---
title: "Neither César, nor Jenny nor Jonathan achieved Olympic standard"
published: 2016-01-17
updated: 2026-08-04
source: "https://dev-abp.massivoai.com/en/articles/ni-cesar-ni-jenny-ni-jonathan-lograron-marca-olimpica"
---

# Neither César, nor Jenny nor Jonathan achieved Olympic standard

**Zero out of three. And César, oh César!, was just eight seconds short of achieving the time of 2:19:00 that would have qualified him for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He was the closest of the three Costa Ricans who tried today at the Houston Marathon, but in this case eight seconds weigh as much as 10 minutes: none of the three qualified for Rio.**

Everything looked good until kilometer 10. At that point Jonathan Varela, 35 years old, started to falter and his pace became increasingly slower. By kilometer 15 it was clear he wouldn't achieve the Olympic standard, as his average pace had dropped more than 3 seconds per kilometer from what he needed. He finished far from his best times, at 2:31:40.

César, for his part, ran an almost perfect race. Despite the tremendous cold of 4 degrees Celsius that prevailed from the start, he maintained an incredibly consistent pace throughout the entire marathon, aiming from the very beginning at the 3:17 per kilometer average he needed to qualify. In the chart below you can see how at all the checkpoints César maintained 3:16-3:17 per kilometer... except in the last two. At kilometer 40 his average dropped to 3:18 per kilometer and in the end it was just eight seconds that separated him from the ticket to Rio 2016. A good strategy, well executed, except for the final meters. A strong push in the last 200 meters would have been enough, but it wasn't.

"I trusted my watch, I ran 42 kilometers and (lost) my pass to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by 8 seconds. God knows what he's doing. In the last kilometer I was doing well, two little hills and I'd reach the finish line, but I didn't make it. I didn't qualify and I'm not going to try again, you can't run another marathon, it hurts a lot, but I'm holding my head high" said Lizano.

![Cuadro Houston](https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t31.0-8/11221857_1029600577097267_1811241099619877329_o.png "Cuadro Houston")

And Jenny Méndez? Jenny looked so strong. Just three months ago she had run the Marine Corps Marathon in 2:45:56, that is, just 56 seconds short of the required time. This time she seemed even better prepared, but perhaps anxiety got to her, despite her experience. Jenny started at a much faster pace than she needed; the average pace per kilometer that would take her to Rio 2016 was 3:55, and she ran the first 5k at 3:41 per kilometer, madness! Then her pace gradually decreased and by kilometer 30 the total average was at 3:55/km, still on track for the Olympic standard, but 12 more difficult kilometers remained...

In the last 15 kilometers her pace per kilometer collapsed to over four minutes and her hope of qualifying for her first Olympic Games faded away. She finally crossed the finish line in 2:48:34.

A shame, but Costa Rican distance running still has no representative in Rio 2016. Gabriela Traña will try again in April, and it may be the last chance to see a Costa Rican in the marathon at the next Olympic Games. It's likely Jenny will try again too, but we'll have to wait. Jonathan and César seem to have already used up all their ammunition.

A Buen Paso uses [Massivo](https://massivoai.com), the event-registration platform that powers this article.