Buenavista caps RP campaign

ATHENS (Via Globe Telecom) — He’s in tip-top shape and confident but Filipino long distance specialist Eduardo Buenavista remains uncertain how he’d end up in the marathon event at the close of the 28th Olympic Games here Sunday night.

"Nasa kundisyon ako," said Buenavista on the eve of the final event of the quadrennial games. "I will give my best. Pero hindi ko alam kung paano ako matatapos."

The 26-year-old, 5-foot runner from Santo Niño, South Cotabato holds the Philippine record of 2 hours 18 minutes 44 seconds for the marathon. He set this during the Japan Marathon in Oita City last February.

"I’ll try to improve this time," Buenavista promised on the eve of the race which starts at 6 p.m. The marathon will re-trace the route of the race when it was held in the Modern Olympic Games here in 1896, ending at the Panathainiko Stadium.

Buenavista also holds the national marks in the 3,000-, 5,000- and 10,000-meter run, but he decided to shift to the marathon "dahil mas may laban ako dito sa international competition."

Asked if he would try to set the early pace, Buenavista said: "Hindi, mahirap ‘yon. Pero hindi naman siguro ako mahuhuli."

The best Olympic performance in the marathon was recorded by Portugal’s Carlos Lopes in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, when he clocked 2:09.21.

Other best Olympic performers were German Waldemar Cierpinski, 2:09.55 (Montreal), Ireland’s John Treacy, 2:09.56 (LA, 1984), Great Britain’s Charlie Spedding, 2:09.58 (LA 1984) and Ethiopia’s Gezaghene Abera, 2:10.11 (Sydney).

Five other Filipinos had competed in the Olympic marathon, but Buenavista, who is vying in his second Olympics, appears to have a good chance of producing the best performance.

These were Benjamin Silva-Netto (Mexico), Victor Idava (Montreal), Leonardo Illut (Los Angeles), Herman Suizo (Barcelona) and Roy Vence (Atlanta).