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An Olympic Double: Portland's Galen Rupp Attempts Marathon Sunday After 10K

Tom Banse
/
Northwest News Network
Distance runner Galen Rupp at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene last month.

Portland runner Galen Rupp returns to competition at the Summer Olympics early Sunday morning. Rupp will race in the men's marathon just a week after he finished fifth in the 10,000-meter run.

Some sportswriters have questioned the wisdom of this Olympic long distance "double." Following his first race Rupp said he's confident he'll be recovered and strong by Sunday.

"I love the 10K. It's always been a race that I really enjoyed running,” Rupp said. “But I'm not worried about it now. It's full steam ahead, getting ready for the marathon. I'm excited to run that."

The last American to try Rupp's Olympic double also comes from the Portland area. At the 2004 Athens Games, Dan Browne of Beaverton ran both the 10K and the marathon. Browne finished well behind the leaders in both events.

Now semi-retired, Tom Banse covered national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reported from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events unfolded. Tom's stories can be found online and were heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.