Olympic Marathons

Super slow motion (Phantom camera) shots of the 2008 Olympic Marathon

"The Marathon Race on the final afternoon of the track and field events provided as dramatic a finish as could have been devised, and was curiously reminiscent of the famous Dorando race of forty years before. There were forty-one starters, and Guinez, of the Argentine, led at the end of the first two miles. From the sixth mile onwards, it was the 21-year-old Gailly, of Belgium, who dominated the scene most of the way and until almost the very last moments. At 15 km. he was 14 seconds ahead of the rest of the field and nearly 1½ minutes ahead of Cabrera (Argentine). At 20 km. he was leading by half a minute and still about the same distance in advance of Cabrera. Cabrera had closed the gap slightly by 25 km., being 1 minute 11 seconds behind the leader; Richards (Great Britain) was another 1½ minutes behind the Argentinian. At 30 km. Gailly was 53 seconds ahead of Cabrera, and five kilometres later it was Choi (of Korea) who had snatched the lead, 28 seconds ahead of Cabrera, with Gailly another three seconds behind, and Richards fifth, 20 seconds behind Gailly. With 5,000 metres to go, Cabrera was leading, five seconds ahead of Gailly, with Richards another 11 seconds behind. Gailly's Gallant Failure Just about half-past five Gailly entered the Stadium, well-nigh exhausted and hardly able to drag one foot after the other. Less than 500 yards away was the Olympic Crown waiting to be grasped. Only just over a lap of the track to go, but he had covered nearly 26 miles. Hardly had he taken half a dozen steps round the Wembley track, when another figure entered—Cabrera of the Argentine, and it was plain that he would have no difficulty in overhauling his gallant, but practically insensible, Belgian opponent. About ten seconds later Richards entered the Stadium and he, too, had no difficulty in passing the Belgian, who finished third just over half a minute ahead of the South African, Coleman, who was sixth in the 1936 Games. The 16-second margin between the first two men was even smaller than the distance between Zabala (Argentine) and Ferris (Great Britain) at Los Angeles in 1932, but not quite as small as the margin (12.8 seconds) by which Hannes Kohlemainen was successful at Antwerp in 1920." Official Report of the XIV OLYMPIAD LONDON 1948