By Barbara Huebner, Globe Staff, 10/01/2000

SYDNEY -- Capping a spectacularly successful Olympics for Ethiopian distance runners, Gezahgne Abera, who finished second in the Boston Marathon last spring in its closest finish in history, won the men's marathon Sunday in the final event of the 2000 Olympic Games.

Ethiopian men took gold medals in the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, and the marathon. Of the 18 medals awarded to men and women in races of 5,000 meters or longer, eight of them went to Ethiopians. For Abera, the win was especially sweet, as he will take home the first Olympic medal in the men's marathon since Abebe Bikila (1960, 1964) and Mamo Wolde (1968) won three straight. No country has won more.

"I couldn't believe it," said the 22-year-old Abera, running only his fifth international marathon. "It's not only for me, but for the whole of Ethiopia, a new upsurge."

Taking the silver medal was Eric Wainaina of Kenya (2:10:31), moving up one spot from his third-place finish in Atlanta, followed by another Ethiopian, Tesfaye Tola, in 2:11:10. Australia's Steve Moneghetti (2:14:50), running his first marathon in his home country after a long career, finished 10th, and retired after the race, while defending Olympic champion Josia Thugwanecq of South Africa (2:16:59) was 20th. Elijah Lagat of Kenya, the 2000 Boston Marathon winner, dropped out in the first 10 miles, with countryman Kenneth Cheruiyot to follow soon thereafter. The lone US entrant, Rod DeHaven, finished 69th (2:30:46) after suffering from diarrhea much of the way. Abdella Behar of France, who had surgery for appendicitis right after arriving in Sydney earlier this month, started the race but was forced to drop out in the latter stages.

Abera's win will resonate throughout Ethiopia, a land that has revered distance running since a barefoot Bikila became a national hero by setting a world record at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. In addition to Bikila and Wolde, Fatuma Roba won the women's marathon in 1996.

Other than Wainaina, the most formidable opponent Abera faced on the point-to-point course Sunday, which crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge and traversed much of Sydney to finish on the Olympic Stadium track, was the steady 20-mile-an-hour wind, with gusts up to 40.

"The wind really made it hard," said Tola. "Without it we could have gone much faster." For the hilly second half of the race, it was mostly a nasty headwind.

It almost proved Abera's undoing around the 10-mile mark. There, while trying to huddle behind the frontrunners in a large pack to keep their energy from being sapped by the tiring winds, Abera fell to the ground, hurting his knee and shoulder. Luckily, he said, the pace at the time was slow, and he was quickly able to recoup. Later, he tucked in behind Tola for relief.

Taking the race out early was Tiyapo Maso of Botswana, going through 3.1 miles in 15.01, 6.2 miles in 29.58, and the half in 1:04:27. Jose Alejandro Semprun of Venezuela tried to go with him but couldn't hang on, and was caught in no man's land between Maso and a pack of about 25 around 10 miles. Maso got reeled in by the pack at about 15 miles, and by 18 miles a group of four -- the three eventual medalists and Jon Brown of Great Britain -- had surged ahead, Wainaina in the lead and throwing in surges in an effort to shake his companions. Brown was the first to be shaken, and soon a tiring Tola told Abera to go with Wainaina. With about 1 miles remaining, Abera took a lead he would not relinquish.

Abera's win leaves Kenya still in search of its first Olympic marathon gold medal. Wainaina, 26, progressed from bronze in 1996 to silver on Sunday, however, and said, "Maybe next Olympics I will get gold."

The victor, who grew up on a farm in the Arssi region of Ethiopia before moving to Addis Ababa, where he trains with two-time 10,000-meter gold medalist Derartu Tulu, made his marathon debut in Los Angeles in March of last year, finishing fourth, before coming in 11th at the world championships in August. But in December, Abera stunned even those close to him by winning the Fukuoka International Marathon in Japan in 2:07:54, a personal best by six minutes. He did not make the same mistake Sunday that he did there, when he nearly stopped a lap too soon after coming into the stadium and had to kick not once but twice to beat the rival on his heels, Mohammed Ouaddi of France.

Abera's most recent marathon before Sunday was Boston, in which he and Moses Tanui were hunted down on Boylston Street by Lagat, with whom he would cross the line in identical times of 2:09:47 to Tanui's 2:09:50, the closest three-man finish in Boston history.