The marathon at the Paris Olympic Games will be special for many reasons. First, because for the first time it will be split into two races, one for men and one for women, which will close the Games. Second, because he will have among his main favorites Eliud Kipchoge, who will go to the French capital with the aim of winning his third gold in a row. But it will also be very special for the Mongolian athlete. Ser-Od Bat-Ochir42 years old, who will run his sixth Olympic marathon, an unprecedented event in the history of athletics.
Born on October 7, 1981 in Mongolia, Ser-Od Bat-Ochir is an accomplished runner who has competed in Olympic Games marathons. Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021 due to the pandemic), and this year it qualified for the Paris Games thanks to universal quotas.
His first official 42 kilometer race was in 2002 and has been ever since He has run nearly 80 marathons. He was runner-up in Asia, champion in Mongolia and third in the Fukuoka marathon (2014), where he broke his country’s record with a time of 2h08:50.
In his first Olympic event, Athens, which he attended when he was only 22 years old, he finished in 75th position with a time of 2:33:24. Four years later, in the Chinese capital, he improved his Olympic record by more than 9 minutes and reached 52nd place.
He was his country’s flag bearer at the London Games, where he achieved 51st position with a time of 2h20:10, his best result at the Olympic Games. In the 2016 Rio Games he placed 91st and in the Tokyo Games he had to leave due to a fever that did not allow him to perform at his level.
After the disappointment of Tokyo, he was on the verge of giving up on professional sport, but decided to return to training thanks to the support of his friends and family.
“For almost two months after the Olympic Games, it was very difficult for me. It was already decided that I would leave my team after the Games, so those two months were the hardest,” he said in an interview for Olympics com. “They told me that the Tokyo Olympics were in the past and it was time to move on. They told me that I should set a new goal, the next Olympics and the world championship.”
The experienced athlete returned to training and managed to qualify him tenth World Athletics Championships in Oregon, where he reached 26th place in the marathon event. A year later he participated in the Asian Games and achieved a creditable fourth place in the Hofu Marathon, showing that he had regained his level and was ready for the Olympic event.
In May of this year, Word Athletics published the final list with athletes classified for the Paris Marathon, which includes ten runners for universal quotas. One of them is Ser-Od Bat-Ochi, the tireless Mongolian marathon runner who will represent his country at the Olympic Games for the sixth time.
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.
