Stefano Baldini at the Flora London Marathon press conference - 13 April 2005 (© Getty Images)
London, UKAfter the distractions of his post-Olympic Games celebrations, Stefano Baldini is back doing what he likes best ... running fast.
Baldini's surprising victory in the Olympic Marathon in Athens proved so popular in Italy that he topped all newspaper sports polls - even ahead of the adored Michael Schumacher who has brought amazing success to the Ferrari formula one team.
Distractions
But it also meant he was so much in demand that his running took a backseat for a while and it has come as a relief to him now to be getting back into the groove.
He said: "After the Olympics it was like a storm. I was doing a lot of travelling, meeting important people, and for two months I was not really an athlete. I met many important people, but I prefer to think of the thousands of people who wanted to meet me rather than the most important. But it is good to be back concentrating on my running, and there are many things I want to achieve."
Baldini, 34, lines up in Sunday's Flora London Marathon against a quality startlist full of leading Africans such as World record holder Paul Tergat and defending champion Evans Rutto, but he has proved in the past he doesn't fear a distance running nation that everyone else seems to put on a pedestal.
He has shocked the Africans before, winning the 1996 World Half-marathon Championships in Majorca and, more notably, the Olympic title in Athens last year.
Pinto’s mark in his sights
And having taken a Marathon gold at the European Championships (1998), he would now like to prove the fastest the continent has ever produced. Antonio Pinto ran 2:06:26 in London five years ago to set a European record, and if Baldini could break the Portuguese runner's time it would at least bring some belated consolation for 1997, when Pinto won in London by two seconds from the Italian.
Baldini holds the Italian record with 2:07:29 but admits that time does not satisfy him. He said: "My personal best is not a true personal best. I believe I can run faster than I have done. My motivation is still high, and running a fast time is one of my targets - as well as retaining my Olympic title in Beijing in 2008. I've been in this sport for 25 years but I do not want to stop, and there is no reason why I can't still be in good shape for Beijing.”
“But more immediately, I want to run faster than I have ever done before. 2:07 is okay, but 2:06 would be nicer.”
I am hungry for more success
Baldini, married to Italian 400m record-holder Virna De Angeli, ran 61:17 in last month's Lisbon Half Marathon, where he was more than two minutes behind Tergat (59:10). But he is not concerned, insisting he is not a specialist half marathoner (even though he won the World title at that distance) and he says his training in Namibia has left him in shape to run well on Sunday.
“The Olympics was only a step, I am hungry for more success. The European record would be nice, but it depends on how the race is run. I want to run negative splits and I will be giving my all. I don't want to waste all the good training I've done.”
“There is a very good field, but I do not stand on the start line fearing the Kenyans. If you look at the world’s top-100, maybe 60 are Kenyans and not many are in the lists are non-Africans, but it's not a problem to me. I will still be going out to win.”
Organisers have been asked for a first half of 63 minutes, and with a slight course change taking out the infamous cobbled section at 22 miles there could be a scorching second half. London Marathon official Tim Hutchings said: "I believe the course change has taken out 18 bends on the route as well as the cobbles, and it is estimated it will make it 45 seconds quicker.”
Bob Frank for the IAAF
