Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon 10 kilometre

{{Short description|none}}

{{Infobox Olympic event

|event = Men's 10 km open water marathon

|games = 2008 Summer

|image = Maarten van der Weijden (2008-08-25).jpg

|image_size = 200px

|caption = Gold medal winner Maarten van der Weijden.

|venue = Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park

|date = August 21, 2008

|competitors = 25

|nations = 24

|win_value = 1:51:51.6

|gold = Maarten van der Weijden

|goldNOC = NED

|silver = David Davies

|silverNOC = GBR

|bronze = Thomas Lurz

|bronzeNOC = GER

|next = 2012

}}

{{SwimmingAt2008SummerOlympics}}

The men's marathon 10 kilometre event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 21 August at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing, China.{{cite web|url=http://content.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/schedule.aspx?dc=SW|title=Olympic Swimming Schedule|publisher=USA Today|date=9 August 2008|access-date=14 May 2013}}

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. With only a few hundred metres left, he pulled ahead from the rest of the field before slapping the yellow pads first in 1:51:51.6.{{cite news|title=Van der Weijden wins 10K swimming race in close finish|url=http://www.2008.nbcolympics.com/swimming/news/newsid=241658.html#van+weijden+wins+swimming+race+close+finish|work=Beijing 2008|publisher=NBC Olympics|date=20 August 2008|access-date=5 July 2013}}{{cite news|title=Holland's van der Weijden wins men's 10km marathon swim|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-08-21/hollands-van-der-weijden-wins-mens-10km-marathon/485076|publisher=ABC News Australia|date=21 August 2008|access-date=5 July 2013}} 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.{{cite news|last=Paxinos|first=Stathi|title=After leukemia, marathon a breeze|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/08/21/1219262412616.html|publisher=The Age|date=21 August 2008|access-date=5 July 2013}}

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.{{cite news|title=Battling Davies wins 10km silver|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/swimming/7573725.stm|publisher=BBC Sport|date=21 August 2008|access-date=5 July 2013}} Meanwhile, Lurz held off the final pack to claim the bronze in 1:51:53.6, finishing exactly two seconds behind Van der Weijden.{{cite news|last=Lord|first=Craig|title=Swimmer David Davies wins silver medal for Britain|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/olympics/article1744360.ece|work=The Times|date=21 August 2008|access-date=5 July 2013}}{{cite news|title=Olympics, Open Water: Maarten van der Weijden Survives Leukemia to Claim Men's 10K Gold|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/18886.asp|publisher=Swimming World Magazine|date=21 August 2008|access-date=4 July 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704235353/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/18886.asp|archive-date=4 July 2013}}

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. Belgium's Brian Ryckeman (1:52:10.7) and U.S. swimmer Mark Warkentin (1:52:13.0) managed to pull off from the rest of the field with a top-eight finish.{{cite news|title=Warkentin finishes 8th in first-ever men's Olympic 10k marathon swim|url=http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewMiscArticle.aspx?TabId=1178&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&mid=3914&ItemId=2931|publisher=USA Swimming|date=21 August 2008|access-date=5 July 2013}}

Russia's pre-Olympic favorite and world champion Vladimir Dyatchin was disqualified from the race after he received a pair of yellow cards for obstructing his fellow swimmers and a red card for misconduct.{{cite news|last=Harris|first=Nick|title=Davies makes a splash in more ways than one|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/davies-makes-a-splash-in-more-ways-than-one-904991.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/davies-makes-a-splash-in-more-ways-than-one-904991.html |archive-date=2022-05-26 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=The Independent|date=21 August 2008|access-date=5 July 2013}}