Four years ago, Blake Russell’s stunning tumble from first place to fourth at the Olympic women’s marathon trials provoked whispers of pity from the running community and tears from Russell and her coach, Bob Sevene.

When Russell triumphantly put memory and injury behind her in April, finishing third in Boston at the trials for the Beijing Games to clinch an Olympic team berth, she draped a flag around her in redemption.

But where was Sevene to share the glory?

Sevene, the coach who led Joan Benoit Samuelson to the first women’s Olympic marathon gold medal, had been out on the course and stayed there. Russell knew he was too nervous to see her finish. Plus, he hates crowds.

Sevene soon learned she had fulfilled her potential — and his pledge.

“I made a promise to myself in 2004,” Sevene said in a telephone interview from Monterey Bay, Calif., this week. “I would help Blake get on the team this time.”

Russell is in New York with her United States women’s marathon teammates to run the Mini 10K, the women-only race held in Central Park on Saturday for the 37th straight year.

Hearing of Sevene’s promise for the first time Thursday, Russell averted her pooling eyes. “You make me cry,” she said.