# Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

The men's marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea was held on Sunday October 2, 1988. The race started at 14:30h local time. A total of 98 athletes completed the race, with Polin Belisle from Belize finishing in last position in 3'14:02. There were 118 competitors from 60 countries. Twenty 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 Gelindo Bordin of Italy, the nation's first victory in the Olympic men's marathon and first medal in the event since 1924. Kenya (Douglas Wakiihuri's silver) and Djibouti (Hussein Ahmed Salah's bronze) each won their first Olympic men's marathon medal.

## Background

This was the 21st appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Returning runners from the 1984 marathon included silver medalist John Treacy of Ireland, bronze medalist Charlie Spedding of Great Britain, fifth-place finisher Robert de Castella of Australia, and sixth-place finisher Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania. The favorites included de Castella, Gelindo Bordin of Italy, and rising star Hussein Ahmed Salah of Djibouti. Douglas Wakiihuri of Kenya had won the 1987 world championship over Ahmed Salah and Bordin.
American Samoa, Angola, Belize, (the People's Republic of) China, Fiji, Guam, Guinea, the Maldives, Niger, Rwanda, and the Solomon Islands each made their first appearance in Olympic men's marathons. The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
Gary Fanelli of the United States moved to Tafuna, American Samoa six months prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul in order to coach and attain his Olympic eligibility for America Samoa. Fanelli's time of 2:25:35, good for 51st place, is an American Samoan national record.

## 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 an out-and-back route starting and finishing at the Olympic Stadium, running along the Han River.

## Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1988 Summer Olympics.
| World record | Belayneh Densamo (ETH) | 2:06:50 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | 17 April 1988 |
| Olympic record | Carlos Lopes (POR) | 2:09:21 | Los Angeles, United States | 12 August July 1984 |
No new world or Olympic bests were set during the competition.

## Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Sunday, 2 October 1988 | 14:35 | Final |

