[2] The winner of the event was Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya, who set an Olympic record in the time of two hours, six minutes, and 32 seconds.

At the front was Eritrean Yonas Kifle, Ethiopian Deriba Merga, Kenya's Martin Lel and Sammy Wanjiru, and Moroccan Jaouad Gharib.

Gharib slowly reeled the deficit back but Wanjiru won the gold medal in an Olympic record 2:06:32.

The defending champion, Stefano Baldini of Italy, was the only returning runner from the top ten finishers in the 2004 marathon.

The favorite would have been well-established 10,000 metres runner Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who had started competing in marathons in 2005 and broken the world record at the 2007 Berlin race; Haile did not run in Beijing due to air quality concerns.

NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard (2:18:00) in the same qualifying period.