
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990                   TAG: 9004170055
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Medium

ITALIAN OUTLASTS FIELD IN BOSTON

Gelindo Bordin let his rivals run themselves out, and Rosa Mota just ran away from hers. The result was the same: victorious firsts in the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Italy's Bordin, resisting the temptation of a fast start, "just run by myself" to become the first Olympic champion and first Italian to win the men's marathon.

Portugal's Mota became the first to win three women's marathons at Boston, eclipsing the record held by fellow Olympic champion Joan Benoit Samuelson, Ingrid Kristiansen and Miki Gorman.

The 31-year-old Bordin did what nine other men's Olympic champions failed to do by overtaking Tanzania's Juma Ikangaa at Heartbreak Hill and winning in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 19 seconds. It broke the Italian mark of 2:09:27 Bordin set in finishing fourth at Boston in 1988.

"It is not easy being an Olympic champion," Bordin said. "For three or four months, I couldn't move without people stopping me - at a restaurant, on the road, everywhere. If I didn't go, I hurt the sport."

He's about to become even more well-known. The race was broadcast live in Italy, with the announcers screaming as Bordin covered the final yards.

"Gelindo's victory on the streets of Boston brought back for me the emotions of the Olympic Games in Seoul, emotions which I thought couldn't be repeated," said Gianni Gola, president of the Italian Track Federation. "But today the emotions were even more intense."

For Ikangaa, it was another heartbreaking defeat. It was the third straight time he has finished second at Boston. Ikangaa, a one-second loser to Kenya's Ibrahim Hussein in '88 and beaten by 50 seconds by Abebe Mekonnen of Ethiopia last year, finished 1:33 behind Bordin, in 2:09:52.

Rolando Vera of Ecuador was third in his marathon debut in 2:10:46, a South American record.

Mota, who also won at Boston in 1987 and 1988, led the women's division the entire way, finishing in 2:25:24. Her other winning times were 2:25:21 in 1987 and 2:24:30 in '88.

Bordin ran his first marathon in 1984 and won the European championship. He also won the European title in 1986 and the Rome Marathon in 1987, was third in the 1987 world championships and third in the 1989 New York City Marathon.

This was his first victory since winning the Olympic gold at Seoul.

by CNB