BOSTON MARATHON : Hussein of Kenya, Markova of CIS Send Golden Message to Barcelona

The results of Monday’s 96th Boston Marathon sent a message to the world, with performances that will reverberate all the way to Barcelona, where the race might be replayed during the Olympics three months from now

The men’s and women’s winners ran the fastest times of the year, and had the second-best performances ever in Boston. Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya won the men’s race in 2 hours 8 minutes 14 seconds. Olga Markova of Russia won the women’s race in 2:23:43, the fastest time in the world in five years.

Each earned $60,000.

Hussein, who won here last year, merely solidified his place in the marathon’s firmament. Markova, 23, is considered the sport’s fastest-rising star and has yet to reveal her full talent. Both will be favored to win gold medals at Barcelona.

The Olympics were never far from anyone’s mind Monday. Hussein, already on Kenya’s Olympic team, came into the race saying that he was going to help the eight other Kenyan runners who were vying for the one remaining spot. Help he did, as African runners set the pace, maintained it, and pushed it when it became necessary.

“Although we were competing against each other, we were helping each other,” Hussein said. “If it hadn’t been for that guy who took off and sacrificed himself, I would not have run that fast. I’m so happy, I don’t know what to say.”

That guy was the inexperienced Simon Karori of Kenya, who set off at a blistering pace and held the lead until the 14th mile. Had the race been contested even a day earlier, when there was no sign of the sun and temperatures were in the 40s, Karori’s pace might not have been as devastating as it was.

Conditions at the start in Hopkinton were acceptable--58 degrees and 89% humidity--but as the runners wended their way eastward to Boston, the sun shone through the clouds and conditions worsened.

Karori held a huge lead early and was followed by a pack of nine, all from Kenya or Tanzania. By the eighth mile, the pack was seven. Karori looked strong, but to the amazement of observers, took no water until Mile 13, when he dashed a small cup of it over his head. This wasn’t enough to rehydrate him or even to have much effect.

The pack that had stalked Karori caught him slightly past the halfway point, while approaching the start of the course’s notorious hills. In the pack were Hussein and four other Kenyans, along with Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania.

Hussein is, by far, the most experienced marathoner in Kenya. As he drew near Karori, he passed on this advice to the younger runner: “Please, don’t go on running without drinking water.”

“Oh, oh, you want me to drink water?” Karori asked.

“Please,” Hussein said.

By the 16th mile, Karori apparently was on the verge of dropping out, and Hussein switched out of his helping mode into his racing mode. With that, he threw off the white cotton gloves he’d worn against the cold.

“It was time to start competing,” he said.

Hussein took off with Ikangaa by his side. Ikangaa is the sport’s most consistent performer, but has never had luck in Boston, where he has finished second three times.

Hussein left him behind at 20 miles, on the crest of Heartbreak Hill. It was a symbolic point in the race for Ikangaa, who faded to fourth. All of the other leading Africans also faded, and Joaquim Pinheiro of Portugal finished second in 2:10:39 and Andreas Espinosa of Mexico was third in 2:10:44.

The fastest Kenyan behind Hussein was Boniface Merende, in sixth. Kenyan officials said they would wait until later to select the final Olympic marathon team.

Markova also capitalized on the race’s fast early pace. Wanda Panfil of Poland, the world champion in the marathon, bolted from the start and left Uta Pippig of Germany in her wake. Panfil pushed and pushed, going through 15 kilometers in 49:32, more than a minute faster than the course record.

By the 12th mile, Pippig and Yoshiko Yamamoto of Japan were closing on Panfil, who appeared to be in distress. Behind all of them was Markova, who had bided her time and worked her way up. It was the same strategy that served her so well during last year’s New York Marathon, in which she placed second after coming from behind.

Markova overtook Panfil shortly before Mile 19 and kept going. Panfil faded, eventually finishing sixth. Yamamoto was second in 2:26:26 and Pippig third in 2:27:12, making this one of the fastest women’s marathons in history. Yamamoto, whose time before Monday would have equaled the second-fastest mark of the year, will not be going to the Olympics, since Japan has three faster runners.

Panfil said she paid the price for her early pace: “This is like school. Each marathon, you learn a little more.”

What the world learned was that Markova, along with her other CIS teammates, will be a force to reckon with. Her time was the seventh-fastest ever and established a Russian record.

The old mark had been held by Madina Biktagirova, who won the Los Angeles Marathon on March 1 in 2:26:23. That race was thought to be the CIS Olympic trials, with three women making the CIS team.

Markova, who was third in L.A. last year but did not run in the event this year, said she believed that she would be placed on the CIS team.

“I hope to impress the (Olympic) selectors in my country,” Markova said.

Jim Knaub, 36, of Long Beach won the wheelchair race in a world-record time of 1:26:28, beating his own mark of 1:30:44. Jean Driscoll, 25, of Champaign, Ill., also set a world record in winning the women’s division in 1:36:52, beating the mark she set last year by almost six minutes.