MARATHON CHAMPIONS TOLA, HASSAN KNOW THEY RAN PRECISELY 42.195 KILOMETERS, WITH ALL THANKS TO DAVID KATZ.

MARATHON CHAMPIONS TOLA, HASSAN

KNOW THEY RAN PRECISELY 42.195 KILOMETERS,

WITH ALL THANKS TO DAVID KATZ.

By ELLIOTT DENMAN

I didn’t expect Tamirat Tola (2:06.26 last Saturday) and Sifan Hassan

(2:22.25 last Sunday) to say “thank you/thank you/thank you” to Mr.

David Katz.

But, then again, it would have been a heck of good idea.

From their appearance in the next few steps after crossing

their Olympic finish lines, it was obvious to the world

that both gold medalists – both in Olympic-record time – were mighty

happy they weren’t being asked to run a single more centimeter.

The course – routed past an array of some of the most historic locales in the French capital – was challenging and often brutal.

Even as the route, which started at the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and ended at Les Invalides – ran past such storied sites as the Opéra Garnier, Place Vendôme, Jardin des Tuileries, Pyramides du Louvre, Place de la Concorde, Grand Palais, Jardins du Trocadéro, Château de Versailles, the Eiffel Tower – no one was taking a sight-seeing tour.

But Tola and Hassan mastered their assigned route in brilliant fashion. The previous Olympic mara-bests – 2:06.32 by Kenya’s Samuel Wanjiru at Beijing in 2008, and 2:23.07 by Ethiopia’s Tiki Gelana at London in 2012 – are now history.

Tola ran away from 80 pursuers. Hassan had 90 chasers.

Sure it was a supreme test of mind and body for every one of them.

Just as surely, they ran precisely 42.195 kilometers, not a centimeter longer,

not a centimeter shorter.

And that’s where David Katz’s role in all this emerges.

The 72-year-old resident of Port Washington Long Island, New York, is the man who helped set up the route and then certified that the man guaranteeing the exactitude of it all was up to the precision-perfect duties the job required.

Let David Katz tell his own path:

“I had the honor of being the official International Road Course Measurer for the last three (previous) Olympic Games (London, Rio, & Tokyo/Sapporo). Now, for Paris, I was thrilled to hand over the baton (an instrument called the Jones Counter) to Maurice Winterman of the Netherlands.

“ I first met Maurice several years ago at the Dubai Marathon and was very impressed with his skill, work ethics…