Dutch swimmer and cancer survivor Maarten van der Weijden enjoyed the race of his life as he sprinted in a three-way battle against Great Britain's David Davies and Germany's Thomas Lurz to a spectacular finish under a scorching rain, and most importantly, to claim the Olympic title in the inaugural men's open water marathon. With only a few hundred metres left, he pulled ahead from the rest of the field before slapping the yellow pads first in 1:51:51.6.[2][3] Van der Weijden was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001; however, with the aid of a stem cell treatment, he came back stronger from a two-year ordeal to resume his swimming career.[4]
Leading almost the entire race by over six body lengths, Davies drifted offline at the final stages, and eventually missed out the title by 1.5 seconds with the silver-medal time in 1:51:53.1.[5] Meanwhile, Lurz held off the final pack to claim the bronze in 1:51:53.6, finishing exactly two seconds behind Van der Weijden.[6][7]
Farther from the trio, Italy's Valerio Cleri finished off the podium with a fourth-place time in 1:52:07.5, and was followed in fifth by Russia's Evgeny Drattsev at 1:52:08.9. Bulgaria's Petar Stoychev, the English Channel record holder, trailed behind his Russian rival in a sprint challenge by two-tenths of a second (0.20), earning a sixth spot in 1:52:09.1. Belgium's Brian Ryckeman (1:52:10.7) and U.S. swimmer Mark Warkentin (1:52:13.0) managed to pull off from the rest of the field with a top-eight finish.[7][8]
Russia's pre-Olympic favorite and world champion Vladimir Dyatchin was disqualified from the race after he received a pair of yellow cards for obstructing his fellow swimmers and a red card for misconduct.[7][9]
9: the top-9 finishers at the Good Luck Beijing Olympic 10K Marathon Test Event (31 May–1 June 2008 in Beijing, China).[11]
5: one representative from each FINA continent (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania). (These were selected based on the finishes at the World Championships.)[10]
1: from the host nation (China) if not qualified by other means.
Competition formatedit
Unlike all of the other swimming events in the pool, the men's and women's marathon 10 kilometre races were held in open water. No preliminary heats were held, with only the single mass-start race being contested. This race is held using freestyle swimming, with a lack of stroke regulations. For most of the event swimmers use the front crawl, but modifications are used situationally, especially when swimmers reach feeding stations.[12]
Open water swimming events require different tactics and showcase several different racing strategies that are more common to competitive cycling, marathon running and water polo than traditional pool swimming. It is one of the few Olympic sports where the athlete's coaches play a critical role during the actual event. The coaches have four opportunities to provide drinks to their athletes as the athletes swim by floating pontoons in the course. If the coach falls in the water, his or her athlete is immediately disqualified.
^"Olympic Swimming Schedule". USA Today. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
^"Van der Weijden wins 10K swimming race in close finish". Beijing 2008. NBC Olympics. 20 August 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
^"Holland's van der Weijden wins men's 10km marathon swim". ABC News Australia. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
^Paxinos, Stathi (21 August 2008). "After leukemia, marathon a breeze". The Age. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
^"Battling Davies wins 10km silver". BBC Sport. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
^Lord, Craig (21 August 2008). "Swimmer David Davies wins silver medal for Britain". The Times. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
^ abc. Swimming World Magazine. 21 August 2008. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
^"Warkentin finishes 8th in first-ever men's Olympic 10k marathon swim". USA Swimming. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
^Harris, Nick (21 August 2008). "Davies makes a splash in more ways than one". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
^ abMunatones, Steve (4 May 2008). . Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
^Munatones, Steve (1 June 2008). . Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
swimming, 2008, summer, olympics, marathon, kilometre, marathon, kilometre, event, 2008, olympic, games, took, place, august, shunyi, olympic, rowing, canoeing, park, beijing, china, open, water, marathonat, games, xxix, olympiadgold, medal, winner, maarten, w. The men s marathon 10 kilometre event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 21 August at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing Canoeing Park in Beijing China 1 Men s 10 km open water marathonat the Games of the XXIX OlympiadGold medal winner Maarten van der Weijden VenueShunyi Olympic Rowing Canoeing ParkDateAugust 21 2008Competitors25 from 24 nationsWinning time1 51 51 6MedalistsMaarten van der Weijden NetherlandsDavid Davies Great BritainThomas Lurz Germany2012 Dutch swimmer and cancer survivor Maarten van der Weijden enjoyed the race of his life as he sprinted in a three way battle against Great Britain s David Davies and Germany s Thomas Lurz to a spectacular finish under a scorching rain and most importantly to claim the Olympic title in the inaugural men s open water marathon With only a few hundred metres left he pulled ahead from the rest of the field before slapping the yellow pads first in 1 51 51 6 2 3 Van der Weijden was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001 however with the aid of