Eliud Kipchoge, the Greatest Marathoner of Our Era – All You Need to Know About Him
Eliud Kipchoge is an extraordinary athlete with inspirational qualities and achievements that are impossible not to admire and want to emulate. He is the greatest marathoner in the world’s history and most especially, in the modern era. Kipchoge is a 37-year old Kenyan professional long-distance runner.
Formerly he competed in the 5,000 metre distance race and now competes in the marathon race anywhere it is held in the world. Recently, Kipchoge was named the ANOC Award winner for the Best Male Athlete for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Here, you will learn all about this legendary marathoner from the nitty-gritty details of his childhood to the honours and accolades he has recently received throughout his career as a professional long-distance runner.
Childhood and Family Life
Kipchoge was born in Kapsisiywa, Nandi County in Kenya on 5th November 1984. He has four brothers and all of them were single-handedly brought up by their mother, Janet Rotich, who was a nursery school teacher. Kipchoge is the last born and has no memory of interacting with his father as he passed on while he was still very young.
He graduated from Kaptel secondary school in the year 1999. Growing up on a farm, Kipchoge would cycle to the nearest Kapsabet town 40km away, with several gallons of milk from their farmyard to sell to local customers.
While growing up, Kipchoge remembers running to school two miles every day in the morning, during lunchtime, and in the evening. He did not take running seriously while in school but he thinks that the dusty beginnings in the lush green highlands of Nandi County laid the firm foundation of his sparkling athletic career today.
Personal Life
Kipchoge is a family man who is married to his wife Grace Sugutt and the couple is blessed with three children, two boys, and a girl. Grace met Kipchoge through his brother Amos and fell in love with him at the age of 19.
She admits that his humble and silent demeanor is what attracted her to him. The couple and its young family live in Kaptagat, but Kipchoge opts to spend his week in the training camp a short distance away from the family home. There, he lives in a basic room with other athletes from where they do their training every day, Monday to Saturday.
He loves living in Kaptagat as he believes it gives performance benefits due to its altitude, 8000 feet above sea level. Additionally, he adores this place because it is quiet and offers a calm life away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
Career and Achievements
At the age of 17, Kipchoge met his current trainer Patrick Sang, a former Olympic medallist in the year 2001. Sang decided to nurture Kipchoge’s obvious talent in the year 2002 by offering him a 10-day training plan, which he drafted on his arm with a stick because he didn’t have a pen at that moment. Rushing home, Kipchoge transferred the training plan on a paper while it was still fresh and decided to follow it to the letter.
In the year 2002, Kipchoge participated in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and won the Kenyan trials. When the event was held in Dublin, he finished at the 5th position and became part of the junior team that earned Kenya a gold medal. He also participated in the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics and won the 5,000 metres race at the Kenyan trials. However, he missed the championships after falling ill.
The following year, Kipchoge participated in the 2003 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and emerged the winner for the junior race. During this time, his career as a professional runner started picking pace and in the same year, at the Bislett Games, Kipchoge set a world junior record at 12:52.61 minutes for the 5,000 metre race. This record was not broken until in the year 2012, by the Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet who improved it to 12:47.53 minutes.
Still in the year 2003, Kipchoge took part in the 2003 World Championship and earned a gold medal during the finals of the 5,000 metres race. During the 2004 Athens Olympics, Kipchoge participated in the 5,000 metres final race and won a bronze medal. Moreover, earlier that season, this professional runner participated in the Trofeo Alasport cross country race and won it.
In Moscow, Kipchoge participated in the 2006 World Championships and raced the 3,000 meters indoor race where he won a bronze medal in the year 2006. He later broke his own record for the 10km road race in San Silvestre Vallecana, where he won the downhill course race on 31st Dec 2006.
In Osaka Japan, Kipchoge took part in the 5,000 meters race and won a silver medal behind Bernard Lagat in the year 2007. The following year, Kipchoge participated in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, where he won a silver medal for the 5,000 meters race. Still in the year 2008, he emerged the winner for the Campaccio Cross Country race and the Great Yorkshire Run 10K.
