Japan's Mizuki Noguchi captured the gold medal in the women's marathon at the Olympic Games in Athens on August 22.

Noguchi, silver medalist in last year's world championships in Paris, took over the lead from Britain's Paula Radcliffe after 27 kilometers and then pulled away for the gold medal.

The 26-year-old Japanese covered the gruesome race of 42.195km from the ancient Marathon to the Panathinako Stadium in a time of two hours 26 minutes and 20 seconds.

Kenya's Catherine Ndereba, the reigning world champion, took the silver in 2:26:32 and American Deena Kastor, the country's marathon record holder, won the bronze in 2:27:20.

Radcliffe, the world's record holder, took an early lead but retired after 37km.