ESPN Olympic Sports

NEW YORK -- Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor rescued American distance running at the 2004 Olympic Games. On Sunday, they have a chance to put their country back on the map as a marathon force.

The two go to the line of Sunday's New York City Marathon in one of the most elite fields ever assembled in the race's 35-year history.

Keflezighi, 29, and Kastor, 31, both took the podium in Athens to break long medal droughts for the United States in both the women's and men's marathons.

Kastor's late surge for the bronze was the first time an American woman had medaled since Joan Benoit took gold in Los Angeles in 1984, while Keflezighi's silver replicated Frank Shorter's second-place finish in Munich 32 years before that.

The last American to win the New York City Marathon was Alberto Salazar in 1982, while the last U.S. woman to win was Miki Gorman in 1977.

"If I come through (and win), it would be huge not only for me but for U.S. distance running," said Keflezighi, who came to the U.S. as a 12-year-old from the war-torn east African country.

Keflezighi's Olympic teammate Dan Browne is also in the field along with marathon debutants Bob Kennedy and Abdi Abdirahman.

"Hopefully we'll be able to really surprise some people here in New York," Browne said. "I think that will reaffirm that, hey, it wasn't just a shot in the dark for American running in general. When you raise the level of competitiveness in American running it will tend to edge up into the world competition and that's what you're seeing."

Aside from the U.S. contingent, the men's field also includes French star Benoit Zwierzchiewski and the red-hot Kenyan quartet of 2004 Boston Marathon winner Timothy Cherigat, two-time New York winner John Kagwe, 18-time marathon winner Elly Rono and the fastest man in the field, Michael Rotich, who has a personal best of 2 hours, 6.33 minutes set in Paris in 2003.

"The field is stacked, but you compete to be the best you can be," Kezlezighi said.

That is the line also being echoed by Kastor, particularly with reference to the late inclusion of world record-holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain into an already deep women's field.

Radcliffe's decision to run in New York comes just 11 weeks after her failure to finish the Olympic marathon in Athens, which was later attributed to a stomach injury.

Radcliffe insisted she was not running in New York to avenge her Athens disappointment.

"I haven't got anything to prove," Radcliffe said. "It's something I always wanted to do but didn't fit into my plans. It's not as if I'm doing anything unusual. I'm just moving on to the next stage of my career.

"I can't change what happened in Athens and I have to move forward and do what I believe is right for me," she said.

Kenyan-born Dutchwoman Lornah Kiplagat, defending New York champion Margaret Okayo of Kenya, two-time New York winner Tegla Loroupe and 2000 champion Ludmila Petrova of Russia are among the leading female runners.

Among the notable debutantes is Australian world cross country champion Benita Johnson.

New York race director Allan Steinfeld described it as the best women's field ever in a city marathon.

With every state in the union represented, there are 10,000 international participants from 105 countries. On the eve of the race, they will consume more than 4,000 pounds of pasta at a dinner in Central Park.

On race day, 18,000 PowerBars will be consumed at the start line while the 2 million people lining the course will be joined by 275 million television viewers in 125 countries.