Through the year 2009, he participated in the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, 3000-metre race and the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, where he finished positions nine and five respectively.
Later the following year, he won the 5,000 meters Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix in the 2010 IAAF Diamond League. Despite bad weather, Kipchoge headed to California, in the USA where he participated in the Carlsbad 5km and won the race.
During the finals of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Kipchoge emerged the second one in the 5,000 meters race and immediately flew to Europe for the Belgrade Race through History taking place the following day. Within the first kilometre, his shoe fell off and he halted to put it back on. Through this race, he emerged position two, two seconds after Josphat Menjo.
In 2011, he engaged himself in the Great Edinburgh Cross Country short race, where he took the lead and won. During the same year, in April, Kipchoge sought to defend his Carlsbad 5,000 winner title but finished second. A month later, he finished third in the 3,000 meters race in Doha, ranking him 12th-fastest for that race in history. During the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, Kipchoge was Kenya’s choice to participate in the 5,000 meters final where he finished seventh.
In the year 2012, Kipchoge finished third in the Edinburgh Cross Country competition. During the Carlsbad 5,000 meters held in March the same year, Kipchoge took part and finished third. He later participated in the Lille Half Marathon race, earning him the title of the second-fastest Half Marathon Debut. In October of the same year, he travelled to Kavarna, Bulgaria to take part in the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and secured the sixth position.
Within an hour and four seconds, Kipchoge won the Barcelona Half Marathon in the year 2013. This win preceded his marathon debut, where he won the Hamburg Marathon in April of 2013. Later in August, Kipchoge participated in the Klagenfurt half marathon and won. During the Berlin Marathon, Kipchoge finished second, ranking fifth-fastest in history with 2:04:05 time.
In 2015, Kipchoge emerged position six in the Ras al-Khaimah Half Marathon before winning the Berlin Marathon in the same year. By the time he was completing the marathon, his feet were bloody and blistered as his shoes malfunctioned while running and instead of adjusting his insoles, he decided not to compromise the win.
The following year, Kipchoge defended his title in the London marathon and won for a second consecutive year, recording the second-fastest marathon win in history. Still in 2016, there was the 2016 Summer Olympics and Kipchoge won a gold medal during this race.
The Rio Olympics were held in 2016 and during the last day, Kipchoge still won a gold medal within 2:08:44.
In May 2017, Kipchoge and two other professional athletes, Lelisa Desisa and Zersenay Tadese tried the first ever sub-two-hour assisted marathon where he finished first before winning the Berlin Marathon on 24th September of the same year.
During the 2018 London Marathon, Kipchoge took the lead against Kenenisa Bekele, Daniel Wanjiru (defending champion), and Mo Farah. In September of the same year, Kipchoge broke the marathon world record with 1 minute and 18 seconds where he won the Berlin Marathon within 2:01:39.
With a gold medal win from the previous London Marathon, Kipchoge still won the 2019 London Marathon, ranking the second-fastest marathon in history within 2:02:37.
Shortly after winning the 2019 London Marathon, Kipchoge challenged himself to have a sub-two-hour marathon, which took place on 12th October of the same year. The Ineos 1:59 challenge took place in Vienna’s Prater Park, where he became the first person in history to run a marathon under the common two-hour barrier. This, however, is not recognized as a new world record as it defied the IAAF rules.
In an attempt to defend his marathon winner title, Kipchoge participated in the 2020 London marathon where he finished eighth within 2:06:49, which is the slowest finish through his marathoning career.
Kipchoge took the lead in the NN Mission Marathon on 18th April 2021 while preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. In August 2021, Kipchoge successfully retained the gold medal in the Tokyo Games. He became the oldest Olympic marathon winner in history as of now.
While being interviewed about the future of his career, he admitted to knowing that his time to retire will come but promised to still show up and compete regardless.
