2023-05-18 12:15:59
Eliud Kipchoge (Kapsisiywa, Kenya, 1984) has a stopwatch on his legs directly connected to his heart and lungs that sets a pace that is almost impossible for the rest to follow. In the last decades, this athlete has dominated the star long-distance event in athletics, the marathon, with overwhelming superiority, becoming a double Olympic champion, a world record holder (2:01:09) and also the first person who managed to lose the two hours in the specialty (a mark that is not official since he received different aids, such as a group of runners who ran in a ‘v’ in front of him). For all these achievements, the Princess Foundation has decided to award him the Sports Award.
As is the case with most long-distance athletes, Kipchoge didn’t start out in this specialty, but built his career on the track. After proclaiming himself world champion of 5,000 meters in 2003, he achieved the Olympic podium in this same test at the Olympic Games in Athens and Beijing. The Kenyan athlete then decided to go on the road, follow in the footsteps of other greats in the specialty and focus his efforts on becoming the greatest. And he did.
Of the 20 marathons in which he has participated since then, he has achieved victory in 17, also setting historical records in many of them. In 2016 he was victorious in the London marathon, before claiming the coveted Olympic gold that same year in Rio de Janeiro, the victory by the largest margin over the second-place finisher in 44 years. Four years later, in Tokyo, he repeated his victory with insulting ease. In the lead for most of the race, a change of pace was enough for him in the last section of the test to enter the Olympic stadium alone.
Beyond the official records, Kipchoge is also the protagonist of a historic feat. In October 2019, in an atypical race organized with the aim of the Kenyan facing the two-hour barrier in the marathon, he achieved what no one else had achieved. “I’ve been to the moon, and back. The last 200 meters, the last 30 seconds, have been the best moment of my life, I was making history. I am a happy man”, he affirmed after completing a test that made him be in the sports history books forever.
The test was unusual because top-level athletes ran in front of him in a ‘v’ formation to set a frenetic pace and protect him from the wind. A well-known sports brand also put special shoes on his feet that improved his performance. But only he, Kipchoge, was able to maintain a pace of 2 minutes and 50 seconds per kilometer during the 42 and 195 meters of a test that received worldwide attention. If in one section his time was 2 minutes and 52 seconds to face, for example, a roundabout, in the next, the road was straight, his march reached 2.48. Without accelerating, without braking, he became a legend.
Raised in his hometown, Kipchoge graduated from Kaptel High School in Nandi County in 1999. He is the youngest of four children and was raised by his mother, a teacher. In fact, he only knows his father from photographs. Patrick Sang, a former Olympic medalist, was the one who began to train him, marking the start of a legendary career that has led him to the Princess of Asturias Foundation awarding him the Sports Award today.
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