Eliud Kipchoge completes a historic marathon double

(Mohammed Benchrif)   

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge triumphed in Sunday’s Olympic marathon in Sapporo (north Japan). He led from the front and left his main competitors in his wake after breaking away from them 10 kilometres from the finish line, which he crossed with a time of 2hours 08 min 38 sec. 

Dutch athlete Abdi Nageeye (+1min 20sec) and Belgian Bashir Abdi (+1min 22sec), both originally from Somalia, took the two remaining podium spotsruling out another Kenyan one-two the day after the one seen in the women’s marathon.  

 

By taking first place at the Tokyo games, having also won in Rio in 2016, Kipchoge’s name will go down in history as the third marathon runner to retain an Olympic title, after the legendary Ethiopian Abebe Bikila (1960 and 1964) and East German Waldemar Cierpinski (1976 and 1980).
"This performance is how I think I’ll leave my mark”, he said. "I hope I can inspire the next generation."
At 36, Kipchoge, the world record holder (2 h 01 min 39 sec), has won four Olympic medals at as many games. Bronze medal at 2004 Athens games, silver in Beijing 2008 over 5000m, and gold in the marathon in Rio 2016 and in Tokyo 2020.

A key moment came in the opening kilometres when one of the event favourites, Ethiopian Shura Kitata, winner of the 2020 London marathon in late 2020, dropped out due to an injury to the rear of his left thigh, as did Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich, Olympic champion at the 2012 London games. Brazilian Daniel Do Nascimento was also taken ill after fainting twice at the side of the road and in the end, almost 30 athletes failed to reach the finish line. 

The Olympic records for the marathon are currently held by Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru, who ran 2 h 06 min 32 sec in the 2008 Olympic final in Beijing, with the women’s record belonging to Ethiopian Tiki Gelana, who produced a 2 h 23 min 07 sec time at the 2012 London Olympics. 

The first African Olympic champion was the late Ethiopian Abebe Bikila who was victorious in the Rome marathon with a time of 2 h 15 min out doing the late Moroccan Abdeslam Radi (2:15:41). 

African athletes have twice completed podium clean sweeps. The first time was at the 2000 Sydney games thanks to the efforts of Gezahegne Abera (Ethiopia), Erick Wainaina (Kenya) and Tesfaye Tola (Ethiopia). 

The second time was at the 2008 Beijing games produced by Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya), Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) and Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia).     

African winners of the marathon at the Olympic Games: 

1960 in Rome: Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia). 

1964 in Tokyo: Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia). 

1968 inMexico: Mamo Wolde (Ethiopia). 

1996 in Atlanta: Josia Thugwane (South Africa). 

2000 in Sydney: Gezahegne Abera (Ethiopia). 

2008 inBeijing: Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya). 

2012 in London: Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda). 

2016 in Rio: Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya). 

2020 in Tokyo: Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya).