Ethiopia’s Gena wins Rome MarathonEmailPrintComments0Share42retweet2ESPN.com news services
\nROME — Siraj Gena of Ethiopia paid tribute to an Olympic hero in winning the Rome marathon on Sunday, running barefoot while outsprinting two Kenyan rivals to the finish.
\nGena took off his shoes with about 500 yards left and then outkicked Benson Barus and Nixon Machichim to finish the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 39 seconds.
\nGena was paying homage to Ethiopian Abebe Bikila, who won the 1960 Olympic marathon in Rome after running the entire course without shoes.
\n“I felt I had to do something to honor Bikila,” Gena told the ANSA news agency. “For me he will always be an enormous inspiration and today I wanted to see what it would be like to cross the line in Rome barefooted like he once did.”
\nIn the women’s race, Firehiwot Dado led an Ethiopian sweep of the podium in 2:25:28.
\nKebebush Haile was second in 2:25.31 and Mare Dibaba third with 2:25.38.
\nFormer Formula One driver Alex Zanardi of Italy won the men’s handcycle category, boosting his hopes of competing at the London 2012 Paralympics.
\n“Now London 2012 is no longer a dream, it has become a realistic possibility,” he said.
\nZanardi had both legs amputated above the knee after he crashed during a race in 2001.
\nAbout 15,000 runners took part in Sunday’s race.
\nIn Seoul, South Korea, Sylvester Teimet ran a personal best to break the course record and lead a Kenyan sweep at the Seoul International Marathon.
\nTeimet pulled ahead at the end to win the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 49 seconds on Sunday. He lowered his personal record by 3:04 and beat South African Gert Thys’ 2004 course record of 2:07:06.
\nGilbert Kipruto Kirwa was 10 seconds back and Paul Kiprop Kirui was third.
\nAmane Gobena of Ethiopia won the women’s race in 2:24:13 ahead of Chunxiu Zhou of China and Caroline Cheptanui Kilel of Kenya.
\nA 62-year-old South Korean man collapsed and died while running the Seoul marathon, according to race organizers. The cause of death was not immediately known.
\nInformation from The Associated Press was used in this report.<\/p>\n