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| Event type

Marathon, Men

Date12 August 1984 — 17:15
StatusOlympic
LocationLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
Participants107 from 59 countries
Format42,195 metres (26 miles, 385 yards) point-to-point.

The three top marathon runners between 1980 and 1984 were Australia’s Rob de Castella, America’s Alberto Salazar, and Japan’s Toshihiko Seko. Salazar had won the New York Marathon in 1980, 1981, and 1982, and won Boston in 1981. His 1981 New York win in 2-08:12.7 appeared to be a world record but the course, on re-measurement, was found to be slightly short of the full marathon distance. That same year de Castella won Fukuoka in 2-08:18 and that time did become a world record for the marathon. He had also won the marathon at the first Athletics World Championships in 1983. Seko would have been a favorite in 1980, but Japan joined the American boycott of Moskva, and he could not run. In 1981 Seko won the Boston Marathon, and he had won four Fukuoka titles between 1979 and 1983.

The Olympic marathon course started at Santa Monica City College and ran thru Los Angeles, finishing at the LA Coliseum on the track. The race started at 5 PM and was run in warm sun throughout. Salazar, de Castella, and Seko all came to the starting line, but none of them figured among the leaders during the race. It was eventually won by the Portuguese Carlos Lopes. Lopes had been a top 10K track runner and in 1983 had won the International Cross-Country Championship at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. He had only once before finished a marathon, that in Rotterdam in 1983. In 1985, he would return to Rotterdam and set a world marathon best of 2-07:12. The other medalists were from the British Isles, with Ireland’s John Treacy winning the silver medal and Britain’s Charles Spedding the bronze. De Castella finished fifth, Seko 14th, and Salazar 15th.

PosNrAthleteNOCTime
1723Carlos LopesPOR2-09:21GoldOB
2471John TreacyIRL2-09:56Silver
3396Charlie SpeddingGBR2-09:58Bronze
4566Takeshi SoJPN2-10:55
525Rob de CastellaAUS2-11:09
6824Juma IkangaaTAN2-11:10
7594Joseph NzauKEN2-11:28
8205Djama RoblehDJI2-11:39
9466Jerry KiernanIRL2-12:20
10688Rod DixonNZL2-12:57
11932Pete PfitzingerUSA2-13:53
12374Hugh JonesGBR2-13:57
13731Jorge GonzálezPUR2-14:00
14563Toshihiko SekoJPN2-14:13
15936Alberto SalazarUSA2-14:19
16862Mehmet TerziTUR2-14:20
17565Shigeru SoJPN2-14:38
18333Ralf SalzmannFRG2-15:29
19201Henrik JørgensenDEN2-15:55
20204Ahmed SalahDJI2-15:59
211010Agapius AmoTAN2-16:25
22827Gidamis ShahangaTAN2-16:27
23104Eloi SchlederBRA2-16:35
2469Karel LismontBEL2-17:07
25202Allan ZachariasenDEN2-17:10
26427Michail KoussisGRE2-17:38
27269Pertti TiainenFIN2-17:43
28291Alain LazareFRA2-17:52
29878Vincent RugugaUGA2-17:54
3070Armand ParmentierBEL2-18:10
31734César MercadoPUR2-19:09
32203Abdillahi CharmakéDJI2-19:11
33676Øivind DahlNOR2-19:28
34689Derek FroudeNZL2-19:44
35499Giovanni D'AleoITA2-20:12
36640Jesús HerreraMEX2-20:33
37606Lee Hong-YeolKOR2-20:56
3883Juan CamachoBOL2-21:04
39447Cor VriendNED2-21:08
40611Frans NtaoleLES2-21:09
4168Johan GeirnaertBEL2-21:35
42274Jacky BoxbergerFRA2-22:00
43506Marco MarcheiITA2-22:38
44113Art BoileauCAN2-22:43
45818Sam HlaweSWZ2-22:45
46654Baikuntha ManandharNEP2-22:51
47775Ahmed Mohamed IsmailSOM2-23:27
48600Chae Hong-NakKOR2-23:33
49596Joseph OtienoKEN2-24:13
50789Bruno LafranchiSUI2-24:381
51465Dick HooperIRL2-24:412
52535Derrick AdamsonJAM2-25:02
53616Claudio CabánPUR2-27:163
54728Marc AgostaLUX2-27:41
5590Wilson ThelesoBOT2-29:20
56160Alejandro SilvaCHI2-29:534
57843Chen Chang-MingTPE2-29:575
58605Kim Won-SikKOR2-30:57
5917Rubén AguiarARG2-31:18
60480Shem-Tov SabagISR2-31:34
61612Vincent RakabaeleLES2-32:15
62200Marios KassianidisCYP2-32:51
63656Arjun PanditNEP2-32:53
64555Ismael Mahmoud GhassabJOR2-33:30
65114Alain BordeleauCAN2-34:27
66674Tau John TokwepotaPNG2-36:36
67968Patric Nyambariro-NhauroZIM2-37:18
68592Kimurgor NgenyKEN2-37:19
69657Amiri YadavNEP2-38:10
70110Adolphe AmbowodéCAF2-41:26
71969Carlos ÁvilaHON2-42:03
72619Jules RandrianariveloMAD2-43:05
73772Abdul Lahij AhmedSOM2-44:39
74627George MambosasaMAW2-46:14
75488Marlon WilliamsISV2-46:50
7688Johnson MbangiwaBOT2-48:12
77717Leonardo IllutPHI2-49:39
78984Dieudonné LamotheHAI2-52:18
DNF626Matthews KambaleMAW
DNF742Ibrahim Al-TaherQAT
DNF191Domingo TibaduizaCOL
DNF863Mehmet YurdadönTUR
DNF811Tommy PerssonSWE
DNF87Bigboy MatlapengBOT
DNF701Awadh Al-SameerOMA
DNF118Dave EdgeCAN
DNF719Cidálio CaetanoPOR
DNF944John TuttleUSA
DNF872Wilson AchiaUGA
DNF43Gerhard HartmannAUT
DNF445Cor LambregtsNED
DNF965Tommy LazarusZIM
DNF194Ronaldo LanzoniCRC
DNF446Gerard NijboerNED
DNF225Santiago de la ParteESP
DNF860Ahmet AltunTUR
DNF243Juan Carlos TraspaderneESP
DNF814Kjell-Erik StåhlSWE
DNF638Rodolfo GómezMEX
DNF395Geoff SmithGBR
DNF681Stig Roar HusbyNOR
DNF725Delfim MoreiraPOR
DNF635Miguel Ángel CruzMEX
DNF158Omar AguilarCHI
DNF992Nimley TwegbeLBR
DNF962Masini Situ-KumbangaCOD
DNF198Filippos FilippouCYP
DNS271Martti VainioFIN