[1] Dutch swimmer and cancer survivor Maarten van der Weijden enjoyed the race of his life as he sprinted in a three-way battle against Great Britain's David Davies and Germany's Thomas Lurz to a spectacular finish under a scorching rain, and most importantly, to claim the Olympic title in the inaugural men's open water marathon.

[2][3] Van der Weijden was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001; however, with the aid of a stem cell treatment, he came back stronger from a two-year ordeal to resume his swimming career.

[4] Leading almost the entire race by over six body lengths, Davies drifted offline at the final stages, and eventually missed out the title by 1.5 seconds with the silver-medal time in 1:51:53.1.

[6][7] Farther from the trio, Italy's Valerio Cleri finished off the podium with a fourth-place time in 1:52:07.5, and was followed in fifth by Russia's Evgeny Drattsev at 1:52:08.9.

Bulgaria's Petar Stoychev, the English Channel record holder, trailed behind his Russian rival in a sprint challenge by two-tenths of a second (0.20), earning a sixth spot in 1:52:09.1.