a stem cell treatment he came back stronger from a two year ordeal to resume his swimming career 4 Leading almost the entire race by over six body lengths Davies drifted offline at the final stages and eventually missed out the title by 1 5 seconds with the silver medal time in 1 51 53 1 5 Meanwhile Lurz held off the final pack to claim the bronze in 1 51 53 6 finishing exactly two seconds behind Van der Weijden 6 7 Farther from the trio Italy s Valerio Cleri finished off the podium with a fourth place time in 1 52 07 5 and was followed in fifth by Russia s Evgeny Drattsev at 1 52 08 9 Bulgaria s Petar Stoychev the English Channel record holder trailed behind his Russian rival in a sprint challenge by two tenths of a second 0 20 earning a sixth spot in 1 52 09 1 Belgium s Brian Ryckeman 1 52 10 7 and U S swimmer Mark Warkentin 1 52 13 0 managed to pull off from the rest of the field with a top eight finish 7 8 Russia s pre Olympic favorite and world champion Vladimir Dyatchin was disqualified from the race after he received a pair of yellow cards for obstructing his fellow swimmers and a red card for misconduct 7 9 Contents 1 Qualification 2 Competition format 3 Results 4 References 5 External linksQualification editThe men s 10 km races at the 2008 Olympics featured a field of twenty five swimmers 10 the top 10 finishers in the 10 km races at the 2008 FINA World Championships in Seville Spain 10 9 the top 9 finishers at the Good Luck Beijing Olympic 10K Marathon Test Event 31 May 1 June 2008 in Beijing China 11 5 one representative from each FINA continent Africa Americas Asia Europe and Oceania These were selected based on the finishes at the World Championships 10 1 from the host nation China if not qualified by other means Competition format editUnlike all of the other swimming events in the pool the men s and women s marathon 10 kilometre races were held in open water No preliminary heats were held with only the single mass start race being contested This race is held using freestyle swimming with a lack of stroke regulations For most of the event swimmers use the front crawl but modifications are used situationally especially when swimmers reach feeding stations 12 Open water swimming events require different tactics and showcase several different racing strategies that are more common to competitive cycling marathon running and water polo than traditional pool swimming It is one of the few Olympic sports where the athlete s coaches play a critical role during the actual event The coaches have four opportunities to provide drinks to their athletes as the athletes swim by floating pontoons in the course If the coach falls in the water his or her athlete is immediately disqualified Results editRank Athlete Nation Time Timebehind Notes nbsp Maarten van der Weijden nbsp Netherlands 1 51 51 6 nbsp David Davies nbsp Great Britain 1 51 53 1 00 0 1 5 nbsp Thomas Lurz nbsp Germany 1 51 53 6 00 0 2 0 4 Valerio Cleri nbsp Italy 1 52 07 5 00 15 9 5 Evgeny Drattsev nbsp Russia 1 52 08 9 00 17 3 6 Petar Stoychev nbsp Bulgaria 1 52 09 1 00 17 5 7 Brian Ryckeman nbsp Belgium 1 52 10 7 00 19 1 8 Mark Warkentin nbsp United States 1 52 13 0 00 21 4 9 Chad Ho nbsp South Africa 1 52 13 1 00 21 5 10 Erwin Maldonado nbsp Venezuela 1 52 13 6 00 22 0 11 Ky Hurst nbsp Australia 1 52 13 7 00 22 1 12 Igor Chervynskiy nbsp Ukraine 1 52 14 7 00 23 1 13 Francisco Jose Hervas nbsp Spain 1 52 16 5 00 24 9 14 Allan do Carmo nbsp Brazil 1 52 16 6 00 25 0 15 Gilles Rondy nbsp France 1 52 16 7 00 25 1 16 Spyridon Gianniotis nbsp Greece 1 52 20 4 00 28 8 17 Rostislav Vitek nbsp Czech Republic 1 52 41 8 00 50 2 18 Luis Escobar nbsp Mexico 1 53 47 9 0 1 56 3 19 Saleh Mohammad nbsp Syria 1 54 37 7 0 2 46 1 20 Mohamed Monir nbsp Egypt 1 55 17 0 0 3 25 4 21 Damian Blaum nbsp Argentina 1 55 48 6 0 3 57 0 22 Arseniy Lavrentyev nbsp Portugal 2 03 39 6 11 48 0 23 Xin Tong nbsp China 2 09 13 4 17 21 8 Csaba Gercsak nbsp Hungary DNF Vladimir Dyatchin nbsp Russia DSQReferences edit Olympic Swimming Schedule USA Today 9 August 2008 Retrieved 14 May 2013 Van der Weijden wins 10K swimming race in close finish Beijing 2008 NBC Olympics 20 August 2008 Retrieved 5 July 2013 Holland s van der Weijden wins men s 10km marathon swim ABC News Australia 21 August 2008 Retrieved 5 July 2013 Paxinos Stathi 21 August 2008 After leukemia marathon a breeze The Age Retrieved 5 July 2013 Battling Davies wins 10km silver BBC Sport 21 August 2008 Retrieved 5 July 2013 Lord Craig 21 August 2008 Swimmer David Davies wins silver medal for Britain The Times Retrieved 5 July 2013 a b c Olympics Open Water Maarten van der Weijden Survives Leukemia to Claim Men s 10K Gold Swimming World Magazine 21 August 2008 Archived from the original on 4 July 2013 Retrieved 4 July 2013 Warkentin finishes 8th in first ever men s Olympic 10k marathon swim USA Swimming 21 August 2008 Retrieved 5 July 2013 Harris Nick 21 August 2008 Davies makes a splash in more ways than one The Independent Archived from the original on 2022 05 26 Retrieved 5 July 2013 a b Munatones Steve 4 May 2008 FINA World Open Water Championships Russia Revisited Hackett Disqualification Report Swimming World Magazine Archived from the original on 29 August 2012 Retrieved 4 July 2013 Munatones Steve 1 June 2008 Open Water Test Event Olympic 10K Marathon Swim Fields Set Swimming World Magazine Archived from the original on 29 March 2014 Retrieved 4 July 2013 Inside the Sport Competition format Beijing 2008 NBC Olympics Retrieved 5 July 2013 External links editOfficial Olympic Report Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics Men 27s marathon 10 kilometre amp oldid 1117446136, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
