Olympians aim for better results at New York Marathon

Oct 30, 2008 - 12:19 AM By Simon Lewis PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- America's top distance runners are confident of bouncing back from Olympic disappointment with strong performances at this Sunday's ING New York City Marathon.

Neither Abid Abdirahman, Kara Goucher nor Magdalena Lewy Boulet had a Games to remember in Beijing in August yet all pronounced themselves fit and ready to meet the final challenge of a long and arduous season around the five boroughs of New York this weekend against a stacked field in both men's and women's races.

For Lewy Boulet, the New York City marathon will be a chance to forget her failure to finish the women's marathon following an injury to her knee suffered on an athletes' shuttle bus in Beijing.

The 35-year-old, making her third appearance in the race, feels her post-Olympic recovery will be beneficial to her cause.

"I love New York, and it's the toughest race I've ever done," Lewy Boulet said Wednesday. "Always tough competition and great competition.

"I'm fully recovered from Beijing and excited to compete this weekend. It took a while to recover from my knee accident, but I got a late start with my training, but it was probably a blessing in disguise. I'm starting to feel really, really good in the middle of the training and ready to go on Sunday."

It has been 16 years since an American won the race as Alberto Salazar took the title in 1992 and 14 years since a U.S. woman, Anne Marie Lauck, managed a podium finish. Meb Keflezighi produced the best men's performance since Salazar when he finished second in 2005, a year after placing third.

Yet despite finishing 15th in the Olympic 10,000 meters final in Beijing, Abdirahman, 31, said he felt in great shape to go one better than his friend Keflezighi on Sunday.

"My training has been going well leading into this race, and I know (race director Mary Wittenberg) said this is my race to win, and just that's the way I look at it, too, myself," said Abdirahman, who was fifth in the race in 2005.

"If I didn't have a chance of winning this race or didn't believe I can win the race, I wouldn't come to the race. I probably would have just stayed home and just watched on TV. I want to win the race, and I'm here to win it."

Goucher, the bronze medalist in the 10,000 meters at the 2007 World Championships, will make her marathon debut in New York on Sunday having finished 10th in the 10,000 in Beijing and ninth in the 5,000 final.

The 30-year-old, who is coached by Salazar, said her transition to the distance of 26.2 miles had been in part inspired by her watching last year's race when world record holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain won a dramatic race over Ethiopia's Gete Wami just 10 months after giving birth to her first child.

"I'm just so excited to be here and so excited to have this opportunity," Goucher said. "You know, I really wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for having the chance to come last year and watch the race, and to see such a fantastic women's race last year was just so inspiring for me. It was for me the most inspiring athletic performance I had ever seen.

"So really a year ago I set my heart on running here, and I just feel really lucky to be a part of this group, to be a part of this American group, to be racing here, to have the coach I have. I can't believe it's here. I'm so excited."