Medalists
| Gold |
 Samuel Kamau Wanjiru
Kenya (KEN) |
| Silver |
 Jaouad Gharib
Morocco (MAR) |
| Bronze |
 Tsegay Kebede
Ethiopia (ETH) |
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows:
| World Record |
Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) |
2:04:26 |
Berlin, Germany |
30 September 2007 |
| Olympic Record |
Carlos Lopes (POR) |
2:09:21 |
Los Angeles, USA |
12 August 1984 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date |
Event |
Athlete |
Time |
OR |
WR |
| 24 August |
Samuel Kamau Wanjiru |
Kenya |
2:06:32 |
OR |
|
Finishing times
| Rank |
Name |
Nationality |
Result |
Notes |
| 1 |
Samuel Kamau Wanjiru |
Kenya |
2:06:32 |
OR |
| 2 |
Jaouad Gharib |
Morocco |
2:07:16 |
|
| 3 |
Tsegay Kebede |
Ethiopia |
2:10:00 |
|
| 4 |
Deriba Merga |
Ethiopia |
2:10:21 |
|
| 5 |
Martin Lel |
Kenya |
2:10:24 |
|
| 6 |
Viktor Röthlin |
Switzerland |
2:10:35 |
|
| 7 |
Gashaw Asfaw |
Ethiopia |
2:10:52 |
|
| 8 |
Yared Asmerom |
Eritrea |
2:11:11 |
|
| 9 |
Dathan Ritzenhein |
United States |
2:11:59 |
|
| 10 |
Ryan Hall |
United States |
2:12:33 |
|
| 11 |
Mike Fokoroni |
Zimbabwe |
2:13:17 |
PB |
| 12 |
Stefano Baldini |
Italy |
2:13:25 |
|
| 13 |
Tsuyoshi Ogata |
Japan |
2:13:26 |
SB |
| 14 |
Grigoriy Andreyev |
Russia |
2:13:33 |
|
| 15 |
Ruggero Pertile |
Italy |
2:13:39 |
|
| 16 |
José Manuel Martínez |
Spain |
2:14:00 |
|
| 17 |
Francis Kirwa |
Finland |
2:14:22 |
|
| 18 |
Myongseung Lee |
South Korea |
2:14:37 |
|
| 19 |
Janne Holmén |
Finland |
2:14:44 |
|
| 20 |
Abderrahim Goumri |
Morocco |
2:15:00 |
|
| 21 |
Aleksey Sokolov |
Russia |
2:15:57 |
|
| 22 |
Brian Sell |
United States |
2:16:07 |
|
| 23 |
Ottaviano Andriani |
Italy |
2:16:10 |
|
| 24 |
Dan Robinson |
Great Britain |
2:16:14 |
|
| 25 |
Haiyang Deng |
China |
2:16:17 |
|
| 26 |
Abderrahime Bouramdane |
Morocco |
2:17:42 |
|
| 27 |
Vasyl Matviychuk |
Ukraine |
2:17:50 |
|
| 28 |
Bong-ju Lee |
South Korea |
2:17:56 |
|
| 29 |
Oleg Kulkov |
Russia |
2:18:11 |
|
| 30 |
Paulo Gomes |
Portugal |
2:18:15 |
|
| 31 |
Alex Malinga |
Uganda |
2:18:26 |
|
| 32 |
Carlos Cordero |
Mexico |
2:18:40 |
|
| 33 |
Kum-Song Ri |
North Korea |
2:19:08 |
|
| 34 |
Henryk Szost |
Poland |
2:19:43 |
|
| 35 |
José Amado García |
Guatemala |
2:20:15 |
|
| 36 |
Yonas Kifle |
Eritrea |
2:20:23 |
|
| 37 |
Nasar Sakar Saeed |
Bahrain |
2:20:24 |
|
| 38 |
José de Souza |
Brazil |
2:20:25 |
|
| 39 |
Kamiel Maase |
Netherlands |
2:20:30 |
|
| 40 |
Song-Chol Pak |
North Korea |
2:21:16 |
|
| 41 |
Iaroslav Musinschi |
Moldova |
2:21:18 |
|
| 42 |
Il-Nam Kim |
North Korea |
