re: Marathon being most impressive: It’s hard for me to think that, what with the last Olympics having not one but two participants (Gorissen & Seidel) who were both on their third marathon ever, both managed extremely well, with Seidel scoring a Bronze medal (!!!) for her new hobby.
I can’t think of any other Olympic event where you had a snowball’s chance in hell of any success with two whole performances under your belt. No way.