Korean Bong Ju Lee, who won here in 1993, took the silver medal in the same Olympic race. Shorter has lost sight of the front-runners, but he has enjoyed melting into the rank and file. He said it gave him a chance to taste the true flavor of the Honolulu Marathon. And for me, that's the very interesting part. No one knows what anybody else does for a living.
Social equality sets in, and so does cultural equality.
Culturally, the face of the marathon has changed dramatically since 1973, with Japanese participation increasing to extraordinary levels. At its peak, Japanese participation accounted for 70 percent of the field in 1991. Last year, the 18,285 Japanese entries represented 59.25 percent of the 30,864 entries. Sponsorship by Japan Airlines, heavy promotion of marathon travel packages and the unrestricted nature of the Honolulu race have made it a highly attractive event. In Japan, all races have time standards and entries are limited, whereas Honolulu requires no time standards and the field has thus never been capped.