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| Event type

Marathon, Men

Date 7 August 1932 — 15:30
StatusOlympic
LocationLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
Participants28 from 14 countries
Format42,195 metres (26 miles, 385 yards) out-and-back.

The early favorite in 1932 was considered to be the great Finnish runner, Paavo Nurmi, who had never run a full marathon. In June he entered the Finnish Olympic trial, but announced to the official he would stop at around 40 km., because of an Achilles’ tendon problem. His time to there was just over 2-22, equivalent to about a 2-29 marathon, which would have won the race by six minutes. Nurmi made the trip to Los Angeles but did not run the Olympic marathon. Three days before the Olympics began, the IAAF suspended him for having accepted excessive expense money during some of his tours. He was declared a professional and was not allowed to compete in the Olympics.

The 1932 Olympic marathon course started and finished at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but was a loop course around Los Angeles. The best known runners in the race were two Britons, Sam Ferris and Duncan McLeod Wright. Also highly considered was the winner of the Finnish trial, Armas Toivonen. The Americans had no top contender but interestingly, an Argentine, Juan Carlos Zabala, had run in two of the American trial races, having come to the United States to acclimate himself. In the race, a stretched-out pack of five led thru 24 miles, which included Zabala, Ferris, Wright, Toivonen, and Japan’s Seiichiro Tsuda. Zabala took the lead but was struggling. Ferris, in fourth, was the freshest and closed quickly as they neared the stadium. But he had not started his surge soon enough, and Zabala won on the track by 19 seconds, with Ferris second, and Toivonen third. Zabala attempted two more marathons in his career, but never again finished the race.

PosNrAthleteNOCTime
112Juan Carlos ZabalaARG2-31:36GoldOB
2195Sam FerrisGBR2-31:55Silver
3137Armas ToivonenFIN2-32:12Bronze
4207Duncan WrightGBR2-32:41
5304Seiichiro TsudaJPN2-35:42
6285Kim Un-BaeJPN2-37:281
7446Whitey MichelsenUSA2-39:38
8110Oskar HekšTCH2-41:35
9283Kwon Tae-HaJPN2-42:522
10112Anders Hartington AndersenDEN2-44:38
11448Hans OldagUSA2-47:26
1263Cliff BrickerCAN2-47:58
13261Michele FanelliITA2-49:093
1474Johnny MilesCAN2-50:32
15162Paul de BruynGER2-52:39
16144François BégeotFRA2-53:34
173Fernando ChacarelliARG2-55:49
1867Eddie CudworthCAN2-58:35
1955João Clemente da SilvaBRA3-02:06
20338Margarito PomposoMEX3-10:51
DNF11José RibasARG
DNF44Matheus MarcondesBRA
DNF99Jorge PerryCOL
DNF123Ville KyrönenFIN
DNF139Lasse VirtanenFIN
DNF270Francesco RoccatiITA
DNF347Santiago HernándezMEX
DNF432Jimmy HeniganUSA
DNS24Franz TuschekAUT
DNS101René BonichCUB
DNS33Adalberto CardosoBRA
DNS115Alfred MaasikEST
DNS354Billy SavidanNZL