was. Lee Merrien is still going OK, has | :19:01. | :19:08. | |
picked up another few places and has moved into 30th place. But | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
coming to finish his marathon, it has been a long, hot day, and he | :19:14. | :19:22. | |
will be able to hold his head up high. Keflezighi. Fourth place at | :19:22. | :19:29. | |
the USA has been received with great pleasure, Stars and Stripes | :19:29. | :19:36. | |
all over at the finish line. Dos Santos just caught. He finishes 5th | :19:36. | :19:45. | |
of. And Nakamoto of Japan finishes in 6th. It was a comfortable win in | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
the end by Stephen Kiprotich and Uganda. Our long wait for another | :19:49. | :19:56. | |
gold medal for his country, 1972. He must be tired, but a later. | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
Congratulations, what a wonderful performance. Only the second gold | :20:00. | :20:07. | |
medal for Uganda, what will this mean to your country? It means a | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
lot, since 1972 we have never won a medal. I am very happy to have done | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
this false start you made a lot of sacrifices, at the end of 17 going | :20:19. | :20:29. | |
:20:29. | :20:48. | ||
to Kenya to train. How did that are having a language barrier with | :20:48. | :20:58. | |
:20:58. | :21:04. | ||
him, but you can tell by the smile on his face he is a happy man. | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
STUDIO: lots of people surprised to see him come over the line first? | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
It was a surprise, it is almost like the curse of the Olympic | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
marathon. If you look back in history, for the last few Olympic | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
marathons, whoever has been the favoured going into the right, has | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
not won. Stephen Kiprotich's name was never in the frame. We thought | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
it was a battle between Kenya and Ethiopia, but Ethiopia had nothing | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
to show. It was dramatic, with a few kilometres lap, Stephen | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
Kiprotich looked like he was struggling, holding his leg. When | :21:40. | :21:46. | |
he kicked, it was such a decisive move, the others had no response. | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
It seems like a fitting end that so many people have come out onto the | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
streets. It has been a common theme the way the nation has got behind | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
these Games. What a display, Brendan was saying he has never | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
seen this street like it for a marathon? The facts Stephen | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
Kiprotich ran 40 seconds slower than his personal best, you | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
wouldn't expect to see that in an Olympic marathon. The crowds have | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
been amazing. In all the big city races I have done, I have never | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
seen this number of people out on the course, cheering and offering | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
their support. It is a great end up for the athletics at the Olympic | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
Games. We will go back to Steve and | :22:31. | :22:41. | |
:22:41. | :22:45. | ||
Brendan to see the British athletes city marathon, they may not choose | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
to extend their stay on the course when they are having a bad day, but | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
when it the Olympic marathon, you want to finish. Lee Merrien, we're | :22:55. | :23:03. | |
just waiting for him. He is heading for a top 30 finish. This is one of | :23:03. | :23:10. | |
the best marathon runners in the world. He has won here in London. | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai, crossing the line, very, very tired | :23:13. | :23:20. | |
athlete. He is in 17th position. Just look at what it is doing to | :23:20. | :23:30. | |
:23:30. | :23:30. | ||
are running at lunchtime, 12 o'clock. The hottest part of the | :23:30. | :23:40. | |
:23:40. | :23:41. | ||
day. To be fair to the athletes, the shop steward would have asked | :23:41. | :23:51. | |
:23:51. | :23:52. | ||
to start at 8 o'clock. Courts back in 1948, -- the Belgian athlete was | :23:52. | :24:02. | |
in the lead going into the stadium. He staggered in. I think the | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
British athlete came through. The Argentinian Guy won the race. Tom | :24:07. | :24:15. | |
Richardson won the single muddle. - - silver medal. These last few | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
yards are often the hardest, and it's the mental strength that gets | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
you to the finish line. Lots of people have now experience that for | :24:23. | :24:30. | |
themselves, of course, in big city marathons around the world. Waiting | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
to see a Lee Merrien from Great Britain and Guernsey. We think he's | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
very close to the finish line. He will be the first British person to | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
finish because Scott Overall is having a difficult day out there. | :24:43. | :24:49. | |
He was going well for a while but conditions took a toll on him. | :24:49. | :24:59. | |
:24:59. | :25:02. | ||
absolutely fantastic. The crowds have been kinder. The weather has | :25:02. | :25:08. | |
not been kind. Here comes Lee Merrien of Great Britain. Well done. | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
Well done for getting into the selection of the team. Two hours | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
and 16 minutes. The British supporters are giving him a great, | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
great support. Well done, Lee Merrien. He looks at his watch like | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
the professional athlete that he is, and I think that was a decent | :25:27. | :25:37. | |
performance. Well done to him. A top 30 finish to him. Unfortunately | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
Scott Overall is having a difficult time, and has slipped back to 57th. | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
I'm sure he will finish. He will be another seven or eight minutes | :25:46. | :25:51. | |
before he crosses the line. And hope the completes his Olympic saga. | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
A surprise winner, Stephen Kiprotich from Uganda. Wilson | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
Kipsang Kiprotich having to settle for silver and bronze. A hot day, | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
in terms of support, it's been great. For Brendan and I, it's been | :26:06. | :26:16. | |
:26:16. | :26:34. | ||
a fantastic couple of weeks at the over the line up on the red button. | :26:34. | :26:41. | |
Scott Overall will be coming through shortly. What a morning. | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
Absolutely boiling hot. Memorable scenes a million people turned out | :26:46. | :26:53. | |
down there to cheer everybody on. It's all over for you. You can go | :26:53. | :26:59. |