UNDER REGISTRATION
JAVIER SÁNCHEZ
@javisanchez
Updated on Saturday, 6 February 2021 - 16:38
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Chronicle.
Eliud Kipchoge fails as he has never failed: finishes eighth in the London marathon
Interview.
Patrick Sang, Eliud Kipchoge's coach: "When I met him I ignored him"
Chronicle.
Eliud Kipchoge breaks the two-hour barrier in a bespoke marathon
Eliud Kipchoge
speaks
about books and does not stop.
His passion is literature, so much so that he is building a public library in his village, Kapsisiywa, so much so that in the Kaptagat high-performance center he installed a bookcase to encourage other runners to read.
"Now I am with the book Dare to lead, by Professor
Brené Brown
[no edition in Spanish]. I am very interested because, although I do not want to be a leader in the future, I hope to help those who will be the
leaders of the future, "he explains through a videoconference in Kaptagat, from where he presents the Nike Kipchoge Capsule collection, shoes and clothing with Kenyan colors to honor him. The best marathoner in history,
the only human being capable of running under two hours
, the athlete with the immaculate resume, missed his one goal last year,
the London marathon, where he finished eighth
, and then it needed a reset.
Now, at 36 years old, and with the Tokyo Olympics as his last goal, he wants to go back to being that amazing, perfect, infallible runner.
To lower his world record?
No, no, to transcend.
The day after the London marathon he confessed that he needed some time off.
What did you do in during that time?
I took a month off with the family, a whole month of recovery.
I wanted to feel that my body was ready again and, above all, to feel that my mind was ready again.
When that happened, I went back to training.
He will have done analysis and more analysis: What happened in London?
What can happen to any athlete happened: I had a goal and I couldn't achieve it.
I follow a lot of sports, including mixed martial arts and boxing, and in them even great fighters are beaten once or twice.
That's what happened to me.
But I will go back in a big way to achieve my goal.
And what is that goal?
In his record there is no longer a hole.
Inspire the world.
I love athletics, I like competition, I want to be faster and faster, but what really motivates me now is inspiring the next generations.
Let them start running, let them discover running.
That's what motivates me, what makes me get up in the morning and go to train.
You have a job if you want young people around the world to drop their cell phones and go jogging.
But I firmly believe that it can be done.
I know that the advancement of technology sometimes works against us, that there are many problems in the world, that people have very tight schedules ... But there is nothing like going for a run, feeling freedom, relaxing the mind and thinking clearly.
I only understand life like that, running, and that is what I want to convey to young people.
There are also those who follow his example, start running and then become obsessed with competing, with going at a certain pace, with traveling a certain distance.
I understand it, but all of them must understand the essence of our sport.
Running you can feel completely free.
Beyond the competition, the records, the times, running gives you that freedom, helps you think, improves your life.
Enjoying freedom is the main purpose to which we must aspire when we run.
Then there is everything else.
Kipchoge is today a world-renowned athlete, but he was just another kid from the Rift Valley who wanted to run.
In fact, when at age 16 he appeared before his current coach,
Patrick Sang
, already then a reference, he gave him a generic training plan and forgot about it
.
It was only when Kipchoge qualified for his first World Cross Championship the following year that Sang called him again and discovered that they had, in fact, already known each other.
The marathoner's mother,
Janet rotich
, had been the teacher of Sang and most of the children of Kapsisiywa.
"She no longer works, but I remember how she liked her job, educating children, training the adults of the future. Her vocation, the importance she gave to education, is something that I always carry with me," says the marathoner and addresses the uncertainty that haunts all athletes these months.
Right now, in fact, the Kenyan could be preparing for nothing: who knows if the coronavirus will allow the celebration of the Tokyo Olympics and the rest of the marathons scheduled this year.
Are you worried that the coronavirus pandemic will not allow you to finish your career as you wish?
I can only do one thing: try to follow Patrick's method as before, train as normally as possible.
The pandemic has hit us, as it has hit everyone, but I need to be completely focused, to pretend nothing is wrong, to be able to move on.
If I think about the things that I cannot control, I will block myself and living like this will be very difficult.
I prefer to focus on my workouts and hope that everything will get better.
What was he aspiring to when he appeared before Patrick at 16?
I wanted to be like him, learn to run well, get his approval and, if possible, travel the world.
I thought a lot about what it would be like to take a plane, for example.
Then everything has gone very well for me and that is why I appreciate the ability of sport to change lives.
Now, after being the first person to go below two hours in a marathon, I feel empowered to tell people to go running, that no human being has limits.
In reference to the two hours in a marathon.
How important is it to you to do it on an approved circuit?
I've already been down for two hours.
Tried it twice and got it once.
Doing it on a homologated circuit would be something important, but I think I have already shown the way to the marathoners behind.
In a few years we will see many athletes running under two hours and it will be normal.
There is the example of
Roger bannister
and the mile below four minutes.
It only needed someone to open the door and say to the rest: "Come in, welcome."
What will you do when you decide to stop competing?
I will keep running.
I will enjoy my sport and will continue to be linked to it.
My idea is to visit many countries, many cities, and try to inspire the youth, invite them to run, explain the benefits of doing so.
Many successful athletes end up being entrepreneurs.
Hotel owners, for example.
I can not see me.
I keep thinking about what I will do in the future, I still have many ideas that I must specify, but my intention is that, to promote the next generations.
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