When Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge was honoured with Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from University of Exeter, England, and the award the Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya, many were not surprised because the athlete not only merited the acknowledgements, but perhaps is one of the greatest athlete of all times. The University of Exeter which honoured him with the “outstanding achievements in the field of sports” in a letter from the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Steve Smith noted that the university recognises Kipchoge as the greatest marathon runner of all time.
Aside his record breaking returns where he seamlessly erased his own records, Eliud Kipchoge won 11 out of 12 official marathon races, claiming the Olympic title, eight Marathon Major victories (four London, three Berlin and one Chicago Marathon) and is also the owner of the official world record. Achieving such within such period is nothing but phenomenal.
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Add to all these laurels, he went ahead and shocked the world with his most recognisable fete by becoming the first human in history to run a sub two-hour marathon at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria. This capped his achievement for the year rounding off a very eventful season on a high.
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Born on 5 November 1984, Kipchoge gave the first hint of the stuff he is made of when he won his first individual world championship title in 2003 by winning the junior race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships and setting a world junior record over 5000 m on the track. His life from then on has become a record breaking journey. At the age of eighteen, he became the senior 5000 meters world champion at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics with a championships record, then followed with an Olympic bronze for Kenya in 2004 and a bronze at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships. A five-time World Championship 5000 meters finalist, Kipchoge took silver medals at the 2007 World Championships, 2008 Summer Olympics and 2010 Commonwealth Games.
In 2012, he switched to road running and made the second-fastest ever half marathon debut with 59:25 minutes. On his marathon debut he won the 2013 Hamburg Marathon in a course record time. His first victory at a World Marathon Major came at the Chicago Marathon in 2014, and he went on to become series champion for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.He won the London Marathon record 4 times, and won the Olympic marathon in 2016. His only loss in a marathon was a second place behind Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich at the 2013 Berlin Marathon, where Kipsang broke the world record.
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Presently, he is the world record holder in the marathon with a time of 2:01:39, set on 16 September 2018, at the 2018 Berlin Marathon breaking the previous world record by 1 minute and 18 seconds. Described as “the greatest marathoner of the modern era”, Kipchoge has won 12 of the 13 marathons he has entered. In recognition of the feat he achieved last year, he was named The World Male Athlete of the Year by the World Athletics formerly known as IAAF with United States’ Dalilah Muhammad as the Female Athlete of the Year respectively. Kipchoge won the award for a second year running as he was honoured for being the first person to run a marathon in under two hours. The Olympic marathon champion told the awards ceremony about his incredible achievement: “I hope I inspired the human race.” He beat out competition from Joshua Cheptegei, Sam Kendricks, Noah Lyles, and Karsten Warholm to defend his title.
Though the special event in Vienna Austria where he achieved a time of 1:59:40 did not count as a new marathon record, as standard competition rules for pacing and fluids were not followed and it was not an open event, but it made a statement about the pedigree of this phenomenal athlete.
Little wonder these achievements earned him the ‘Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya’ late last year. The Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya is the highest category of presidential awards which is further divided into three classes: Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya (C.G.H.), Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya (E.G.H.) and Moran of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya (M.G.H.). The Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya (E.G.H.) is often given to among others the Deputy President, Speakers of Parliament, Cabinet Secretaries, the First Lady, the wife of the Deputy President, Head of Public Service and the Kenya Defence Forces’ (KDF) Chief of Staff.
While presenting the award, Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta said that the athlete inspired Kenyans and the world that no human effort is futile. “Eliud Kipchoge who is alive and here with us has also inspired the world that no human effort is futile, that we can dream and make our dreams a possibility”, adding that “he has demonstrated that through integrity, hard work and commitment to excellence nothing is out of reach”.
The president described Kipchoge as a living legend and added that his achievement should remind Kenyans not to limit themselves to the ordinary. Many are expectant that Eluid Kipchoge is likely going to achieve the sub-two hour marathon at the Tokyo Olympics this year’s going by his recent antecedents. Most observers are of the view that he is at the peak of his career and that the world should lookout for him in Tokyo. While an athlete who has achieved so much is expected to take a break and retire, Kipchoge is more ready to push the limits of possibilities. Africa has been blessed with trail blazing athletes, but none has blazed the trail with the swiftness, grace and world conquering spirit of Eluid Kipchoge.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry