Awful debut for Mvuyekure

Men’s Marathon 1. S. Kiprotich (Uga) 2:08:012. A. Kirui (Ken) 2:08:273. W. Kiprotich (Uga) 2:09:3779. J. Mvuyekure (Rwa) 2:30:19 While a Ugandan romped to a surprise gold medal, Rwanda’s Jean Pierre Mvuyekure managed a 79th place finish in the men’s marathon which brought the two-week long Olympic Games to an end yesterday in London.Mvuyekure clocked 2:30:19 on his Olympics debut, which is almost 22 minutes after the winner Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda had crossed the finish line in 2:08:01. The Ugandan runner broke away from his two Kenyan main rivals.Mvuyekure got off to a good start running in the leading group for nearly 10km before slipping back as the temperatures rose.Kiprotich led at the 37km mark, despite appearing to suffer discomfort with his hamstring minutes earlier, and went on to win Uganda’s first medal at London 2012. He finished well clear of Kirui in second, with Kipsang a further 70 seconds back in third.Kipsang had taken up the running after Brazil’s Franck de Almeida’s early break and led at the halfway stage. Kiprotich and Kirui caught up with him to leave a three-way fight for the gold medal.The Ugandan looked to be struggling with an injury at the back of his leg, but unexpectedly surged to the front and pulled away.“It means a lot [to Uganda],” Kiprotich told BBC Sport. “Since 1972 we have never won a gold medal, so they are very happy.”Uganda’s last Olympic champion was 400m hurdler John Akii-Bua, who won gold at the Munich Games in 1972.

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Awful debut for Mvuyekure