2004 Athens Marathon an Ordeal of Frustration for Lee Bong-joo

The result of the 2004 Olympic marathon was devastating for Korean marathon runner Lee Bong-joo, who was in the spotlight after earning the silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics (34, Samsung Electronics).

Lee ended up in 14th place out of 112 contenders with a two hour, 15 minutes, and 33 seconds finish time. Lee slightly surpassed Ji Young-joon (two hours, 16 minutes, 14 seconds, 17th place, Kolon) and Lee Myung-seung (two hours, 21 minutes, one second, 41st place, Samsung Electronics), but there was no doubt it was a poor finish for him.

The biggest cause of defeat was pointed out as Lee`s failure to close the gap with the leading group after the 25km point, which is the critical point of the race. Lee Bong-joo, who maintained the lead position in the opening stretch, fell only three seconds behind the lead group at the halfway point (21.0975km) as Lee lived up to his billing.

But at the start of the 25km point, where the real uphill part of the race started, he fell behind to Lima, who ran in the lead group, and trailed the second group which pursued Lee with a gap of 100m. At the 30km point, Lee allowed one minute, 25 seconds to slip from the lead group.

The temperature, which wasn’t as high as expected, worked against Lee.

Lee Bong-Joo, who lacks great speed, was planning to implement a winning strategy of endurance if the race were to proceed in sultry weather. But the weather condition read 30 degrees Celsius and 39 percent humidity, about five degrees lower than the conditions for the women’s marathon.

After the halfway point, when the lead runners started to speed up, a blister in his right foot contributed to his disastrous finish.

Lee commented, “In the latter part of the race, I lost my stamina on the hill as my pace started to get shaky. The course was way different from the others. It didn`t have big up hills, but I had to face continuous slight up hills and it was tougher than I thought," and added, "The marathon seems like a sport that doesn`t go according to one’s will. I`ll return to my country and talk about my path with my coach."

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com