## Results

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Time |
| | Gelindo Bordin | Italy | 2:10:32 |
| | Douglas Wakiihuri | Kenya | 2:10:47 |
| | Hussein Ahmed Salah | Djibouti | 2:10:59 |
| 4 | Takeyuki Nakayama | Japan | 2:11:05 |
| 5 | Steve Moneghetti | Australia | 2:11:49 |
| 6 | Charlie Spedding | Great Britain | 2:12:19 |
| 7 | Juma Ikangaa | Tanzania | 2:13:06 |
| 8 | Robert de Castella | Australia | 2:13:07 |
| 9 | Toshihiko Seko | Japan | 2:13:41 |
| 10 | Ravil Kashapov | Soviet Union | 2:13:49 |
| 11 | Jesús Herrera | Mexico | 2:13:58 |
| 12 | John Campbell | New Zealand | 2:14:08 |
| 13 | Gerard Nijboer | Netherlands | 2:14:40 |
| 14 | Pete Pfitzinger | United States | 2:14:44 |
| 15 | Marti ten Kate | Netherlands | 2:14:53 |
| 16 | Orlando Pizzolato | Italy | 2:15:20 |
| 17 | Hisatoshi Shintaku | Japan | 2:15:42 |
| 18 | Kim Won-Tak | South Korea | 2:15:44 |
| 19 | Gianni Poli | Italy | 2:16:07 |
| 20 | Dieudonné LaMothe | Haiti | 2:16:15 |
| 21 | Dave Long | Great Britain | 2:16:18 |
| 22 | Henrik Jørgensen | Denmark | 2:16:40 |
| 23 | Ralf Salzmann | West Germany | 2:16:54 |
| 24 | Dick Hooper | Ireland | 2:17:16 |
| 25 | Miroslavo Vindiš | Yugoslavia | 2:17:47 |
| 26 | Cai Shangyan | China | 2:17:54 |
| 27 | Joaquim Silva | Portugal | 2:18:05 |
| 28 | Art Boileau | Canada | 2:18:20 |
| 29 | Ed Eyestone | United States | 2:19:09 |
| 30 | Noureddine Sobhi | Morocco | 2:19:56 |
| 31 | Yu Jae-seong | South Korea | 2:20:11 |
| 32 | Mehmet Terzi | Turkey | 2:20:12 |
| 33 | Kevin Forster | Great Britain | 2:20:45 |
| 34 | Bigboy Josie Matlapeng | Botswana | 2:20:51 |
| 35 | Allaoua Khellil | Algeria | 2:21:12 |
| 36 | Justin Gloden | Luxembourg | 2:22:14 |
| 37 | Alexandre Gonzalez | France | 2:22:24 |
| 38 | Zhang Guowei | China | 2:22:49 |
| 39 | Pedro Ortiz | Colombia | 2:23:34 |
| 40 | Ronald Lanzoni | Costa Rica | 2:23:45 |
| 41 | Bradley Camp | Australia | 2:23:49 |
| 42 | Adolphe Ambowode | Central African Republic | 2:23:52 |
| 43 | John Burra | Tanzania | 2:24:17 |
| 44 | Samuel Hlawe | Swaziland | 2:24:42 |
| 45 | Juan Amores | Costa Rica | 2:24:49 |
| 46 | Peter Maher | Canada | 2:24:49 |
| 47 | Abdou Manzo | Niger | 2:25:05 |
| 48 | Diamantino dos Santos | Brazil | 2:25:13 |
| 49 | Omar Moussa | Djibouti | 2:25:25 |
| 50 | Carlos Retiz | Mexico | 2:25:34 |
| 51 | Gary Fanelli | American Samoa | 2:25:35 |
| 52 | John Woods | Ireland | 2:25:38 |
| 53 | Gideon Mthembu | Swaziland | 2:25:56 |
| 54 | Baikuntha Manandhar | Nepal | 2:25:57 |
| 55 | Karel David | Czechoslovakia | 2:26:12 |
| 56 | Ivo Rodrigues | Brazil | 2:26:27 |
| 57 | Martín Mondragón | Mexico | 2:27:10 |
| 58 | Vusie Dlamini | Swaziland | 2:28:06 |
| 59 | Inni Aboubacar | Niger | 2:28:15 |
| 60 | Yohanna Waziri | Nigeria | 2:29:14 |
| 61 | Noheku Nteso | Lesotho | 2:29:44 |
| 62 | Benjamin Longiros | Uganda | 2:30:29 |
| 63 | Vincent Ruguga | Uganda | 2:31:04 |
| 64 | Alfonso Abellán | Spain | 2:31:10 |
| 65 | Vithanakande Samarasinghe | Sri Lanka | 2:31:29 |
| 66 | Tika Bogati | Nepal | 2:31:49 |
| 67 | Dave Edge | Canada | 2:32:19 |
| 68 | Luis López | Costa Rica | 2:32:43 |
| 69 | Juan Camacho | Bolivia | 2:34:41 |
| 70 | Abbas Mohamed | Nigeria | 2:35:26 |
| 71 | Ahmet Altun | Turkey | 2:37:44 |
| 72 | James Gombedza | Zimbabwe | 2:38:13 |
| 73 | Kamana Koji | Zaire | 2:38:34 |
| 74 | João Carvalho | Angola | 2:40:45 |
| 75 | Aaron Dupnai | Papua New Guinea | 2:41:47 |
| 76 | Bineshwar Prasad | Fiji | 2:41:50 |
| 77 | Calvin Dallas | Virgin Islands | 2:42:19 |
| 78 | Telesphore Dusabe | Rwanda | 2:42:52 |
| 79 | Eugène Muslar | Belize | 2:43:29 |
| 80 | Hassan Karimou | Niger | 2:43:51 |
| 81 | Wallace Williams | Virgin Islands | 2:44:40 |
| 82 | Mohala Mohloli | Lesotho | 2:44:44 |
| 83 | Awadh Shaban Al-Sameer | Oman | 2:46:59 |
| 84 | Derick Adamson | Jamaica | 2:47:57 |
| 85 | Krishna Bahadur Basnet | Nepal | 2:47:57 |
| 86 | Fred Schumann | Guam | 2:49:52 |
| 87 | John Mwathiwa | Malawi | 2:51:43 |
| 88 | Marlon Williams | Virgin Islands | 2:52:06 |
| 89 | Kaleka Mutoke | Zaire | 2:55:21 |
| 90 | James Walker | Guam | 2:56:32 |
| 91 | Mohiddin Mohamed Kulmiye | Somalia | 2:58:10 |
| 92 | Fred Ogwang | Uganda | 2:59:35 |
| 93 | Naser Babapour | Iran | 3:00:20 |
| 94 | Ricardo Taitano | Guam | 3:03:19 |
| 95 | Baba Ibrahim Suma-Keita | Sierra Leone | 3:04:00 |
| 96 | Alassane Bah | Guinea | 3:06:27 |
| 97 | Nguyễn Văn Thuyết | Vietnam | 3:10:57 |
| 98 | Polin Belisle | Belize | 3:14:02 |
| — | Ahmed Mohamed Ismail | Somalia | DNF |
| — | Bruno Lafranchi | Switzerland | DNF |
| — | Ibrahim Hussein | Kenya | DNF |
| — | Alain Lazare | France | DNF |
| — | John Treacy | Ireland | DNF |
| — | Dirk Vanderherten | Belgium | DNF |
| — | Domingo Aguilar | Chile | DNF |
| — | Honorato Hernández | Spain | DNF |
| — | Jörg Peter | East Germany | DNF |
| — | Joseph Kipsang | Kenya | DNF |
| — | Gwon Seong-nak | South Korea | DNF |
| — | El Mostafa Nechchadi | Morocco | DNF |
| — | George Mambosasa | Malawi | DNF |
| — | Abdul Haji Abdul Latheef | Maldives | DNF |
| — | Hussein Haleem | Maldives | DNF |
| — | Geir Kvernmo | Norway | DNF |
| — | Paulo Catarino | Portugal | DNF |
| — | John Maeke | Solomon Islands | DNF |
| — | Martin Vrábeľ | Czechoslovakia | DNF |
| — | Mark Conover | United States | DNF |