Ethiopia's Abera Wins Marathon

S Y D N E Y, Australia, Oct. 1 -- Gezahgne Abera won the men’smarathon today to seal the Sydney Olympics track and fieldprogram and complete Ethiopia’s domination of the distanceevents at the games.

Abera, compatriot Tesfaye Tola and Kenyan Eric Wainaina,the 1996 bronze medalist, broke clear in thenear the end of the race on an undulating course.

But after Wainaina attacked to shake off Tola, Aberastepped up the pace further over the final mile to win in two hours, 10 minutes and 11 seconds.

Wainaina, controversially selected after Kenya dropped allthree of its original choices for not training hard enough,was second in 2:10.31 with Tola holding off Briton Jon Brown totake bronze in 2:11.10.

First Marathon Win Since 1968

The victory capped a marvelous program by Ethiopia’sdistance runners.

Haile Gebrselassie won the men’s 10,000 meters, DerartuTulu the women’s 10,000 and Million Wolde the men’s 5,000.

It was Ethiopia’s first marathon success since 1968, whenMamo Wolde’s gold in Mexico City followed up Abebe Bikila’sback-to-back triumphs.

In today’s race the three medalists were always in themain pack as the 98-man field set off from North Sydney at 4p.m. local time.

Maso Takes Early Lead

The surprise early leader was Botswanan Tiaypo Maso, whohit the front from the start and pounded his way to 10km on aworld best schedule of just under 30 minutes and was soonalmost a minute-and-a-half ahead of the pack.

The temperature was relatively comfortable but blustery winds, combined with a tough course, indicated that Maso, with a best of 2:17.00, would soon slow.

The 27-year-old reached halfway in 1:04.27, 35 secondsclear, but his pace rapidly dropped and he was swallowed up bya group of around 20 runners soon after as the race loopedthrough the city center, where large crowds filled everyavailable space.

Fiz, Anton Drop Back

The real race then began as the runners approached AnzacBridge and a hit a tough hill, immediately stringing out thefield.