Meet Eliud Kipchoge, world record holder hoping for third successive gold aged 39 at Paris 2024 Olympics
ELIUD KIPCHOGE could make history at the Paris Olympics.
The Kenyan has already established his legacy as perhaps the greatest marathon runner of all time.
PAEliud Kipchoge could make history at the Olympics[/caption]
Alamy Live NewsThe Kenyan won his first Olympic gold in the marathon at Rio 2016[/caption]
He has two Olympic golds and is the only athlete to run a sub-two hour marathon.
But who is the man trying to achieve a feat not matched by any other marathon runner in Olympics history.
Who is Eliud Kipchoge?
Kipchoge hails from Kapsisiywa, in the Rift Valley Province, Kenya.
He was born on 5 November 1984 and used to run two miles to school as a child.
Kipchoge graduated school in 1999 but did not start running professionally for two more years, when he met former Olympic steeplechase runner Patrick Sang, who became his trainer.
The veteran runner is a devout catholic and has three children with his wife Grace Sugutt – they are named Lynne, Griffin, and Gordon.
Kipchoge is known as ‘The Philosopher’ for his carefully considered quotes and he often dishes out wisdom amongst his peers.
Olympic and sporting record
Kipchoge, 39, won Olympic gold at Rio 2016 and backed that up with gold at Tokyo 2020.
But he began his athletics career as a 5000m runner before making the switch to longer distances in 2012.
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He first began competing in the half-marathon and picked up his first win in 2013 in Barcelona, before winning the Hamburg marathon later that year.
Kipchoge’s first marathon major came in Chicago 2014 and he has gone on to win 11 in total, including the London Marathon four times.
His first Olympic gold came two years later as he won in Rio in a time of 2:08:44 beating runner up was Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia and American Galen Rupp in third.
The winning gap of 70 seconds was the biggest since the 1972 Olympic Games.
Kipchoge won gold again in Tokyo in a time of 2:08:38 – becoming the third athlete to defend their crown in the men’s marathon.
The Kenyan has also won four of the five marathon majors – London, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo, and boasts a record five wins in the Berlin marathon.
AFPHe became just the third man in history to defend his marathon Olympic gold in Tokyo[/caption]
AFPKipchoge is also the only man to run a sub-two hour marathonn[/caption]
Team player
Kipchoge is focused on making the Paris Olympics a team effort in what will likely be his final Games.
He said: “We say thank you very much for Athletics Kenya for selecting us in Team Kenya.
“I think for the next three months we are going to train to represent our country in a good way and come up with good results.
“As always, we are going to Paris as a team, not as individuals, because you know this is the Games, it is not the world major marathon, it’s the Olympic Games so we are going as a team.”
