Marathon year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants. The name "Marathon" comes from the legend of Philippides or Pheidippides, the Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon (in which he had just fought), which took place in August or September, 490 BC. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming ("nenikēkamen", "we have won!"), before collapsing and
2012 Olympic Marathon Course a new women's marathon Olympic record of , clipping 7 seconds off the previous record. The new Olympic record was 7min 42sec slower than Paula Radcliffe's world record set in 2003 during the London Marathon. The winning time of 2:08:01 by Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda in the men's marathon, on 12 August 2012, was outside the Olympic marathon record and outside the world marathon record. The winners of the Paralympic marathon events were: The 2012 Olympic route differed significantly from that of the long-established annual London Marathon. Although the Olympic route shared a finish in The Mall and a section