Finish Line Clearly In Sight

It is the most traditional of Olympic events and, in recent years, has come to symbolize the five-ring circus is about to pack up and move on to the next big stop.
Men's marathon time means it's definitely almost closing time for the Beijing Olympics, with the closing ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium now less than 10 hours away. Sure, there's still a basketball gold to be decided (which matters a great deal, I suppose, to the country to the south of us) and some boxing finals to be held (talk about a sport that's flown right under the radar in these parts, which might be expected when you send a one-man team to the Games).
But really, once the marathon is over, you know the extinguishing of the flame isn't too far away.
What a historic run it was. Hard to believe that, until tonight, Kenya — the nation which has been a long-distance terror at the Olympics for 40 years, going back to the legendary Kip Keino in Mexico City — had never produced a marathon winner.
Consider that little blip on the Kenyan radar erased after Sammy Wansiru's sizzling 2:06:32 run on an oppressively hot Beijing day. The 21-year-old ran the fastest marathon in Olympic history, blowing away the previous best by nearly three minutes (the old standard, set by Portugal's Carlos Lopes, had stood up since 1984).
For the second straight Games, Canada had no entrant in the event. Kenya, meanwhile, had literally hundreds of prospects to choose from for its Olympic roster. Mark Lee, CBC's voice at the track, pointed out that in that African nation, "more than 500 (athletes) have run a 2:20 marathon. In Canada, we have two."
"It is a mind-boggling depth and strength," added CBC analyst Dave Moorcroft.
*****
Wouldn't be nice if all athletes shared their stories as honestly as Adam van Koeverden?
The Canadian paddler, who was stunned by an eighth-place finish in the K-1 1,000-metre final on Friday, battled back for a silver medal earlier today in the 500 — the distance at which he struck gold four years ago in Athens.
After the race, Van Koeverden bluntly admitted his confidence needed a serious rebuild after the crushing result in the 1,000. It was a sentiment he repeated once more during a studio interview with CBC's Scott Russell on Olympic Prime, saying that he was "still worrying and terrified" about an hour before the 500-metre final.
"That self-doubt was definitely there and very prominent for the last 24 hours," said Van Koeverden, one of the most insightful athletes you'll ever meet. "That's the story of my Olympics, coming back from something as devastating as that."