Kenyan marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge has called time on his Olympic marathon career.
Kipchoge said he won’t compete at another Olympics after failing to finish a race on Saturday, August 10, for the first time in his illustrious career at the Paris 2024 games.
“It is a difficult time for me,”
“This is my worst marathon. I have never done a DNF (did not finish). That’s life. Like a boxer, I have been knocked down, I have won, I have come second, eighth, 10th, fifth – now I did not finish. That’s life,”
“I don’t know what next. I need to go back [home], sit down, and try to figure out my 21 years of running at a high level. I need to evolve and feature in other things.” Kipchoge said.
Kenya’s marathon icon, Eliud Kipchoge’s dream for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal has been shattered at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Kipchoge started by leading a group of 14 athletes.
Sadly, the 39-year-old’s dream of immortality was ended as he fell off the pace just at the halfway mark of the race.
With 25 kilometres to go, Kipchoge sat in 63rd place.
Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia won the gold medal in the marathon in a time of 2:04:00.
This was the first time Tola had won a gold medal in the Olympics.
Kenya’s Benson Kipruto clinched bronze while Belgium’s Bashir Abdi finished second for silver.