2:21:51 |
|
| 43 |
Juan Carlos Cardona |
Colombia |
2:21:57 |
|
| 44 |
Hendrick Ramaala |
South Africa |
2:22:43 |
|
| 45 |
Arjun Kumar Basnet |
Nepal |
2:23:09 |
PB |
| 46 |
Hélder Ornelas |
Portugal |
2:23:20 |
|
| 47 |
Procopio Franco |
Mexico |
2:23:24 |
|
| 48 |
Nelson Cruz |
Cape Verde |
2:23:47 |
|
| 49 |
Roberto Echeverria |
Chile |
2:23:54 |
|
| 50 |
Yi-yong Kim |
South Korea |
2:23:57 |
|
| 51 |
Zhuhong Li |
China |
2:24:08 |
|
| 52 |
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir |
Mongolia |
2:24:19 |
|
| 53 |
Norman Dlomo |
South Africa |
2:24:28 |
|
| 54 |
Arkadiusz Sowa |
Poland |
2:24:48 |
|
| 55 |
Samson Ramadhani |
Tanzania |
2:25:03 |
|
| 56 |
Ndabili Bashingili |
Botswana |
2:25:11 |
|
| 57 |
Simon Munyutu |
France |
2:25:50 |
|
| 58 |
Antoni Bernadó |
Andorra |
2:26:29 |
|
| 59 |
Wen-Chien Wu |
Chinese Taipei |
2:26:55 |
|
| 60 |
Lee Troop |
Australia |
2:27:17 |
|
| 61 |
Costantino León |
Peru |
2:28:04 |
|
| 62 |
Goran Stojiljkovic |
Montenegro |
2:28:14 |
|
| 63 |
Alfredo Arévalo |
Guatemala |
2:28:26 |
|
| 64 |
Yousf Othman Qader |
Qatar |
2:28:40 |
|
| 65 |
Franklin Tenorio |
Ecuador |
2:29:05 |
|
| 66 |
Francisco Bautista |
Mevxico |
2:29:28 |
|
| 67 |
Roman Kejžar |
Slovenia |
2:29:37 |
|
| 68 |
Joachim Nshimirimana |
Burundi |
2:29:55 |
|
| 69 |
Seteng Ayele |
Israel |
2:30:07 |
|
| 70 |
Takhir Mamashayev |
Kazakhstan |
2:30:26 |
|
| 71 |
Abdil Ceylan |
Turkey |
2:31:43 |
|
| 72 |
José Ríos |
Spain |
2:32:35 |
|
| 73 |
Bunting Hem |
Cambodia |
2:33:32 |
|
| 74 |
Marcel Tschopp |
Liechtenstein |
2:35:06 |
|
| 75 |
Pavel Loskutov |
Estonia |
2:39:01 |
|
| 76 |
Atsushi Sato |
Japan |
2:41:08 |
|
| DNF |
Tesfayohannes Mesfin |
Eritrea |
|
|
| DNF |
Julio Rey |
Spain |
|
|
| DNF |
Martin Fagan |
Ireland |
|
|
| DNF |
Al Mustafa Riyadh |
Bahrain |
|
|
| DNF |
Ali Mabrouk El Zaidi |
Libya |
|
|
| DNF |
Marilson dos Santos |
Brazil |
|
|
| DNF |
Luke Kibet |
Kenya |
|
|
| DNF |
Abdulhak Elgorche Zakaria |
Bahrain |
|
|
| DNF |
Luis Fonseca |
Venezuela |
|
|
| DNF |
Oleksandr Sitkovskyy |
Ukraine |
|
|
| DNF |
Franck de Almeida |
Brazil |
|
|
| DNF |
Andrei Gordeev |
Belarus |
|
|
| DNF |
João N'Tyamba |
Angola |
|
|
| DNF |
Moses Moeketsi Mosuhli |
Lesotho |
|
|
| DNF |
Getuli Bayo |
Tanzania |
|
|
| DNF |
Mubarak Hassan Shami |
Qatar |
|
|
| DNF |
Simon Tsotang Maine |
Lesotho |
|
|
| DNF |
Clement Mabothile Lebopo |
Lesotho |
|
|
| DNF |
Olexandr Kuzin |
Ukraine |
|
|
| DNS |
Mohamed Ikoki Msandeki |
Tanzania |
|
|
| DNS |
Satoshi Osaki |
Japan |
|
|
| DNS |
Augusto Soares |
Timor-Leste |
|
|
|
