# Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

The men's marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, was held on Sunday October 20, 1968. The race started at 15:00h local time. There were 75 competitors from 41 countries. Eighteen of them did not finish. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia, the nation's third consecutive gold medal in the Olympic marathon (matching France for most golds overall in the event).

## Background

This was the 16th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1964 marathon included two-time defending champion Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia, fifth-place finisher József Sütő of Hungary, and eighth-place finisher Kenji Kimihara of Japan. Abebe would have been favored but was recovering from an appendectomy and stress fracture. His countryman Mamo Wolde (who had run in 1964 but had not finished, while his brother Demissie Wolde finished 10th) was a "formidable contender," particularly with the high altitude of Mexico City seen as being favorable to the Ethiopian team, used to high altitudes.
Costa Rica, Guyana, Kuwait, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zambia each made their first appearance in Olympic marathons; East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 16th appearance, the only nation to have competed in each Olympic marathon to that point.

## Competition format and course

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards was run over a point-to-point course. The course ran from the Zócalo to the Olympic Stadium.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Derek Clayton (AUS) | 2:09:36.4 | Fukuoka, Japan | 3 December 1967 |
| Olympic record | Abebe Bikila (ETH) | 2:12:11.2 | Tokyo, Japan | 21 October 1964 |
No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.

## Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 18 October 1968 | 15:00 | Final |

## Results

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Mamo Wolde | Ethiopia | 2:20:26 |
| | Kenji Kimihara | Japan | 2:23:31 |
| | Mike Ryan | New Zealand | 2:23:45 |
| 4 | İsmail Akçay | Turkey | 2:25:18 |
| 5 | Bill Adcocks | Great Britain | 2:25:33 |
| 6 | Gabrou Merawi | Ethiopia | 2:27:16 |
| 7 | Derek Clayton | Australia | 2:27:23 |
| 8 | Tim Johnston | Great Britain | 2:28:04 |
| 9 | Akio Usami | Japan | 2:28:06 |
| 10 | Andy Boychuk | Canada | 2:28:40 |
| 11 | Gaston Roelants | Belgium | 2:29:04 |
| 12 | Pat McMahon | Ireland | 2:29:21 |
| 13 | Alfredo Peñaloza | Mexico | 2:29:48 |
| 14 | Kenny Moore | United States | 2:29:49 |
| 15 | Jürgen Busch | East Germany | 2:30:42 |
| 16 | George Young | United States | 2:31:15 |
| 17 | Manfred Steffny | West Germany | 2:31:23 |
| 18 | Thin Sumbwegam | Burma | 2:32:22 |
| 19 | Naftali Temu | Kenya | 2:32:36 |
| 20 | Maurice Peiren | Belgium | 2:32:49 |
| 21 | Antonio Ambu | Italy | 2:33:19 |
| 22 | Ron Daws | United States | 2:33:53 |
| 23 | Karl-Heinz Sievers | West Germany | 2:34:11 |
| 24 | Gyula Tóth | Hungary | 2:34:49 |
| 25 | Hüseyin Aktaş | Turkey | 2:35:09 |
| 26 | Pablo Garrido | Mexico | 2:35:47 |
| 27 | Aad Steylen | Netherlands | 2:37:42 |
| 28 | Anatoly Sukharkov | Soviet Union | 2:38:07 |
| 29 | Lee Myeong-jeong | South Korea | 2:38:52 |
| 30 | Ivaylo Sharankov | Bulgaria | 2:39:49 |
| 31 | Gioacchino De Palma | Italy | 2:39:58 |
| 32 | Josef Gwerder | Switzerland | 2:40:16 |
| 33 | Hubert Riesner | West Germany | 2:41:29 |
| 34 | Georg Olsen | Denmark | 2:42:24 |
| 35 | Douglas Zinkala | Zambia | 2:42:51 |
| 36. | Ezequiel Baeza | Chile | 2:43:15 |
| 37 | Dave McKenzie | New Zealand | 2:43:36 |
| 38 | Kim Bong-nae | South Korea | 2:43:56 |
| 39 | Carlos Cuque | Guatemala | 2:45:20 |
| 40 | Godwin Kalimbwe | Zambia | 2:45:26 |
| 41 | Mick Molloy | Ireland | 2:48:13 |
| 42 | Nikola Simeonov | Bulgaria | 2:48:30 |
| 43 | John Farrington | Australia | 2:50:16 |
| 44 | Helmut Kunisch | Switzerland | 2:50:58 |
| 45 | Alifu Massaquoi | Sierra Leone | 2:52:28 |
| 46 | Lee Sang-Hoon | South Korea | 2:52:46 |
| 47 | Hla Thein | Burma | 2:54:03 |
| 48 | Paul Mose | Kenya | 2:55:17 |
| 49 | Benjamin Silva-Netto | Philippines | 2:56:19 |
| 50 | Harry Prowell | Guyana | 2:57:01 |
| 51 | Wimalasena Perera | Ceylon | 2:59:05 |
| 52 | Fulgencio Hernández | Guatemala | 3:00:40 |
| 53 | Gustavo Gutiérrez | Ecuador | 3:03:07 |
| 54 | Martin Ande | Nigeria | 3:03:47 |
| 55 | Mustafa Musa | Uganda | 3:04:53 |
| 56 | Enoch Muemba | Zambia | 3:06:16 |
| 57 | John Stephen Akhwari | Tanzania | 3:25:17 |
| — | Carlos Pérez | Spain | DNF |
| — | Rafael Pérez | Costa Rica | DNF |
| — | Abebe Bikila | Ethiopia | DNF |
| — | Jerome Drayton | Canada | DNF |
| — | Pentti Rummakko | Finland | DNF |
| — | Guy Texereau | France | DNF |
| — | René Combes | France | DNF |
| — | Jim Alder | Great Britain | DNF |
| — | Lajos Mecser | Hungary | DNF |
| — | József Sütő | Hungary | DNF |
| — | Seiichiro Sasaki | Japan | DNF |
| — | Mraljeb Ayed Mansoor | Kuwait | DNF |
| — | Saoud Obaid Daifallah | Kuwait | DNF |
| — | José García | Mexico | DNF |
| — | Edgar Friedli | Switzerland | DNF |
| — | Mukhamed Shakirov | Soviet Union | DNF |
| — | Armando González | Uruguay | DNF |
| — | Nedo Farčić | Yugoslavia | DNF |
| — | Hernán Barreneche | Colombia | DNS |
| — | Ton Eykenboom | Netherlands | DNS |
| — | Mohammed Gammoudi | Tunisia | DNS |
| — | Jürgen Haase | East Germany | DNS |
| — | Jouko Kuha | Finland | DNS |
| — | Ettore Milone | Italy | DNS |
| — | Edward Stawiarz | Poland | DNS |
| — | Yury Volkov | Soviet Union | DNS |