Cosmas N'Deti took little time passing Kim Jae-Yong when the two
reached
the 23-mile mark of yesterday's Boston Marathon. Disappointment
crept up on
Kim shortly thereafter and hung around the Korean a long time.
Kim, the winner of the 1992 Seoul Marathon, said afterward he
couldn't
believe it when he saw N'Deti go by. Just prior to that, Kim was
about 20
yards away from front-runner Lucketz Swartbooi of Namibia and
considering
making a challenge for first place. After N'Deti passed him, Kim
turned around
and saw no one close behind. Figuring he probably could not catch
the two
runners before him, he aimed at saving face -- vowing to himself
that no one
else would creep up and go by him, as if he were in the right lane
on the
expressway.
That put some kick back in his legs, and at the 25.3-mile mark,
Kim went
past Swartbooi. On the final turn onto Boylston Street, he had a
slim chance
to catch N'Deti, who was frequently looking back. With his head
tilting to one
side, Kim closed in and seemed to be just over N'Deti's shoulder.
But then he
began to fade as N'Deti accelerated down the stretch, pumping his
right fist.
Still, a desire to save face gave Kim a finishing boost, and he
was runner-
up to N'Deti by 10 seconds in 2 hours 9 minutes 43 seconds. It
was just 13
seconds slower than Kim's personal best in Seoul.
The little-known Swartbooi, who took the lead just after the
halfway point
and held it until N'Deti passed him at the 24.3-mile mark,
finished third in
2:09:57. Japan's Hiromi Taniguchi, who began 1992 ranked No. 1 in
the world by
Track and Field News, finished fourth in 2:11:02.
Kim, the first elite Korean runner to race at Boston since Kee
Yong Ham won
in 1950, won his first Seoul Marathon in 1991 and earned a silver
medal in the
1990 Asian Games 10,000 meters.
He went into the race trying primarily to eclipse his personal
record. He
wasn't among the leaders after the 5-mile mark but moved into
sixth place at
the 10-mile mark. He moved up to fourth by the halfway point and
to second by
the 18.6-mile mark.
But after N'Deti passed him, Kim said, "My legs started cramping
up. I was
just waiting for the cramps to go away so I could go out and try
to run for
first place. Because I was so far away, I knew it would be
difficult."
Kim turned around "at the 40-kilometer mark, and I didn't see
anyone behind
me," he said. "When N'Deti passed me, I was disappointed. I said
then I would
not be passed by another runner. That helped me."
Like many other runners, Kim said the warm weather was a problem,
though
Swartbooi said it didn't bother him much. "The weather was very
good for me,"
said Swartbooi. "It's very hot in my country."
Swartbooi had much more difficu him over the
last 2 miles. At the 22-mile mark, Swartbooi was about 20 yards
ahead of Kim.
At the 24.3 mark, N'Deti came up on Swartbooi's left side. With
the two
running stride for stride for a few meters, N'Deti took a few
glances at
Swartbooi, who kept staring straight ahead. N'Deti took one more
look before
pulling away.
"When you are running against someone, you can tell if he is
tired," said
N'Deti. "I was trying to look at his face to understand whether he
can beat me
or if I could beat him."
The latter notion turned out correct.
Asked if he thought he had a good opportunity to win, Swartbooi
said, "I
just wanted to be in a good position. I was not expecting to win
the race.
"Of course, because this is my first time running the Boston
Marathon, it
was good for me."
Markova solid in her defense
By Barbara Huebner, Globe Staff, 4/20/93
If Olga Markova had a point to prove, she went a long way toward
proving it
yesterday.
The Russian marathoner's time of 2 hours 25 minutes 27 seconds was
good for
her second straight Boston Marathon victory, the first
back-to-back women's
victor since Rosa Mota of Portugal in 1987-88.
It was good for the fastest time in the world so far this year.
It was good for $65,000.
