Tike Gelana felt the marathon slipping away when she tumbled on the rain-slickened street in London during the Olympic women's marathon August 5.

Around the halfway point of the race, the Ethiopian was knocked down by another runner as she reached for her water bottle, a hard fall that bloodied her right elbow. Already aching, Gelana thought about pulling out. Instead, she found new motivation, and headed on down the road.

Gelana recovered from the fall to win the Olympic marathon on Sunday in a race that began in a downpour, was briefly brightened by sunshine and ended in another drenching rain.

She was soaked as she crossed the finish line, but she didn't seem to mind, raising her hands high to celebrate after navigating the rainy course in a new Olympic Record time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, 7 seconds to hold off Priscah Jeptoo of Kenya by five seconds. Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova of Russia won the bronze by running an amazing race.  She improved her PR by over three minutes finishing with 2:23:29.

Comments

What are the runners saying about the Marathon course in London? I like a lot of turns but some were really sharp! I wonder how the men will handle this course on Sunday? Go Meb!!!!
Bob Anderson 8/7/12 3:32 pm