Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge has revealed his ambition to clinch his third gold medal at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics, taking place from July 26 to August 11.
Kipchoge, who won gold medals in both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, expressed in an interview with AFP his hopes of becoming the first to win the Olympic marathon three times in succession.
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The runner is optimistic about surpassing Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila, who won gold medals in 1960 and 1964, and Waldemar Cierpinski of Germany, who won twice in 1976 and 1980.
Kipchoge, who made his international debut in Paris in 2003, shared that he fell in love with the sport without initially dreaming of glory.
“Running is normal in our village, in our community; you run up and down to school, to the shopping centre,” he said.
Kipchoge is the only man to have covered the 42.195-kilometre (26.2-mile) marathon distance in under two hours, albeit during a specially organized, unofficial race in Vienna in 2019.
He has won 16 of the 20 official marathons he has run since 2013, including 11 victories in the majors (five in Berlin, four in London, and one each in Tokyo and Chicago), alongside Olympic golds in 2016 and 2021.
By Dotun Omisakin
