Kenya's elite athlete Eliud Kipchoge, who is known as the world's best marathoner ever, has achieved the spectacular feat of finishing the 42-km run in less than 2 hours. The 34-year-old Olympic marathon champion accomplished the feat at the "INEOS 1:59 Challeng' in Vienna on Saturday, finishing 42 km in a record time of 1:59:40.
Kipchoge, who once said 'It's not about the legs; it's about the heart and the mind', has now established a benchmark few marathon runners in future would be able to breach.
"I am the happiest man," Kipchoge said after crossing the finish line and marking a great athletic achievement that will go down in history. Millions of fans across the world witnessed the proud moment for the Kenyan runner, who had missed the milestone two years ago when he fell short by 25 seconds.
"The law of nature cannot allow all human beings to think together ... In breaking the two-hour barrier, I want to open minds to think that no human is limited. All our minds, all our thoughts are parallel. But I respect everybody's thoughts," said a philosophical Kichoge, before the race.
Who is the man?
- -- Kipchoge was born as the youngest of four children in a village family in the Nandi County of Kenya.
- -- He is 5-feet-6 and weighs only 57 kg
- -- Kenya's biggest sporting hero is a self-made millionaire
- -- He has been undefeated in Marathon events since 2013
- -- A deeply philosophical man, Kipchoge is an avid reader and loves to read books of greats like Aristotle. Another of his favourite books is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, according to a profile in Kenya's Pulse.
- -- "Only the disciplined ones in life are free. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods and your passions," he would say.
- -- A frugal eater, Kipchoge once said his breakfast was only bread and tea. "It's breakfast for Africans. We only have tea and bread. That's enough," the runner said.
- -- The routine food consists of milk from cows that roam in the fields and rice or the Kenyan staple of ugali. He also enjoys a serving of beef occasionally.
- "I'm not having any problems with my body so I don't need to supplement," he said. "Growing older you don't recover as fast, but all-in-all I'm doing well," he told Runners World
- -- At the training camp, he takes on tasks like chopping vegetables for the communal dinner and does jobs like trimming the garden, says the report.
- -- NY Times once called him distance running version of Usain Bolt
- -- Kipchoge's fundamental 'running blocks' were built in his childhood when he had to jog perforce to school in the absence of any other form of transport in the village.
