LA Marathon 2012 Results: Simon Njoroge Set to Honor Brother in London Olympics

Simon Njoroge won the 2012 LA Marathon with a time of 2:12:12. He's been running quite well lately, winning six of his last nine marathons.

He's peaking at just the right time, with the 2012 London Olympics coming up this summer.

Fittingly, it will give him the perfect stage on which to honor his brother, 2008 Beijing Olympic marathon gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru.

Wanjiru died in 2011 after falling from a balcony. The prime of his career was cut short, but he can live on in the spirit of his brother.

Wanjiru was the first Kenyan to win Olympic gold in the marathon. Njoroge has all the skills necessary to become the second.

Njoroge has a lot of work left to do if he wants to compete with his brother's Olympic-record time of 2:06:32, but it would be a really touching moment if he could match his brother's time and win another gold.

The Boston Marathon is coming up on April 16, so we'll have to see where he's at then, but he should have no problem winning his eighth career marathon.

He'll be running with a lot of motivation this summer and will have plenty of competition to drive him.

His strongest competition should come from his fellow Kenyans, who paced him in the LA Marathon.

Weldon Kirui and Stephen Muange, also Kenyans, finished second and third in the men's race, respectively. They were both only a little over a minute behind Njoroge.

The London Olympics are still a while away, but you have to believe Njoroge wants to win for his brother. He'll have more motivation on the Olympic course than anyone else, which should be enough to carry him to the gold medal.