Rich on Running: Women’s marathon, men’s 100m among intriguing Olympic events

Looking at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London from a runner’s point of view, the women’s marathon and men’s 100 meters are shaping up as among the most compelling events.Certainly, from a local perspective, the North Shore will have an interest in the women’s marathon because Marblehead High alumna Shalane Flanagan is running the event.Flanagan, 30, qualified by winning the US trials in Houston in January ? in a sizzling 2:25:38, which is a record for an Olympic trial.The women’s marathon is on Sunday on The Mall at 11 a.m. (London time), and it has a bittersweet note for host nation Great Britain. The marathon record-holder, Paula Radcliffe of the UK, is sidelined for the event with a foot injury. Radcliffe ran a world-best 2:15:25 back in April 2003.For the curious, the Olympic women’s marathon record is 2:23:14 ? set by Naoko Takahashi in Sydney in 2000.Also for the curious, this is no “start in Hopkinton, go through the Newton hills and up Heartbreak Hill and finish in Copley Square.” Let the Olympics website explain the loop-de-loop nature of the course.”Athletes complete a first loop of 2.2 miles, which takes them to the River Thames, south to the Houses of Parliament, and back up to The Mall past Buckingham Palace,” it begins. Now comes the fun part: “After this they run back to the river, and this time head east, towards the City of London and beyond to the Tower of London, in an eight-mile loop that is repeated three times before crossing the finishing line.”Let’s hope no one gets dizzy.Four years ago, in Beijing, it was Constantina Dita-Tomescu of Romania running away with the gold medal. Her finish of 2:26:44 not only qualified for gold, it also made her the oldest marathon winner all-time in the Olympics (she is 42 now). Now running as Constantina Dita, she will be back in the mix this year.MEN’S 100 METERSThis event is shaping up as a battle between four competitors: Usain Bolt of Jamaica, the fastest man in the world; Bolt’s compatriot Yohan Blake; Tyson Gay of the US, the second-fastest man on the planet; and Justin Gatlin of the US. Bolt and Gay will be easy to root for ? Gatlin and Blake, a little less so.Races will be on Saturday (preliminaries at 10 a.m. London time, Round 1 at 12:30; and semifinals on Sunday, 7:45 p.m. London time, with the finals later that day at 9:50).Bolt holds the world record of 9.58 ? and his autobiography, published in 2010, just so happens to be titled “Usain Bolt: 9.58.” He won both the men’s 100 and 200 meters in Beijing, and was also on the gold-medal 4×100 relay. Here is some news to discourage health-food fans: He loaded up on Chicken McNuggets at the Beijing Games, and got sustenance from more McNuggets before his record 9.58 run in Berlin in 2009.If there’s someone to root for here other than Bolt, it’s Gay. Just two men have run the event under 9.7 ? Bolt and Gay. Yet injuries have cost Gay, including the hip troubles that sidelined him nearly all of last season. And he ran in Beijing with hamstring woes, and missed out on medal status.Blake burst onto the running scene when he became the youngest person ever to run the event in under 10 seconds. He was only 19 years and 197 days old then. Now he is 22.However, he also got a three-month suspension after testing positive for doping (methylaxanthine) in 2009.Gatlin, 30, also got banned from the sport for doping. His was a four-year ban (2006-10) after testing positive for a male testosterone hormone, which was a no-no. Before the ban he won gold in Athens in the 100 (9.85). He has run the event several times this year, winning it at World Challenge races in Daegu and Rabat. His Daegu time was a 9.93. Could he challenge Bolt, Blake and Gay? We’ll see.Good luck to all the runners competing in athletic events in London!Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].