A hamstring injury forced Ireland's Martin Fagan to withdraw from the Olympic Marathon in Beijing this morning.
Fagan's effort fell short at the 40km mark as he neared the Bird's Nest stadium. He was taken to the Chinese/Japanese Hospital in Beijing, where he was examined by Team Doctor Bill Cuddihy, before returning to the Olympic Village.
The Mullingar man, a talented runner who honed his talent at Providence College, Rhode Island, was among 19 starters who did not finish the race, eventually won by Sammy Wanjiru.
The Kenyan defied the heat and humidity to comfortably win gold and set a new Olympic record of two hours six minutes 32 seconds.
The 22-year-old, who is based for much of the year in Japan, beat Morocco's Jaouad Gharib into the silver medal position in 2hrs 7min 16secs, while fast-finishing Tsegay Kebede of Ethiopia took third.
Wanjiru, who only made his marathon debut last year, broke clear just after 36 kilometres, after playing a major role in how the race developed.
Along with compatriot Martin Lel he ensured a fast pace in the first five kilometres which whittled the leading pack down to just eight - Spain's Cheme Martinez the only non-African.
Just after 15km Wanjiru then put in a punishing burst which reduced the leading pack to five and saw them move through halfway in a very quick 1:02.34.
However, it was Gharib who settled the distribution of the medals when, just before 30km, the two-time world champion's spurt delivered a body blow, as he, Wanjiru and Merga drew away.
Wanjiru always looked the stronger of the trio and his breakaway should have left Gharib and Merga to fight it out for the silver medal, but the latter fell off the pace in the vital last two kilometres.