It was only 20 years ago on August 31, 2003a Kenyan boy named Eliud Kipchoge surprised by his victory in the 5,000 meters of world of paris two of the best athletes of the moment, the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele and the moroccan Hicham El Guerroujbegan to write his name as one of the great athletes in history.
That day, at the end of the World Cups in the French capital, all eyes in the Saint Denis stadium were on El Guerrouj, who a few days earlier had won gold in the 1,500m, in what was his fourth which crowns the world far away. , and Bekele, who also climbed to the top of the 10,000 podium in both championships at just twenty-one years old.
El Guerrouj’s silver and Bekele’s bronze are the only metals to both win in their history a World Cup at 5,000 meters, a distance in which they do not pride themselves too much.
Kipchoge, then 18 years old, arrived in Paris with the Junior World Cross Country Championship as the only major title on his record. In the French city, he burst onto the world athletic scene and, at a height of 1.67 meters and weighing just over fifty kilograms, began a career full of victories, especially in the marathon, which made him the main reference in the world of mythical. distance.
That gold medal at 5,000 meters is Kipchoge’s only credit at an outdoor World Cup, as in Osaka (Japan) 2007 he was second and in Helsinki 2005, Berlin 2009 and Daegu 2011 he missed the podium.
The distance he enjoys the most and where Kipchoge has had the best results is the marathon. He is a double Olympic champion thanks to his victories in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and has conquered the ‘majors’ in Tokyo, London (4 times), Chicago and Berlin (4). Only New York and Boston are missing.
In addition, Kipchoge is the marathon world record holder with 2h01:09 in Berlin (2022) and the only athlete to lower the time barrier. It was on October 12, 2019, with a time of 1h59:40, with a race made for him, the “Ineos 1.59” in Vienna, where he had external assistance not allowed by the International Athletics Federation (IAAF). and, therefore, its brand cannot be approved.
He runs behind a speeding car for him to beat the two-hour wall and is surrounded by seven ‘hares’ in an arrow formation to protect him from the wind. Those seven runners were part of a group of 41 top athletes who took turns throughout the race to support him.
Coincidentally, in 2023, twenty years after he entered the front door on August 31, 2003, Kipchoge was recognized with the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports. Twenty years of crossing borders and twenty years of being an icon with his works.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Jason Root, a professional writer working with Today Times Live, the premier news website. I specialize in sports writing, covering the biggest stories in the world of athletics. With an eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I provide engaging and informative articles that capture the key elements of any event or issue. My work has been featured on numerous respected websites and publications around the world.
