Roba strikes gold in Olympic marathon
Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia evoked memories of her great compatriot Abebe Bikila when she became the first African woman to win the Olympic marathon title on Sunday morning.

Thirty-six years after Bikila became the first black African to win any Olympic title with victory in the men's marathon in Rome, Roba won the race through the streets of Atlanta in two hours, 26 minutes, 5 seconds.

The race--begun at 7.05 a.m. to spare the runners Atlanta's heat and humidity--started in somewhat bizarre fashion when a marshall was still on the track as the start gun fired. He was swept along by the 89 starters before battling his way to the inner field.

But neither that incident nor anything else deterred Roba, who finished exactly two minutes ahead of Valentina Yegorova of Russia, the Barcelona Olympic champion, who took the silver in 2:28.05. Yuko Arimori of Japan, second in Barcelona, took bronze in 2:28.39, six seconds clear of German Katrin Doerre.

To illustrate the huge strides women athletes have made in the last four decades, Roba's time would have been good enough to earn her the silver medal in the men's race in the 1956 Melbourne Games.

Roba's victory comes four years after compatriot Derartu Tulu became the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 metres, and gave the village of Merero cause for another celebration. Both Tulu and Roba were born there.

Roba, a police captain in Ethiopia's prison labour service said, "I had a race plan and I stuck to it even when Uta Pippig went out very fast. I was always confident I was going to win."

Pippig, of Germany, who led for much of the early part of the race, faded after a fast opening 17 km and eventually dropped out seven kilometres from the finish.