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London - Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru has pulled out of this month's London Marathon because of a knee injury but fellow Kenyan and another former winner Martin Lel will race, organisers said on Monday.
Wanjiru, who won gold in Beijing in 2008 and the London Marathon a year later, has not raced since winning the Chicago Marathon in October.
"I am bitterly disappointed not to be able to race in London this year," Wanjiru, whose wife recently dropped a charge of attempted murder against him, said in a statement.
"Winning the London Marathon in 2009 was one of the great achievements of my career and I was hoping to become the London champion again. But I have been suffering some problems with my right knee recently which meant I had to withdraw from the Lisbon half marathon.
Unfortunately, it has not responded well enough for me to make my final preparations for London."
Lel, winner in London in 2005, 2007 and 2008, has asked to be added to the field after recovering from his own injury problems, race director David Bedford said.
"We are delighted to announce the late addition of Martin Lel, one of the great champions in London Marathon history," he said in a statement.
