A photo on Guor Marial’s Facebook page reads “as long as the flag of South Sudan is flying in that stadium, that’s all I want.”
Sixteen days after carrying the flag for South Sudan into Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium, leading the nation’s delegation of three athletes in their country’s inaugural Olympic appearance, Concord High graduate Marial (Guor Miaker on Facebook) finally got his chance to compete under that flag in the men’s marathon.
Qualifying for the 2016 Summer Games seemed an unlikely prospect after Marial failed to run the necessary 2 hour, 19 minute qualifying time, but his qualification and experience running at the 2012 London Games as an independent athlete was enough to earn him a spot in Rio.
Fulfilling his goal of representing his country under his nation’s flag, Marial finished the 26.2-mile race in 82nd place in a time of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 45 seconds, 14:01 behind gold medal winner Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya.
A lead pack of 30 or so runners emerged within the first three miles and Marial stayed just behind that pack, clocking in nine seconds behind the leaders, good for 54th place, 9.3 miles into the race.
The pack started to stretch out in the middle third of the race as 94 percent humidity in misty conditions started to take its toll on the runners, including 2015 world champion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, and cause them to fall from the pack of leaders. At the 18.6 mile (30 km) mark, Marial had dropped to 111th place, 6:24 behind the leaders and at mile 19 the lead pack had been trimmed to just four runners.
Marial made up a lot of ground on his competitors over the final 7.6 miles, moving up 29 places before crossing the finish line in a season-best time.
Marial’s place and time was slower than his London result (47th, 2:19:32), but doesn’t diminish the significance of this race nor remarkable journey Marial has had from a civil war-torn Sudan that claimed 28 of his relatives, to being a refugee resettled in Concord, to becoming a professional athlete, independent Olympian and finally, an Olympian running for his homeland.
The historic run marks the first time any man or woman has competed in the Olympic marathon under the South Sudanese flag.
Ethiopia’s Feyis Lilesa (2:09:54) claimed the silver and American Galen Rupp (2:10:05) won the bronze. Rupp was the first American to medal in the marathon since Meb Keflezighi won silver for men and Deena Kastor won the bronze for the women in 2004.