News Archive

According to a message from the IAAF / DLV to the event organisers SCC RUNNING,

the results of all doping tests at the 30th real,- BERLIN MARATHON on September

27/28, 2003, were negative. The analyses (both urine and blood tests) were

carried out by the Institute for Doping Analysis and Sport Biochemistry

Kreischa.

Paul Tergats (Kenya) world record time of 2:04:55h is thus official,

according to the IAAF, as the course length had been verified previously.

The “unofficial“ team marathon world record by the Kenyans Paul

Tergat (2:04:55), Sammy Korir (2:04:56) and Titus Munji (2:06:15 / total time:

6:16:06h) can also be written into the record lists. A Kenyan trio had

previously held the team record in 6:20:26h. The team average for the three

Kenyans in Berlin lies below the previous world record time of Khalid

Khannouchi (USA) of 2:05:38h.

The third world record was broken by Andres Espinosa (Mexico) – winner

of the New York Marathon 1993 – who pulverized the Masters world record

(over 40 year olds) with a time of 2:08:46h.

Not to be left out is the womens champion, Yasuko Hashimoto, from Japan,

who, although she did not run a world record time, did break her person best by

over two minutes with a time of 2:26:32h.

Paul Tergat is nominated for the Olympic Games 2004 in

Athens

Surprisingly, the Kenyan athletic federation has already nominated three

athletes for the marathon race for the Olympic Games in Athens 2004. One of

them is the winner of the real,- BERLIN MARATHON, Paul Tergat. The world record

holder accepted the nomination. “I have never won a gold medal at an

Olympics. That is a great challenge“, said Paul Tergat after his triumph

in Berlin.

In addition to Paul Tergat, Catherine Ndereba, the marathon world champion

from Paris, and Margaret Okayo, the winner of the New York City Marathon, have

already nominated. The Kenyan functionaries were frequently criticized in the

past for their often-ambiguous nomination strategies. Now they are giving their

best athletes plenty of preparation time for the Olympics. According to the

Kenyan federation, they want the runners to be able to concentrate long-term on

the preparations for the Olympic Marathon.