Remember the name, Tamirat Tola! The Ethiopian runner took 2:06:26 to upset the 16-year-old Olympic record at the marathon. He capitalized on the distance he covered over the early Japanese challenger, Akira Akasaki, and did not trail behind in the rest of the race. On the other side, the four-time Olympic medalist at the same event, Eliud Kipchoge, couldn’t maintain the pace and lost the battle today. Even since the gun went off, the Kenyan legend felt uneasy and lost track. These two different endings have a history. 

Today, Tamirat Tola could lift the winner’s trophy because he had been included in the Ethiopian marathon team only after Sisay Lemma had an injury. Furthermore, Tamirat continued to show fireworks, as last year he disrupted the men’s course record at the NYC Marathon in Eliud Kipchoge’s absence. That performance played a large role in landing him on the national team for the Paris Olympics.

On that day in November last year, Tamirat took 2:04:58 hours to make himself settled in the record book. A lot of eyes went to his Adidas super shoes, giving him a cushion to run longer without breaking much sweat. Eventually, the 32-year-old runner’s knee movement has always been extraordinary. So the allegation was that by accompanying the super shoes, he might have generated extra thrust whose reaction was great enough to ease the labor. However, today, Tamirat proved why he’s here to stay. 

The marathon route for the Paris Olympics was touted to be one of the toughest because of the steep uphill and the following steep downhill. In the hilly section of 15k–33k, the gradient touched 13.5%. Now add the hot and humid weather of Paris to that! Altogether, it seemed to be the pressure cooker for the runners. Several of them fell to that as the veteran Eliud Kipchoge paid the price, by coming under the weather and ending up the race unfinished. But Tamirat Tola held his mojo. Supposedly, the Paris Olympics men’s marathon could have been Eliud’s perfect signing off by taking his third consecutive Olympic gold from the event. But the Ethiopian completely hijacked it with his endurance. And it could be the settling of some business between these two legends. 

Tamirat Tola settles the score in the nine-year-long rivalry 

Today, the Ethiopian fans celebrated with their cups full as their countryman took over the highest peak after the 2000 Sydney Olympics. With that, Ethiopia put a full stop to the thorough run the Kenyan legend has been having in the last four Olympics. For Tamirat Tola personally, today he ended his underdog tag against Eliud Kipchoge. The first time the duo locked horns with each other was back in the 2015 Berlin Marathon.

Eliud Kipchoge maintained his fame on the top podium when Tamirat was nowhere in the vicinity. Later in the Virgin Money London Marathon, they met again, and the result remained the same: Kipchoge taking away the gold. 

Later in the same year, Tamirat fought back, by defeating the Kenyan superstar at the same contest. But again in the next two years, Eliud Kipchoge settled the score with his victory over Tamirat Tola at the Tokyo Marathon. And now, after two long years, the 39-year-old has found himself at the receiving end. With his victory over the others, Tamirat will surely embrace this accomplishment today, with open arms.