The US Olympic marathon trials were held today and Meb Keflezighi made his fourth Olympic team. Meb won a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic marathon and will be 41 years old on the day of the 2016 Olympic marathon. Much is being made about his age – how does it stack up against previous Olympic marathoners?
Meb Keflezighi
On the day of the Olympic marathon in Rio, Meb will be 41 years, 108 days old (41-108). That’s relatively ancient for a world-class marathoner, but far from unheard of. In fact, there have been 21 Olympic men run the Olympic marathon at an older age, led by Canadian Percy Wyer, who ran the 1936 marathon when he was 52-years-old. Here is the top 25 through 2012:
Age | name | year | noc |
---|---|---|---|
52-199 | Percy Wyer | 1936 | CAN |
48-196 | Bohumil "Boris" Honzátko | 1924 | TCH |
46-135 | Haile Satayin | 2008 | ISR |
45-246 | Toni Bernadó | 2012 | AND |
44-195 | Percy Wyer | 1928 | CAN |
44-069 | Jack Foster | 1976 | NZL |
44-017 | Wally Hayward | 1952 | RSA |
43-023 | Luis López | 1992 | CRC |
42-240 | Ion Pool | 1900 | GBR |
42-194 | Roman Kejžar | 2008 | SLO |
42-140 | Haile Satayin | 2004 | ISR |
41-345 | Wallace Williams | 1988 | ISV |
41-258 | Toni Bernadó | 2008 | AND |
41-235 | Panagiotis "Peter" Trivoulidis | 1920 | GRE |
41-235 | Eusebio Guiñez | 1948 | ARG |
41-206 | Ville Kyrönen | 1932 | FIN |
41-206 | Andrés Espinosa | 2004 | MEX |
41-204 | Harold Webster | 1936 | CAN |
41-201 | William Saward | 1900 | GBR |
41-166 | Baba Ibrahim Suma-Keita | 1988 | SLE |
41-148 | Jack Holden | 1948 | GBR |
40-352 | Cristea Dinu | 1952 | ROU |
40-336 | Johnny A. Kelley | 1948 | USA |
40-309 | Mikko Hietanen | 1952 | FIN |
40-185 | Franjo Mihalić | 1960 | YUG |
What about among US men Olympic marathoners, you surely are asking? Meb will become the oldest American man to run the marathon at the Olympics, with the current oldest being Johnny “The Elder” Kelley at London in 1948. Meb’s 2012 London marathon already put him 6th oldest among US men. Here is the US top 10 list:
Age | name | year | noc |
---|---|---|---|
40-336 | Johnny A. Kelley | 1948 | USA |
40-104 | Jimmy Henigan | 1932 | USA |
40-059 | Clarence DeMar | 1928 | USA |
38-321 | Billy Churchill | 1924 | USA |
38-235 | Albert "Whitey" Michelsen | 1932 | USA |
37-099 | Meb Keflezighi | 2012 | USA |
36-102 | Jimmy Henigan | 1928 | USA |
36-036 | Clarence DeMar | 1924 | USA |
35-241 | Tom Jones | 1952 | USA |
35-223 | Abdi Abdirahman | 2012 | USA |
This will be Meb’s third Olympic marathon, after 2004 and 2012 – he ran the 10,000 metres in 2000. Have any marathoners ever competed in more Olympic races? Yes, in fact, Andorran Toni Bernadó and Romanian Lidia Şimon ran 5 Olympic marathons from 1996-2012. Here is the list of all those running 4 or more Olympic marathons:
### | name | gender | noc | Yr1 | Yr2 | Yr3 | Yr4 | Yr5 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5 | Toni Bernadó | M | AND | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 |
5 | Lidia Şimon | F | ROU | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 |
4 | Karel Lismont | M | BEL | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | |
4 | Baikuntha Manandhar | M | NEP | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | |
4 | Rob de Castella | M | AUS | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | |
4 | Ahmed Salah | M | DJI | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | |
4 | Lisa Martin-Ondieki | F | AUS | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | |
4 | Lorraine Moller | F | NZL | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | |
4 | Steve Moneghetti | M | AUS | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | |
4 | Erika Olivera | F | CHI | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2012 | |
4 | Lee Bong-Ju | M | KOR | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | |
4 | Pavel Loskutov | M | EST | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | |
4 | Viktor Röthlin | M | SUI | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 |
Shalane Flanagan will also run in her 4th Olympics, after racing the 5K in 2004, the 5 and 10K in 2008, and the marathon in 2012. Flanagan will be 35 years old in Rio. How does that stack up against female Olympic marathoners in terms of senescence? Here are the lists for the top 25 oldest women to run the Olympic marathon and the USA top 10 list:
Age | name | year | noc |
---|---|---|---|
48-234 | Lourdes Klitzkie | 1988 | GUM |
46-284 | Joyce Smith | 1984 | GBR |
46-236 | Evy Palm | 1988 | SWE |
43-083 | Irina Bogacheva | 2004 | KGZ |
42-195 | Sue Hobson | 2000 | AUS |
42-194 | Constantina Tomescu | 2012 | ROU |
41-141 | María Luisa Muñoz | 2000 | ESP |
41-058 | Lorraine Moller | 1996 | NZL |
40-298 | Garifa Kuku | 2000 | KAZ |
40-297 | Ivana Sekyrová | 2012 | CZE |
40-130 | Colleen de Reuck | 2004 | USA |
39-347 | Irina Mikitenko | 2012 | GER |
39-299 | María Elena Espeso | 2012 | ESP |
39-256 | Priscilla Welch | 1984 | GBR |
39-251 | Francie Larrieu-Smith | 1992 | USA |
39-159 | Pauline Curley | 2008 | IRL |
39-157 | Rhonda Davidson-Alley | 2000 | GUM |
39-116 | Irina Bogacheva | 2000 | KGZ |
39-077 | Gaby Andersen-Schiess | 1984 | SUI |
39-052 | Liza Hunter-Galvan | 2008 | NZL |
38-357 | Mara Yamauchi | 2012 | GBR |
38-335 | Lidia Şimon | 2012 | ROU |
38-251 | Magda Ilands | 1988 | BEL |
38-232 | Nelly Chávez | 1984 | BOL |
38-206 | Constantina Tomescu | 2008 | ROU |
Age | name | year | noc |
---|---|---|---|
40-130 | Colleen de Reuck | 2004 | USA |
39-251 | Francie Larrieu-Smith | 1992 | USA |
37-349 | Chris Clark | 2000 | USA |
35-183 | Deena Drossin-Kastor | 2008 | USA |
35-082 | Linda Somers | 1996 | USA |
35-015 | Magda Lewy-Boulet | 2008 | USA |
34-091 | Nancy Ditz | 1988 | USA |
34-027 | Kara Goucher | 2012 | USA |
33-024 | Blake Russell | 2008 | USA |
33-009 | Jenny Spangler | 1996 | USA |
Colleen de Reuck
Flanagan’s 2012 Olympic marathon was done at age 31-028, putting her 13th on the US list for oldest female Olympic marathoners through 2012. She will be 35-037 on the day of the women’s Rio marathon and will move up to 6th among US Olympic marathoners, but she will not crack the top 25 for all nations.
Meb won a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic marathon and will be 41 years old on the day of the 2016 Olympic marathon. Where is this information?