“When I received the news, I needed strength like after a race”
MADRID, 19 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge will receive the 2023 Princess of Asturias Sports Award this Friday at the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo, for which a total of 24 candidates from eleven nationalities were competing and with which he was awarded on May 18.
The 38-year-old athlete has a great sports record, a world record of 2:01:09 in a marathon until this October 8th, when it was broken by his compatriot Kelvin Kiptum (2:00:35), and his two gold medals stand out. distance Olympians in 2016 and 2021. The African takes over from the Refugee Olympic Team in the list of winners.
The Kenyan’s candidacy was proposed by David González Alonso, president of the Vetusta Universidad de Oviedo Triathlon club. Kipchoge will lead a popular 15-minute race this Friday, at 10:00 a.m., in the Campo de San Francisco in Oviedo. A representation of students and teachers who have carried out the activity ‘When do I start?: Today’, of the cultural program for educational centers in the Principality ‘Take the floor’, will participate in it.
The cultural program also includes another activity about Kipchoge’s career, ‘A world that moves’, in which the FP students of Physical and Sports Activities created a socio-sports animation project in order to promote movement and physical activity in your community in the long term.
A few weeks ago, in a talk with the media in which Europa Press was present, Kipchoge acknowledged his excitement at receiving the Princess of Asturias. “It means a lot to me, especially when you see the people who have been winners, like Nelson Mandela and other people who have been doing very good things for humanity,” she said.
“When I found out, I needed the strength to overcome the fatigue (after a race). When I received the news, I can say that it was a surprise. I didn’t know that one day I would be awarded the Princess of Asturias Award. Then, after two or three days , I internalized it and now I am looking forward to receiving the award next month,” he reiterated.
KIPCHOGE, THE MARATHONIAN WHO WENT BELOW TWO HOURS
A member of the NN Running Team of the Netherlands, nicknamed ‘the Philosopher’ for his strategic racing skills and ability to concentrate, Kipchoge is the current Olympic marathon champion and until recently world record holder. He is the only athlete in history to have run a marathon in less than two hours, a fact he achieved in Vienna in 2019. There he completed the 42.195 kilometers of the test in a time of 1:59:40; However, this mark does not appear as official because the race was developed with external aid and in a test organized precisely with the purpose of achieving the feat.
The Kenyan ran behind a vehicle that was setting the pace and covered the distance surrounded by seven hares (support athletes) placed in an arrow formation to protect him from the wind, in addition to wearing special shoes from the commercial brand that organized the quote and which, according to experts, favored their performance. Although he has defended the achievement, the International Athletics Federation banned the use of these shoes in official competitions in 2020.
Kipchoge began his sporting career achieving success as a long-distance runner. After becoming world champion in the 5000 meters in 2003, he won bronze in the same distance at the 2004 Athens Olympics and silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After an injury that kept him from the London Olympics, In 2012, he decided to change the track for asphalt.
He won the 2016 London Marathon, where he established a new record, and arrived at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games as the absolute king of the discipline. There he authoritatively achieved the first Olympic gold medal in his record, which was completed with a new triumph at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, held in 2021 due to the postponement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kipchoge’s numerous achievements include victory at the U20 World Cross Country Championships (Lausanne, Switzerland 2003), a gold medal in the 2010 Diamond League 5000 meter event and four first-place finishes. positions, three in 5000 meters and one in 3000, in the Golden League (2004, 2005 and 2008, and 2004, respectively).
According to analysts, Kipchoge has become a media star, who with his charisma and performance has elevated the queen of long-distance athletics to public attention much higher than the times before his appearance.
Ambassador of the Laureus World Sports Foundation, Eliud Kipchoge has been chosen Athlete of the Year by World Athletics on two occasions (2018 and 2019) and was one of the ten finalists of the year 2021. Also in 2021 he created the Eliud Kichoge Foundation, whose objective is facilitate access to early childhood education and environmental protection.