By Helen Reid and Lori Ewing
PARIS (Reuters) -Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola won gold in the men's marathon at the Paris Games on Saturday while Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, who had been bidding for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic crown, failed to finish.
Belgium's Bashir Abdi took silver, improving on his bronze from Tokyo, and Kenya's Benson Kipruto claimed bronze.
Tola built a strong lead early on and crossed the finish line in two hours, six minutes and 26 seconds, an Olympic record time especially impressive given the course was the toughest of any Olympics or championship, according to World Athletics.
"My intention was just to keep up with the people who were going out and then after some point I decided to try to push on my own," Tola said.
"But I was afraid and I was having difficulties when I was climbing up the uphill. I felt confident after the 41st kilometre, only one more to go. Until then I was looking back and I was not sure."
Emerging from a pack of frontrunners from the first steep ascent of an exceptionally hilly course, the former cross country specialist seemed only to strengthen on the second hill as others faded behind him.
Tola had an 18-second lead by the 35km mark, which he extended as the Eiffel Tower came into sight and crowds lining the streets roared him on. He became the first Ethiopian winner of the Olympic men's marathon in 24 years.
Tola's victory was all the more sweet given he was not initially on the team, having been called up after Sisay Lemma withdrew due to a hamstring injury.
Tola, 32, won the New York marathon last year in a course record.
"(Sisay) told me 'It's better for me to drop out and you have to go and compete, because you can do better than me with the condition I am in now,'" Tola said. "This victory also belongs to him, he gave me the opportunity. I would like to thank him."
He crossed the finish line cheered on by Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopia's former double Olympic 10,000m champion, whom he has cited as one of his inspirations to become a marathon runner.
Abdi and Kipruto were jostling with Ethiopia's Deresa Geleta for the next two steps on the podium but Geleta faded in the last two kilometres.
"The course was very tough today so I tried not to lose a lot of energy, I tried to run as smart as possible so I'm very happy with this result," Abdi said. "It was really tough, the weather was hot and there were a lot of ups and downs."
Abdi, who began his career competing in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres, finished in 2:06:47 with 33-year-old Kipruto posting a time of 2:07:00.
Kipruto had posted the fastest time in the world this year having won the Tokyo Marathon in March in a personal best of 2:02:16.
He dedicated his bronze medal to Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car crash in February at the age of 24, having broken the marathon world record in Chicago last year.
Kipchoge, widely considered the greatest marathon runner of all time, failed to bag a third consecutive gold, defeated by the first ascent of the course that took athletes out to Versailles.
He had been among the frontrunners but that hill broke up the leading pack and proved too much for the 39-year-old, who was participating in his fifth Olympics.
"The first part of the race we were together, talking and trying to move together. But I don't know what happened, so I will go and see him," Kipruto said of Kipchoge after the finish.
Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, who has the fifth fastest marathon time ever, finished 39th.
"It was tough, you know, to challenge those guys," the 42-year-old said.
Britain's Emile Cairess finished an impressive fourth in 2:07:29.
Starting at the city hall, the 42km course took athletes along the banks of the Seine and past monuments like the Louvre and Opera Garnier, then ploughing westwards towards the Palace of Versailles which they reached at 25km before turning back towards the city.
The runners - 71 finishers in total, after ten dropped out - finished in front of the Invalides monument where Napoleon's tomb lies.
The Paris course was designed to commemorate a protest during the French Revolution in which thousands of women marched on Versailles to demand bread from the king.
The women's marathon, usually held before the men's, will this time round out the Olympic athletics programme and is set to start on Sunday at 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT).
(Reporting by Helen Reid and Lori Ewing; Editing by Peter Rutherford and Christian Radnedge)
