BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : Yegorova Climbs Past Arimori in Marathon

The last two miles of the women’s Olympic marathon Saturday were uphill, a fitting metaphor for the 26.2-mile race run in fiendish heat and humidity. The survivors--and survivors they were--said they felt triumphant even if they had not won medals.

For gold medalist Valentina Yegorova of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the uphill finish was a fitting climax to what had been an uphill battle with Yuko Arimori of Japan. Those two runners provided a riveting finish to a race that had begun in the heat of Barcelona’s twilight.

Arimori had stayed back in the early stages, then pounced on the lead pack as it was breaking apart. Runner after runner dropped off the pace as the heat, humidity and smog took their toll. Arimori moved up steadily and caught Yegorova in front of the huge statue of Christopher Columbus, facing the Mediterranean and the city’s gently curving bay.

In any other race, it would have been a memorable moment, possibly a turning point. Arimori hardly noticed it.

“I was thinking of the race,” she said. “There was no space in my head to think of it.”

From there, the two runners worked in tandem, padding through the streets of the city, wending their way inexorably up the slopes of Montjuic, on top of which is the stadium.

For months, marathoners had talked about that last, uphill portion of the Olympic race. Many had criticized it and all had dreaded it, coming as it does at the end of a difficult and taxing race.

But there Yegorova and Arimori began their duel. At first Yegorova ran slightly ahead, and Arimori seemed content to follow. Then the Japanese woman surged ahead, as if she were planning to pull away, only to slow down and take her place a few strides ahead of Yegorova.

They ran that way for minutes, surging and slowing. Seeing two runners fighting for the lead with less than a mile to go in a marathon is unusual. Seeing marathoners running at top speed up a hill in the Olympics is remarkable.

When the leaders turned in to the tunnel leading into the stadium, Yegorova led by several strides. Her arrival was announced by the applause of volunteers and race workers in the tunnel, and when the Russian woman emerged from the tunnel and into the stadium, the crowd burst into a roar.

Yegorova was entering the first turn when Arimori emerged, causing a sea of Rising Sun flags to ripple in the crowd. No Japanese woman had won an Olympic medal in a race of more than 800 meters.

Yegorova’s time of 2 hours 32 minutes 41 seconds was respectable, but not stunning, and far off Joan Benoit’s Olympic record of 2:24:52, set in 1984 at Los Angeles. Arimori was second in 2:32:49, after easing up at the finish.

Behind them was Lorraine Moller, 37, of New Zealand, who won the bronze medal in 2:33:59.

Many runners suffered with the heat, which registered 86 degrees and 59% humidity at race time. Factor in the heat rising from the blacktop and reflected from the buildings of the city, and it was at least 10 degrees hotter.

At least five finishers were carried from the track on stretchers and Aurora Cunha of Portugal, ranked 14th in the world, was hospitalized Saturday night with breathing problems.

The Americans felt the heat, too.

Francie Larrieu-Smith, 39, was with the leaders until about the halfway point, when about five runners broke away from the pack.

“We went out so slowly,” Larrieu-Smith said. “When the change of speed came, it was too sudden for me.”

Cathy O’Brien, who won the U.S. Olympic trials race, was the top American finisher. She placed 11th in 2:39:42. Larrieu-Smith was 13th in 2:41:09 and Janis Klecker was 22nd in 2:47:17.

Marathon Medalists

* WOMEN

GOLD: Valentina Yegorova (CIS)

SILVER: Yuko Arimori (Japan)

BRONZE: Lorraine Moller (New Zealand)