PARIS — This was supposed to be his career capstone. Eliud Kipchoge had set the world record in the men’s marathon twice. He had won nearly a dozen majors.
He was the only human to cover the 26-mile distance in under two hours. All that remained was for him to win the Olympic gold medal three times, which no one ever had done. But on a warm Saturday morning in the City of Light Kipchoge endured the darkest hour of his career, dropping out after 18 miles after his body betrayed him.
“This is my worst marathon,” said the 39-year-old Kenyan who walked for two kilometers after giving up the chase. “I have never done a DNF. 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.” Advertisement Marathoners will tell you that it either is your day or it is not.
Saturday belonged to Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, who figured he’d be watching the race on TV until Sisay Lemma, this year’s Boston victor , was injured in training a couple of weeks ago. “Sisay told me that it was better for him to drop out and for me to compete,” said Tola, who won going away in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 26 seconds, beating Belgium’s Bashir Abdi by 21 seconds and breaking by six seconds the Olympic record set by Kenya’s Sammy Wanjiru in 2008. “He said, ‘You can do better than me in my condition.
It’s thanks to him. This victory also belongs to him for giving me this opportunity.” Seven months ago this race w.