- Eliud Kipchoge bowed out of the race by handing out his shoes and socks to fans
- The two-time Olympic gold medalist was reduced to walking before quitting
- He allowed the last-placed athlete to get past him as viewers showed their love
Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s greatest marathon runner, took a taxi to the finish line after quitting the event at the Paris Games.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist, competing at the age of 39, stopped to allow last-placed Ser-Od Bat-Ochir to overtake him after 31 kilometres.
He handed his shoes and socks to fans lining the road as the crowd cheered and clapped before disappearing into an Olympic van, perhaps the last glimpse of a legend at the Games.
Kipchoge had been in the leading pack in the first 10k and dropped back to around a minute behind the frontrunners at the half-way mark. He was one of 10 runners unable to finish.
Ethiopian Tamirat Tola claimed gold with an Olympic record time of 2:06:26, with Great Britain’s Emile Cairess missing out on a podium spot by 27 seconds in fourth.
Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s greatest marathon runner, had to pull out of the race in Paris
The two-time Olympic gold medalist was ushered into an Olympic van after 31 kilometres
He had handed away his running shoes and socks as the crowd showed their appreciation
Kipchoge, who was the world record holder between 2018 and 2023, had been hoping to become the first man to win three Olympic marathons.
Between 2014 and 2019, he went on a phenomenal 10-race unbeaten streak in major marathons.
Before switching to marathon running, the veteran was successful over 5000 metres, picking up bronze in the 2004 Athens Games and silver in Beijing in 2008.
He then went on to pick up consecutive golds in Rio and Tokyo.
‘It’s tough being at the top… You need to have the sixth sense in order for you to stay at the top,’ he told Olympics.com.
‘I like the long runs, because I am running for long. Makes my mind really work hard for more than two hours. Makes me strong. It makes my mind strong, to be consistent, to respect that pain.
‘Everything is a challenge, and the everyday programme is a challenge. We have three big days in a week, and we put all our effort there.
‘Pain is everywhere, but we say we win marathons in preparations, so the more you get a lot of pain, but you hit your targets in a good way.’
Kenyan hero Kipchoge was a gold medalist at the past two Olympics in Rio and Tokyo
He is coached by Patrick Sang, a former silver medalist in the 3000m steeplechase who he met at the age of 16.
‘For 18 years, there is no day Eliud has asked me anything about training…he’s never asked for the plan for the year, the plan for the week, the plan for the month, no,’ Sang told Olympics.Com.