Two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge was hoping for a dream finale to his career at the age of 39 — but ended up handing over his running shoes to a fan.
The only man to run under two hours — albeit in an unofficial race — the Kenyan superstar decided enough was enough in Paris and stopped running around the 30km mark.
In scenes captured by an AFP reporter in the crowd, Kipchoge turned to fans and handed over his shoes, bib and socks to supporters, receiving a rapturous reception.
He then climbed wearily into a waiting van and was driven away as the crowd cheered wildly.
Kipchoge was aiming to win a historic third straight gold but was about eight minutes off the pace when he decided to throw in the towel.
Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won the race in an Olympic record time of 2hr 06min 26sec, declaring it to be the “greatest day” of his life.
For Kipchoge though, it was “a tough day at the office”.
“This is my worst marathon. I have never done a DNF (did not finish). That’s life,” he said.
He said he experienced pain in his back after the 20-kilometre mark. Kipchoge was non-committal on his future.
“I don’t know what my future will hold. I will think about it over the next three months. I still want to try to run some marathons,” he said
“You can train for a very long time but one day, it can happen.
“It’s like boxing. You can go to a training camp for five months and be knocked out in two seconds.
“But life will continue.”
He had a special moment with his fans that was fitting for such an icon of the sport.
Kipchoge was adamant the punishing Parisian hills did not break him.
“I had a pain in my back at about 20km and decided not to finish and try to get out,” he said.
“The hills didn’t affect me at all. The pain made me stop.
“The other runners were telling me to push on but I was telling them, ‘No, I have pain, I can’t’.
“I could feel the love and respect from them.”
It was a masterclass from 22-year-old Tola that shocked the world.
Running solo at the front was an incredible risk — and he tore up the run from central Paris to Versailles like it was easy work.
He finished 21 seconds clear of Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, the bronze medallist from Tokyo, with Kenya’s Benson Kipruto taking bronze.
“I’m happy today. I was 2022 world champion and now I’m Olympic champion,” said Tola.
“It’s the greatest day in my life. This was my goal.”
Tola, a late call-up to replace injury-hit Sisay Lemma, won gold at the 2022 world championships in Eugene.
More recently he finished third at last year’s London Marathon and won the New York City Marathon in a course record of 2:04.58.
“I was the reserve in the Ethiopian team, but when Sisay had injuries, then I had a chance to represent him,” Tola said.
“I was fully prepared and knew I could fulfil my dream. This is the Olympics and it is not easy to win the Olympic Games, not at all. I am very proud, very happy.”
The route included a 436m climb and 438m descent. The maximum gradient on the route was 13.5 per cent. “If you are not really fit for this course, then it will be very rough,” said Bekele.
Silver medallist Abdi added: “The weather was hot, (the terrain featured) a lot of ups and downs. Actually, I expected going uphill would be most challenging, but I found going downhill most difficult.
“It was very steep and you don’t have control of your body. That was very scary, especially after 29km, we had almost 2km of running downhill and it was just going more down and down, and I was really afraid of falling.
“This is the hardest marathon course I’ve ever run
— with AFP
Source Agencies