Awards and Honors
In 2018, Kipchoge received the honor of IAAF World Athlete of the Year after his outstanding performance through the 2018 season.
Additionally, Kipchoge received the 2018 Sportsman of the Year Award on 11th January 2019 in Mombasa, Kenya during the Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
Guinness World Records recognized Kipchoge’s effort in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge with two titles namely; First Marathon distance run under two hours and Fastest marathon distance (male).
Furthermore, during the ANOC Awards ceremony held in Greece on 25th October 2021, Kipchoge was crowned the best Male Athlete of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Strong Beliefs
Despite Kipchoge accomplishing so much and receiving a lot of recognition worldwide throughout his career as a professional long-distance runner, he has remained humble. He believes in simplicity and doesn’t like when others give him an elevated status.
When BBC visited his Kaptagat camp and interviewed him about his campmates nicknaming him Boss Man, he categorically states that “When you become a boss, you don’t think straight. It’s better to be a leader than a boss. That is why I do my share of the cleaning. That is how to show the way to young people. I am trusting that I am leading them in a good way.”
His wife also confesses in an interview with BBC that Kipchoge is a man who strictly keeps time and encourages anyone around him to do the same.
Training Routine
To Kipchoge, running is a religion in the sense that it is mandatory. He trains from Monday through Saturday every day. His day entails waking up early in the morning and having a jog, then later if it is cleaning day, he cleans or relaxes if there is no cleaning duty. Later he takes his lunch, goes for a massage, and does an evening run at 1600 hours. Late in the evening, he takes tea, rests, and then goes to bed.
Sang set up the Kaptagat camp with an aim of training young and upcoming talents. He expected that established athletes would leave the camp but Kipchoge and other seasoned runners made it their permanent home.
Outside the camp is a training diary documented on a stone. It entails two daily sessions, the critical one being on Tuesdays for track, Thursdays for a long run, and Saturdays for interval training. The other session happens in the afternoon where the athletes have a 10km run and they call it the recovery run.
Contributions to Society and Foundations
The legendary long-distance runner turned philanthropist when he launched the Eliud Kipchoge Foundation in a bid to give back to the society. The foundation has a mission to preserve the environment and educate young boys and girls.
Kipchoge is also a huge inspiration to aspiring professional runners in his hometown. There is usually a large number of young people waiting by the camp gate early in the morning every day to have that morning run with the legend, but very few manage to keep up with his pace to the end.
Lessons that Young People can Learn from Kipchoge
The first lesson that you can learn from this legend is simplicity. Kipchoge has had a rewarding career and has received global recognition several times now. With his outstanding athletic success, Kipchoge is a multi-millionaire but lots of things for him have remained the same. His life is simple in a remote Kenyan village setup, away from city-life distractions. For young people, this means that you should not upgrade your lifestyle as you climb the financial stability ladder as this is one of the mistakes young people make to look and feel rich.
Consistency is another major lesson that young people can learn from this humble Kenyan star. According to his coach Sang, Kipchoge has never missed a training session and that is his most remarkable quality, considering that the duo has trained together for nearly two decades.
Discipline is a major part of who Kipchoge is on and off the field. Despite earning a lot from brand sponsorship and his career, Kipchoge never lets money get into his head. With a record of successful Kenyan athletes getting lost in fame or celebrating a little too much, Kipchoge adamantly insists that he will never be a statistic of such behaviour.
Humility is another important lesson that young people can learn from Kipchoge. He says that people were upset when he silently went back to his camp in Kaptagat after outdoing himself with the Ineos 1:59 Challenge. According to the BBC, Kipchoge said, “The most important thing to me is inspiration, not fame.”
Finally, this article would never be complete without quoting Kipchoge, “It is not about becoming famous but diffusing that inspiration to every human being. My happiness is meeting people and they say to me: ‘No human is limited.’ That makes me so happy.”
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