Paris 2024 Olympics/Disappointments and failures: King Kipchoge abdicates

HIBAPRESS-RABAT

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge may remember his unforgettable precious victory on 31 August 2003, when he caused a surprise by winning the 5,000m title in a time of 12:52.79 (a new competition record) ahead of distance specialists Hicham El Guerrouj and Kenenisa Bekele. He won the 5,000m at the IAAF World Final at the end of the 2003 season.

The image of the greatest runner of all time starting to walk before giving up shortly after the 30th kilometer of the marathon, before offering his shoes and socks to the cheering spectators, will remain one of the most powerful of these Parisian Olympic Games.

Coming to attempt an unprecedented hat-trick over the distance, after triumphing in Rio and then Tokyo, his race quickly turned into an ordeal, the Kenyan being struck down by back pain which reminded him that he is almost forty.

“This is my worst marathon. I never gave up,” he admitted.