Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge ran a dominant marathon to win the Olympic men’s title in Sapporo, Japan. The marathon world record holder finished in a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 38 seconds on Sunday.
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Athletics At The Summer Olympics – Marathon
Runner-up Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands finished 1 minute and 20 seconds ahead of third-placed Bashir Abdi of Belgium.
Kipchoge, at the age of 36, follows in the footsteps of Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia (1960, 1964) and Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany (1972, 1976) as the only other runners to win consecutive gold medals in the Olympic men’s marathon (1976, 1980).
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After he won the marathon for a second time, he commented, “I suppose I fulfilled the heritage by doing so.”
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That’s the Source of My Joy and Motivation For the Future.
Since he also won silver and bronze in the 5,000-meter events in 2008 and 2004, respectively, Kipchoge currently has four Olympic medals in his collection.
He was grateful that the Olympics could go on despite the ongoing efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.
Especially at this challenging time, it means a great deal to me. It was postponed last year and finally took place,” he stated.
On Sunday, in temperatures hovering about 27 degrees Celsius, 106 runners representing 45 countries and the Olympic Refugee Team started the race from Odori Park in the middle of Sapporo (81 degrees Fahrenheit).
After the 30-kilometer mark, Kipchoge proved why he was the race’s main contender by breaking away from the rest of the field.
From a near-tie position 5 kilometres into the stage, he took the lead with 27 seconds to spare by the 35-kilometer mark and increased that gap to 1 minute and 17 seconds by the 40-kilometer mark.
His 80-second victory margin was the largest since Frank Shorter’s win at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
In an instant after crossing the finish line, Kipchoge raised two fingers in celebration of his two consecutive marathon victories.
Kipchoge was hailed as “a hero” by Sebastian Coe, president of the World Athletics Federation.
You need simply consider his emotional pull to understand… This is something he richly deserves.
All Eyes were on the Other Medals.
Nageeye, confident in his fitness and appearance enough to win silver, spent time encouraging Abdi to finish the training course and earn bronze.
He was able to follow me because I waited for him to get close and then I bolted,” Nageeye said. How incredible that we get to experience this together. It defies logic.
Humid and windy weather on Sunday caused the elimination of almost 30 runners.
Uganda’s 2012 London Olympic gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich and Ethiopia’s 2012 London Marathon champion Shura Kitata Tola both dropped out early on.
Other notable runners, including Ethiopia’s world champion Lelisa Desisa and Kenya’s Amos Kipruto, dropped out of the race early.
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Last Words
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