Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil in New York (© Victah Sailer)
Marilson Gomes dos Santos (or simply "Marilson," as he is widely referred to at home) was awarded a medal reserved for major accomplishments in sport in a ceremony at the residence of Brazil's president on Monday (13 Nov), a week after he won the ING New York City Marathon. After receiving the Ordem do Merito Desportivo medal, he was honoured by local authorities in Brasilia, where his career began.
The Brazilian's New York victory had come as a shock to many, but not to the 29-year-old athlete himself, who had known since he was 15 that he was a good runner, and believed since the Paris marathon two years ago that he could excel at the event on the world stage.
He has set his sights on doing so again at the 2008 Olympic Marathon in Beijing, but is chasing targets on the track at the 2007 Pan-American Games in the mean time. His decision to focus on track speed in 2006 certainly paid off when it earned him Brazilian national records over 5000m and 10,000m, and the
confidence to run aggressively in New York.
No surprise, only confidence
Over and over again, after he pulled away in mile 19 and won in New York ahead of the likes of World record holder Paul Tergat, Gomes dos Santos was asked by reporters if he was surprised by the victory; and over and over again, he exuded a quiet confidence.
"I wasn't surprised," he said. "To win a marathon, you have to have courage. Today, I had the courage to go to the front."
He had kept looking back after pulling away; was he surprised no-one was close behind him? "I was looking behind to make sure I kept the same distance," he replied.
His lead had narrowed towards the end; had that made him nervous? "Not really. I wanted to control my pace to make sure I have something left for the end."
Only when he was asked if he thought his opponents had been surprised by his win did a smile crack his youthful face. "In the marathon, there's no joking around," he said. "There were some top runners there, but I was one of them."
Training with Vanderlei de Lima
Gomes dos Santos, the son of a construction worker in Ceilandia, near Brasilia, discovered his talent for running when he took up the sport at 15, following his 17-year-old brother. "I was part of a group, and I was one of the best in the group even though I was younger," he said. He won the 3000m at a regional youth competition in Brasilia, and was recruited by top Brazilian club Atletismo BM&F (sponsored by the Brazilian mercantile and futures exchange), which took him to Sao Paolo.
He is the only one in his family to pursue the sport, but he married a runner, Juliana Paula de Azevedo, who is a BM&F club member and a 2002 World Junior Championships medallist as well as the national 800m and 1500m champion. Athens Olympic marathon bronze medallist Vanderlei de Lima is a fellow club member, and the two men occasionally train together.
2:08 PB in Chicago
Gomes dos Santos, who studied physical education in college and won the 1997 and 1999 World University Games half marathons, ran his first marathon in Paris in 2004. "He followed the pace and went with the pace-makers," said his agent, Luis Felipe Posso. Gomes dos Santos faltered in the end but secured a 2:12:22 sixth-place finish that assured him he had real promise in the event. He ran a 2:06:48 personal best finishing sixth in Chicago that autumn, and was 10th in the 2005 World Championships marathon.
Track speed the key to success
On the eve of the 2006 New Year, Gomes dos Santos reclaimed the title of the Sao Silvestre 15K road race he had won before, beating Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, who went on to win the 2006 Boston and Chicago marathons. "He decided not to run a spring race and concentrate on getting speed on the track," said Posso of Gomes dos Santos, who won the Ibero-American Championships 5000m in May, and clocked back-to-back Brazilian national records in the Netherlands: 27:48.49 over 10,000m in Neerpelt on 5 June, and 13:19.43 for 5000m in Kassel three days later. A repeat national track champion, he won the 2006 10,000m title in September.
He increased his training mileage before New York, and going into the race, he told Posso his national track records had boosted his confidence. He referred to Brazilian marathoner Ronaldo da Costa's having broken the World marathon record when he ran 2:06:05 in 1998, and de Lima's having almost won the 2004 Olympic marathon. "My times are better than both of them on the track," Gomes dos Santos pointed out.
The confidence he drew from that and his defeat of Cheruiyot enabled him to pull away from a star-studded field and leave former champions Tergat and Hendrick Ramaala, and Olympic champion Stefano Baldini, and Athens 2004 runner-up Meb Keflezighi in his wake when he crossed the line in 2:09:58.
Taking on the region in 2007, the world in 2008
Gomes dos Santos plans to take on the world's best marathoners at the Olympics in 2008 but his immediate goals are in shorter events. "Next year, I might run some cross country because I think it might help me prepare," he said. A 2003 Pan American Games double medallist (with 10,000m silver and 5000m bronze), he will likely pursue gold in the same events at the July 2007 edition in Brazil, where his Sao Silvestre road race victories had made him a star long before he returned in triumph last week from New York.
"There was a big reception at the airport," said Posso on Monday. "He got very emotional." Gomes dos Santos will first take a break, Posso added, and whether he will defend his Sao Silvestre title and exactly what 2007 races he will run will be decided in December.
Wherever he runs from now on, the world will take notice of the first ever South American champion of the New York Marathon. "Most of the runners didn't know me," said Gomes dos Santos the day after his New York victory, referring to his competitors there. "But I'm sure now they know me. And I know I can run with them."
Sabrina Yohannes for the IAAF
