RIO DE JANEIRO -- A marathon is not easy. The 26.2-mile race is based on the Greek messenger Pheidippides, who ran that approximate distance to deliver news of the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. According to legend, he collapsed and died at the end.
The Brazilian version was grueling in its own right. Fifteen of the 155 runners did not finish the race, including Great Britain's Tsegai Tewelde, who had to be taken away in a wheelchair.
American Meb Keflezighi suffered stomach cramps and had to stop seven times. He threw up on a couple occasions. Nonetheless, he was able to complete the race in under 2 hours and 17 minutes to finish 33rd -- and in spectacular fashion. Waving to the crowd, he slipped on the wet track and crashed to the ground about a foot or so from the finish line. He pulled himself across the line, and then did a set of pushups.
Yes, he finished his race by doing pushups.
"That's the Meb way of doing things,'' U.S. teammate Jared Ward said.
"I guess I'll be known for the epic finish there,'' Keflezighi said. "Somehow it just happened. I saw the finish line and I said I'm going to crawl in and then I'm going to do pushups.''
Keflezighi is 41 years old and won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He broke his hip during the 2008 Olympic trials but recovered to win the 2009 New York marathon and the 2014 Boston marathon. He finished fourth at the London Olympics. He estimates that when you add up all the miles he has run during training, it is equivalent to circling the globe four times.
"This sport has done more for me than I can ever imagine,'' he said.
Keflezighi has run 24 marathons and plans to run two more to reach 26 as a fitting connection to the marathon length. U.S. teammate Galen Rupp, meanwhile, ran just the second marathon of his life, yet he finished third to take home a bronze medal, America's first medal in the event since Keflezighi's silver. His first marathon was last February when he won the U.S. Olympic trials in Los Angeles.
"I was definitely hurting. The last couple miles was like I was walking,'' Rupp said. "I just wanted to keep on going and get to the finish line. The marathon is a real special event, and I don't think I really truly understood that until I started doing it in L.A. and now here. It's something special.
"The 10K has always been my baby for the last 10 years. It's always held a special place for me, but I've got to move on to the marathon.''
What marathoners do is incredible. The best ones average less than five minutes a mile, a speed that few of us could even come close to matching over just one mile, let alone 26.
The marathon has been part of the Olympics since the first modern Games in 1896. One of the most noted winners was Ethiopia's Adebe Bikila, who won the gold medal in 1960 while running barefoot because the shoes Adidas provided him didn't fit.
Fellow Ethiopian Feyisa Lilesa won the silver medal Sunday -- finishing behind Kenyan gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge, whose time was 2:08.44 - and afterward he spoke about the difficulties in his native country, where many hundreds of people have been killed in recent months while protesting for political and economic rights.
"There are many problems in my country,'' Lilesa said. "It's very dangerous in my country.''
Lilesa said he would consider moving to another country. If so, he has many from which to choose to represent at the 2020 Olympics. Nearly 80 countries were represented in the marathon, including Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Lesotho, Iran, Israel, Hungary and so many others.
"This was the best victory lap ever in terms of the world,'' Keflezighi said. "You could see India, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba and all those guys. And to run with that, I enjoyed every bit of it.''
Cambodia's Kuniaki Takizaki and Jordan's Methkal Abu Drais were the final two finishers Sunday. As they entered the stadium, Takizaki was grimacing in agony while Abu Drais was smiling that it was almost over. Takizaki pushed himself and crossed the line ahead of Abu Drais so he did not finish last, with a time of 2:45.55. And despite the pain he had been in, Takizaki immediately started jumping and dancing and waving his arms to get the small crowd to cheer with a huge grin across his face.
"I was very, very tired,'' Takizaki said. "But very, very, very happy.''
The Olympics aren't just about finishing on the podium. They are about finishing, period.