The Atlanta Olympic marathon was instructional as far as championship tactics go. After a fairly lackluster first half (even the Americans were in it through 15M!), the S. African squad tested the field at about 16M to see who would respond. Only Lee Bong-Ju came along. They backed off the pace for a couple of miles and let what was left of the pack catch up, but then Josiah Thugwane bolted, building a lead which Lee had to work very hard to close, while the main group had no answer at all. Sensing the medal train leaving the station, Kenya's 22-year-old Erick Wainaina took a last look at the pack around him and threw in a 4:47 mile - with a good portion of it uphill - to reel in the two leaders, and from then on it was cat-and-mouse. Lots of gut-wrenching surges, both short and long, ensued on the hilly course, as pre-race favorite Martin Fiz from Spain (who had outkicked Lee by one second in a 2:08:25 race ealier that year) kept trying in vain to rejoin the leaders. The 99-lb. Thugwane was built for the course and the heat and seemed to be able to break free easily at any time and was also able to shadow anything the others did, while Lee had to work extremely hard to close any gap that Thugwane opened. Wainaina didn't have any short surge gears at all but always worked his way back when dropped. He appeared to want a faster, more steady pace, but was reluctant to lead, although he looked strong enough to have won the race if it had been 30 miles. Lee seemed to be in pain running the downhills. Knowing that the stretch from the 25M point to the stadium was downhill, Lee made a last-ditch effort to break away on an uphill right before the 25M point, but he couldn't shake the others. Thugwane tore out of there on the downhill on his way to ripping off a 4:28 mile. Lee and Wainaina strung out behind him, the strain of the hellacious pace evident on their faces, but they didn't let Thugwane have it easy. Wainaina patiently worked his way back to Lee just before the stadium tunnel, but the gutsy Korean repassed him and actually closed on Thugwane a little on the track. Thugwane's last 400m was 70 seconds as he slowed some in the last 30m to wave his arms in victory. Lee gutted out a 68-point (dead set on reeling in Thugwane even in the final meters) to finish 3 seconds behind, making the closest race in Olympic marathon history. Wainaina was another 5 ticks back with the Bronze (and came back in Sydney to win the Silver, making him one of the better Olympic marathoners in history). In any event, this was a great race. Those guys KILLED each other during the last 7.5 miles on a muggy morning and on a tough course. You'll rarely see three guys hammering each other all the way to the last lap like that.