And it had to be good for an "I told you so" to the federation
that chose
the members of the Unified Team for the 1992 Olympic marathon,
which left her
off the squad because she chose not to compete in the Los Angeles
Marathon
qualifier.
Markova crossed the finish line 4 1/2 minutes ahead of runner-up
Kim Jones
of Spokane, Wash., making a strong comeback from a string of
injuries and
setbacks. Third was Brazilian Carmen De Oliviera, who appeared
pleased with a
Boston debut time of 2:31:18 that she said was a personal best by
10 minutes.
The Markova-less Olympic squad in Barcelona ended up with a
surprise gold
medalist in 29-year-old Valentina Yegorova. But that only
sharpened Markova's
disappointment. She has made it plain -- mostly through her
manager/
interpreter Gregory Viniar, but occasionally in her hesitant but
clear English
-- that she was shattered and angry at not being given the chance
to chase her
own Olympic dream. The evidence to support her unhappiness was not
weak: Her
PR, in a 2:23:43 Boston win last year, was almost 5 minutes faster
than
Yegorova's.
Yesterday was their first head-to-head meeting. To the 12th mile,
it was
exactly that, as they ran together, Markova's smooth strides in
contrast to
Yegorova's choppier style. Three miles earlier, they had begun to
rid
themselves of Wanda Panfil, the 1991 Boston winner, who was
breathing hard and
looking uncomfortable, even distracted, for several miles before
falling off
the pace. Panfil dropped out, dejected, at the 18-mile mark.
Visions of a classic duel had barely formed, however, when
Yegorova, who
had been hospitalized in Japan six weeks ago with the flu, began
to falter
just before Wellesley College. She slipped back quickly. For a
mile or so, her
blue shorts could be seen, slowly fading in the distance until
Markova was the
only woman in view.
It was a view the 24-year-old Markova didn't appear able to enjoy
until
after the Newton Hills. Shortly after turning the corner onto
Commonwealth
Avenue, she looked around to see if any other woman was in sight.
None was.
Still, she seemed cautious through the hills, perhaps aware that
if the leg
''discomfort" that prompted her to curtail her winter racing was
going to show
up anywhere, these downhills would be the place.
Once she was down the backside of Heartbreak Hill, though, she
began to
look more relaxed. And relieved.
Perhaps it was only coincidence that Yegorova eventually dropped
out at
about the same spot.
"I am happy every time that I finish a marathon," said Markova
through her
interpreter. "I have no special feelings about this one. Valentina
Yegorova
was not prepared well enough to compete with me today."
And Yegorova?
"I am very pleased with Olga Markova's result because, as myself,
she
trained hard for this race," she said through her interpreter. "It
is a good
result and I am happy for her."
The flu had caught up with her, though: "I was not trained
enough."
Even this win was not without at least a hint of controversy for
Markova.
At the postrace news conference, several questions were raised
about whether
she had been paced by male runners for a long stretch in midrace.
Markova and her interpreter laughed off the queries. "I felt it
was
something to overcome because I would like them to be on their
way," she said
through Viniar.
Meanwhile, on her way was Jones, who steadily picked off her
wilting
competitors.
"It was a very rough day out there," she said of the heat and
almost
cloudless sky. "We all went out fairly hard. It's just that they
went out
harder and died more than I did."
If Jones was the least disappointed at not winning, she hid it
well. "We
all want to win," she said, "but second is better than third, as
my daughter
would say."
Of the victor, Jones said simply, "I don't think anybody could've
beat her
today."
It was a good year for Americans. Joan Benoit Samuelson of
Freeport,
Maine, was sixth; Joy Smith of Houston was ninth; and Jane Welzel,
of Fort
Collins, Colo., and formerly of Hopkinton itself, was 11th. Last
year, the top
American woman was Welzel, in 10th.
Lisa Weidenbach of Gig Harbor, Wash., wasn't so lucky. Injuries
from a
training run Friday, when she was hit by a car, forced her to quit
after 9
miles.
