An Unforgettable Marathon Finish by Gabriela Andersen-Schiess in the Los Angeles Olympics

The very first womens marathon in the Olympics was held in Los Angeles in 1984. While the race was won by Joan Benoit in a time of 2:24, one of the finishes that stood out was that of Gabriela Andersen-Schiess of Switzerland.

With the LA sunshine and temperatures hitting nearly 30 deg C, the conditions were very warm for running the full marathon distance of 26.2 miles. At the time, the rules stipulated that there could only be five water stations and the contestants couldn't be given water anywhere else. Unfortunately for Gabriela Andersen-Schiess, she missed the 5th and last station and got badly dehydrated as a result.

Her entrance to the Olympic stadium and the struggle over the last 400m which took five minutes and forty four seconds to complete would make it a memorable finish. What's maybe even as amazing if that despite her tortured finish, she still managed to finish 37th out of 44 in a time of 2h 48m 42s.

The video is about 10 minutes long...

Video clip of the Olympic Marathon in 1984...

The John Treacy Dungarvan 10 mile road road is coming up at the end of this month in West Waterford. With that in mind, it might be appropriate to look back at the 1984 Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles and the performance that put the man from Villierstown on the podium.

Radio Kerry interview with Jerry Kiernan...

During the recent Olympics in London, Jerry Kieran was part of the RTE panel in the studio that provided analysis of the results and performances as they came in. While most will be aware of his involvement in commentating on athletics, many of the newer runners may not be aware of his running career.

Jerry Kiernan (born 1953) is a former long-distance runner who represented his Ireland at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, where he finished in ninth place in the men's marathon. His team mate John Treacy claimed silver in the same race. Kiernan twice won the Dublin Marathon: 1982 and 1992. A former Irish record holder over 3000 metres, Kiernan was also a sub-four minute mile runner.

In this extensive interview with Weeshie Fogarty of Radio Kerry (47 mins long), he looks back at his career, many of his road races that he won, the 1984 Olympic Marathon.......and how John Treacy robbed his water bottle!! Tut tut ;o)

It's a fascinating insight into a time when Irish distance athletes were to the fore. After listening to it however, I can't help wondering where are the 'John Treacys' and 'Jerry Kiernans' of today???

(Credits....Photo...Old Mallow 10 finish - Stephen Murphy, Video/Radio interview - Shane Mullaney)

Zola Budd and the 1984 Olympics...

The year...1984. Venue...Los Angeles and what was probably the most famous 3,000m race in Olympic history. 17 year old Zola Budd from South Africa was running for Britain in the Games and was a source of some controversy as all South African athletes were banned from international competitions at that time due to the apartheid system in that country. Also in the race was home favourite Mary Decker.

This week, the Guardian had an interesting article on Zola Budd and her role in the Games. Click HERE

Interview with Irish Olympic Silver medalist John Treacy at the 2012 Brighton Marathon

Prior to the Brighton Marathon in mid-April, there was a Saucony seminar which included an interview with John Treacy, winner of the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles. In this interview, he talks about his running career, his success in winning the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Glasgow in 1978 and in Limerick in 1979. He also goes through his race in that 1984 Olympic Marathon final when he was up against Carlos Lopes of Portugal and Charlie Spedding of Britain. The interview is here...

Jedward run LA Marathon...

Hot news from the world of showbiz! ;o)

Apparently, the dynamic duo of John and Edward Grimes, otherwise known as Jedward, ran the Marathon in Los Angeles last Sunday. Their time for the 26.2 mile course was just over 4 hours but they are not in the official results as they were too late to enter.

Focus On....Former Olympian Liam O'Brien

In the Sunday Independent dated 11th Dec 2011, there was a short article titled 'Where are they now' which looked back at the running career of Liam O'Brien of Midleton. While Liam retired from competitive running back in the 90's, he is still very much involved in the sport. Besides being technical director for the Cork City Sports, you will often find Liam behind the scenes at all of the East Cork and Ballycotton road races. Here is the article...

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Former Olympic athlete Liam O'Brien won 11 national steeplechase titles over a 17-year period, but the Corkman believes that having such a long career was his greatest achievement in the sport. In many ways it was more special than being an Olympian.

O'Brien started running at a young age. His father worked at the Whitegate refinery and it was at their sports day that he first experienced the joy of athletics. In the mid-1960s, the Midleton Athletic Club was formed so O'Brien joined up and started to race competitively at juvenile level.

From there he went on to teacher training college in Limerick and his career prospered. He was always a middle-distance runner but at that time he was running shorter distances on the track, like the 400m and 800m. Then as he got older he started to compete in more long-distance events and those were the races that he performed best in, particularly the steeplechase.

"It's a very specific event. I found out pretty quickly I could beat people in the steeplechase that might often beat me on the flat. There is a little bit of technique involved in it; you're jumping up over barriers, landing and absorbing shock and I was just able to do it. It suited me," says O'Brien.

In 1977, the Corkman won his first national title and he went on to claim 10 more national titles, winning his last in 1994. In many ways that time was a golden era for Irish steeplechasers with the likes of Brendan Quinn, Kieran Stack and Joe Hartnett all competing in the event. A lot of the records that stand today were recorded back then. O'Brien also achieved success on the international stage. In 1984, he qualified for the Los Angeles Olympic Games and reached the semi-final. Three years later, he went to the World Championships in Rome.

Just over a year ago, he retired from teaching at Midleton CBS. However, he is still involved in athletics and orienteering at the school. O'Brien is also one of the organisers of the Munster Schools athletics and is technical director of Cork City Sports. From working with so many young athletes, the former Olympian thinks the future looks bright for Irish athletics.