One of the most unforeseen and amazing stories was the women's marathon.
It was run in hot, humid weather and many presumed contenders dropped out or finished way back.
   As expected, a couple of Kenyans finished 1st & 2nd... but 3rd was a young woman from Wisconsin, Molly Seidel. 2 other Kenyans dropped out, and the only other American entries were also Kenyans by birth. The back story is that at 10 years old, Molly made a card for her school about her goal, saying her wish was to go to the Olympics and win a gold medal. Maybe next time.

read about it here