In Africa, we have a saying, ” Erud Kipchoge The spell begins. “Don’t chase two rabbits at the same time-they will both run away.”
Kipchoge is already the greatest marathon runner of all time. The Olympic champion and world record holder has won eight Grand Slam titles, including four in London. The Kenyan’s resume is so complete that for a while he didn’t care about opponents and race, but about time and time. Human boundaries. ability.
However, in Japan, his gaze returned to the prize: a rabbit with a gold medal hanging around its neck instead of a stopwatch.
“If I win a gold medal, it will be the highest,” the 36-year-old player said last month when asked where the third defending Olympic champion would rank in his unparalleled achievements. . “I’m really fighting for it, I’m really training for it.”
For a while, six years and ten undefeated games allowed Kipchoge to forget the here and now and turn his sights on history.
Eliud Kipchoge will defend his Olympic marathon champion tomorrow
/ Associated PressIn absolute terms only, his Breaking2 attempt may not be exactly what it says, but it successfully reimagined the possibility of athletic achievement when he became the first person ever to run 26.2 miles. , These possibilities were redefined in the more accurately named 1.59 Challenge in Vienna, which took less than two hours. On that morning in October 2019, at the finish line in Austria, a group of the world’s best athletes lifted him up high. These athletes are the pacemakers of this great man. They humbly appeared in the first month of the month. Playing his role in Bi’s feat landing shows the almost mythical realm he has ascended to in the world of long-distance running.
Many athletes are more dominant in their sport, but few can dominate a sport that is inherently unpredictable in this way. Tiger Woods is the contrast that comes to my mind. He is so different from his peers that he won a fickle game as famous as golf. An inevitable feeling is usually only used for recent government U-turns. Or the doomed bet for early kicks-leave.
On the day of the game, anything can and does go wrong, which is one of the dangers of a season that may only include two of them. As Kipchoge once said, even the fastest cars can blow tires.
Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia is the second fastest marathon runner in history. Given his performance on the track, he may be the greatest long-distance runner of all time. During his marathon career, his DNF There are as many wins as there are wins. His compatriot Mosinet Geremew is the fourth fastest man ever, and he has won only one race in five years. Dennis Kimetto was the fastest man in history before Kipchoge appeared. He broke the world record in Berlin in 2014 and has never won a game since.
Kimeto’s game in the German capital was 12 months after another Kenyan, now discredited Wilson Kipsang, set a new world record in the same game, and almost It was equally important-although it was not clear at the time-what to condemn Kipchoge, because for the rest of the decade, it seemed that this was probably his only failure.
It wasn’t until the 19th lap London Marathon that was cold, wet and windy last fall. Kipchoge spent the worst afternoon of his road running career. His slowest marathon time-2:06.49-led to his ranking. The lowest, ranking eighth.
Kipchoge won the gold medal in Rio five years ago
/ Associated PressSuch emphasis on this result during the Sunday match in Sapporo is not only a measure of the aura of invincibility that Kipchoge has achieved, but it is also believed that the cracks in the armor have made the admirable crop less reluctant to accept. He, but also lacks a more complete table for in-depth study.
Four of the six major marathons last year were cancelled, and they have not been held in 2021. Those marathons that are usually scheduled for spring have been postponed to the already crowded autumn to avoid further pandemic damage. In other words, Kipchoge’s loss in London was the only highest-level game on earth in the past 17 months.
It makes people feel that after experiencing an era when he seemed to be running in the clouds, Kipchoge returned here, beating concrete with mortals. The question is, can he do it faster than others?
