Running for Boston Gold

Not only is Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia returning to the Boston Marathon as the closest runner-up in the race’s 105-year history, he’s coming back as the Olympic marathon champion.

History, however, is not on his side.

Only one man has won at Boston after winning the Olympic gold medal--Gelindo Bordin of Italy in 1990. Only one Ethiopian has won at Boston--Abebe Mekkonen in 1989. And Kenyans have won the last 10 Boston races.

The 22-year-old Abera is unfazed. He has been rated the favorite for Monday’s race, against a field that includes the past three champions, and he said the pressure will not affect him.

“I don’t think I will have any difficulty winning the race,” he said through a translator, “but in a marathon, there always are a lot of factors.”

One consideration he did not factor in during his prerace preparation last year was getting his heels clipped and being elbowed by Kenyans Elijah Lagat, the eventual winner, and Moses Tanui, the third-place finisher.

Instead of beating both Kenyans, Abera wound up sandwiched between them, finishing in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 47 seconds, the same time as Lagat, and three seconds ahead of Tanui, the 1996 and 1998 winner. Compared to Lagat, 34, and Tanui, 35, Abera is an inexperienced runner, and he paid for it last year at Boston.

“I’m new,” he said. “The races I’ve run have been limited. The others have been running for 15 or 20 years.

“Last year, I don’t feel I lost the race -- I only got beat by a split second. I’m sure I will beat the Kenyans this year.”

Another Kenyan expected to provide Abera with strong competition is Joseph Chebet, the 1999 champion who finished eighth last year while running with nerve damage to his right leg and back.

The field of approximately 15,000 also includes 1996 Olympic silver medalist Bong-ju Lee of Korea, 1999 Boston runner-up Silvio Guerra of Ecuador, 1997 World Half-Marathon champion Shem Kororia of Kenya, and five of the best Americans -- former U.S. record-holder David Morris, 2000 Olympian Rod DeHaven, 1996 Olympian Mark Coogan, Josh Cox and Scott Larson.

The women’s field also is loaded, with defending champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, three-time Boston winner and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia, 20-kilometer world record-holder Lornah Kiplagat of Kenya and 2000 New York City Marathon champion Ludmila Petrova of Russia.

The American presence is noteworthy, since many of the elite U.S. runners have skipped the race in recent years. The last American to finish in the top 10 was Bob Kempainen, seventh in 1994. In the past 10 years, Americans have finished in the top 10 three times, compared to 43 times for the Kenyans.

Americans have lagged far behind the competition in the past decade, but a new training program, based on the Kenyan approach and under the direction of Dr. Gabriele Rosa, one of the world’s most prominent distance running coaches, might help the U.S. runners improve.

U.S. marathon running hit an all-time low last year, when only one man and one woman qualified for the Olympics, instead of the traditional three.

The Americans are not expected to have a major impact on the race this year; estimates are that it will take at least two years for results to change dramatically.

“This is what I needed,” said Cox, a member of the Team USA Distance Running program in Alpine, Calif. “I needed a block of time where someone was willing to support me and say, ‘OK, you can be a full-time athlete (and not have to work).”’

The race figures to be a battle among the three past winners and Abera, who is trying to become the first non-Kenyan winner since Bordin.

Chebet, for one, can’t imagine the Kenyans losing their stranglehold on the race.

“They say Abera is going to win easy,” Chebet said. “We must see, as Kenyans, that one of us wins. It is very important for a Kenyan to win, because if we win, then the Boston Athletic Association gives money to the Kenyan Amateur Athletic Association to help running in our country, to help our races and to develop our young runners.”

Lagat, who got into marathon shape five years ago by losing 26 pounds from 158 to 132 and stopped smoking. isn’t planning on giving up his title easily.

“I feel I’m stronger than last year,” he said. “Before Boston last year, I ran a half-marathon in 1:04:51. This year, I ran 1:03:41.”

Lagat admits he didn’t think he would win last year when he, Abera and Tanui started their final rush toward the finish line.

“When Moses started sprinting, I lost hope, I lost confidence” Lagat said. “I was fighting to get second position, so Kenyans could finish 1-2. The way he sprinted I thought he was going to win. I didn’t know he wasn’t going to maintain.”

Tanui said he began his move too quickly--with about 400 meters remaining.

“I went too early,” he said. “The headwind was too strong. I was sprinting for about 300 meters.”

Tanui, who has finished the Boston Marathon six times, wants to regain the title because of his fondness for the city.

“This is like my hometown,” he said. “The people here make me feel proud and I feel I have support from everyone in Boston.”