Tokyo, Aug. 7, (dpa/GNA) – Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge has become the third runner ever to win back-to-back Olympic marathon gold thanks to a dominant performance in challenging conditions on the last day of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games.
On another hot and humid day in Sapporo, the Rio champion and world record-holder triumphed in 2 hours 8 minutes 38 seconds, crossing the line 80 seconds before Dutch Abdi Nageeye, the largest winning margin at an Olympics since 1972.
Belgian Bashir Abdi won bronze as he came in 2 seconds later, beating Kenya’s Lawrence Cherono to the finish line by two seconds in an exciting final sprint.
The 36-year-old Kipchoge, widely considered the greatest marathoner of all-time, made a decisive move after the 30-kilometre mark, breaking up the leading pack and quickly creating an unassailable gap.
Within 5 kilometres he was 27 seconds ahead of the chasing group.
Kipchoge becomes the third runner ever to win back-to-back Olympic marathon titles, a feat only achieved by 1960 and 1964 champion Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia and East German Waldemar Cierpinski, who won in 1976 and 1980.
Among his achievements, the Kenyan pieced together an unparalleled 10-race unbeaten streak over a five-year stretch which ended with an eighth place at the 2020 London Marathon. He also won bronze in Athens and silver in Beijing in the shorter 5,000 metre race.
“I think I have fulfilled the legacy by winning the marathon for the second time, back-to-back. I hope now to help inspire the next generation,” Kipchoge told BBC sport.
“Tokyo 2020 has happened, it means a lot. It means there is hope. It means we are on the right track to a normal life,” he told the British broadcaster. “We are on the track to our normal lives, that is the meaning of the Olympics.
“I am happy to defend my title and to show the next generation, if you respect the sport and be disciplined you can accomplish your assignment.”
Though the race started at 7 am (2200 GMT Saturday), temperatures were already 26 degrees Celsius, with a humidity of 80 percent.
Luckily for the runners it was a cloudier day than Saturday and temperatures did not raise as quickly as during the women’s race a day earlier, which was brought forward an hour in order to protect the athletes from the heat.
The heat and humidity however did make scores of victims, with some 30 runners – over one quarter of the starters – not finishing the race, including Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata, who won the 2020 London Marathon that ended Kipchoge’s streak.
Last to cross the finish line was Ivan Zarco Alvarez of Honduras, who was cheered on by spectators along the route as he finished in 2:44:36.
Marathons and the race walks at the Games were taken out of Tokyo to Sapporo, some 700 kilometres north of the Japanese capital, in order to avoid searing temperatures – but athletes in Friday’s race walks still competed in heat of over 30 degree Celsius.
GNA