Switzerland's top track and field athlete Viktor Röthlin has failed to reach the podium in the men's Olympic marathon.

Röthlin came in sixth at 2:10.35 in the 42.2 kilometre course through Beijing on Sunday.

The race began at the edge of Tiananmen Square, then wound around the Temple of Heaven before turning toward the Olympic Green and the Bird's Nest stadium. By the end of the race the temperature had risen to 30 degrees centigrade.

Samuel Wanjiru came in first at 2:06.32, shaving three minutes off the previous Olympic record. He was the first Kenyan to win an Olympic marathon.

Jaouad Gharib of Morocco took the silver and the bronze went to Ethiopia's Tsegay Kebede for a time of 2:10.

Röthlin, 33, said it was a good result to have come sixth, just 30 seconds short of the bronze podium time.

"I am still proud of my performance even though I could have been written into the history books by winning a medal," he said after.

During his career Röthlin has clocked eight of the ten best marathon times ever run by a Swiss athlete.

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