by PARIS — Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola rode a courageous race to win gold in an Olympic record time in a tough men’s marathon on Saturday, as two-time defending champion Eluid Kipchoge withdrew from the race with a back injury.
In a field packed with talent, Kipchoge was expected to defend his title. Ethiopian marathon legend Haile Gebrselassie opened the race, but rather than welcoming Kipchoge to the line, he was there to congratulate his compatriot Tola, whom he inspired to take up the sport at the age of 19.
“I am happy today because I achieved my goal,” Tola said. “I prepared well. I trained hard so I could win. In my life, this is the greatest achievement.”
Tola, 32, finished the race in 2:06:26, breaking the previous Olympic record set at Beijing 2008, made even more remarkable by the fact he had only come on as a substitute two weeks ago after teammate Sisay Lemma was injured.
“Sisay told me that it was better for me to give up and participate in the competition. He told me: ‘you can do better than me in my conditions’. It is thanks to him, this victory also belongs to him for giving me this opportunity,” Tola said.
Belgian Bashir Abdi won silver and Kenyan Benson Kipruto took bronze.
Tola’s dominant performance saw him take the lead before the halfway mark and never let go.
His only previous Olympic medal was a bronze in the men’s 10,000 metres at Rio 2016. It is also his second major marathon victory after winning the New York City Marathon last year.
The marathon course began in front of Paris City Hall and passed landmarks such as the Opéra Garnier, Place Vendôme, the Louvre, Trocadéro, the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles. It ended with a picturesque straight in the shadow of the Esplanade des Invalides, a 17th-century hospital.
The race took on the feel of a Tour de France at times, with several steep climbs amid a particularly hilly course billed as one of the toughest in Olympic history. The first climb came around the 16-kilometre mark. A second climb a few kilometres later also had an impact, but it was the climb at the 29-kilometre mark that proved the toughest, with a gradient of 13.5 per cent at one point.
Kipchoge is one of the most notable runners to have struggled. He is one of the greatest marathoners of all time, but he endured a tough race that saw him find himself almost a minute behind the leaders at the halfway mark and reduced to walking up the hill at 18km.
He withdrew from the race shortly after.
“Today was a tough day at the office. You can train for a long time, but one day it can happen,” Kipchoge said. “It’s like boxing. You can go to a training camp for five months and get knocked out in two seconds. But life goes on.”
“This is my worst marathon. I never gave up. That’s life. Like a boxer, I’ve been knocked down, I’ve won, I’ve finished second, eighth, tenth, fifth… and now I’m not finished. That’s life.”
Kipchoge added that the hills didn’t affect him, it was the pain in his back after 12 miles that finally forced him to stop.
Asked if this was his last marathon, Kipchoge said: “I don’t want to comment on what happens tomorrow. I want to try to evolve – if I don’t evolve, then I do something else.
“I don’t know what the future holds for me. I’ll think about it in the next three months. I still want to try to run a few marathons.”
The move comes after one of the toughest years of Kipchoge’s career, as he was subjected to online abuse following the death of fellow countryman Kelvin Kiptum. Kipchoge suffered sleepless nights for a time afterwards, leading to him finishing 10th in the Tokyo Marathon in March, his worst result as a professional.
