Paris 2024: Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola reigns supreme in the men’s Olympics marathon as event bids farewell to a field of legends

Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia is the new Olympic marathon champion, not only capturing the coveted gold but also setting a new Olympic record. Saturday’s marathon may have also marked the final showdown between two ageing marathon legends, Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele.

Stephen Granger, bird story agency

Tamirat Tola came back from Olympic anonymity to bask in golden glory, racing to a record-breaking victory in the Olympic marathon event on Saturday (August 10).

Seventy one athletes completed the race in cool, but humid conditions, on a route which took runners on an eliptical out and back route to the Palace of Versailles, commemorating an important march by women 250 years ago, and taking athletes past iconic sites of the French capital, including Opéra Garnier, the Louvre museum, the Palace of Versailles, Meudon forest to finish at Esplanade des Invalides and the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower.

Surprisingly omitted from the original Ethiopian team for Paris, Tola only made it into his country’s marathon threesome when top-ranked Sisay Lemma was forced to withdraw through injury. Lemma’s misfortune handed Tola not just a starting bib for the marathon, but a plateful of motivation stacked full of ‘I’ll show you ‘delicacies.

“Watch for the man with a point to prove,” we warned in our recent preview. We went on to add that the 2023 New York marathon champion and gold medalist at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, Tola, ‘would have the mental motivation like few others.’

And so it proved. Tola raced clear of the field in the final quarter, turning away the challenges of closest rivals 2021 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist, Somalia-born Abdi Bashir, and strong-running, soft-talking Kenyan Benson Kipruto, to race home in 2 hr 06 min 26 sec – 6 seconds inside Kenyan Sam Wanjiru previous best Olympic Marathon time, set in Beijing in 2008.

An additional delight for Tola was to be welcomed by former marathon great, Haile Gebrselassie, who wrapped his countryman in a large Ethiopian flag.

No one would have predicted the Olympic record would go on a course World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon had described as the toughest in the history of the Olympic Marathon. But it was also likely the most competitive field in the history of the marathon and to win gold against a field of this calibre you had to be fast.

“Sissay (Lemma) recognised that the tough conditions would suit me better than him and stepped aside to allow me to compete,” explained Tola. “This victory also belongs to him for giving me this chance.”

As a new Olympic Champion was born, it was time to bid farewell to two doyens of the sport, possibly the greatest that have ever competed at this level. 

42-year-old Kenenisa Bekele was not far off the lead through half way, but struggled in the second half to finish 39th in 2:12:24, while double Olympic Marathon gold winner, Eliud Kipchoge, just months short of his 40th birthday, was prominent in the early stages, but appeared to suffer an injury and was forced to withdraw 30km into the race.

It is doubtful that either will race at the Olympics again.

One of the most consistent athletes on the marathon circuit, Bashir was the one athlete who looked as if he could take the challenge to Tola, but in the end Tola’s finishing speed proved decisive and Bashir trailed by 21 seconds to become just the third athlete to run faster than 2 hr 07 min at the Olympics.

“I didn’t find the hills to bad,” Bashir reflected. “But the downhills got to me.  I couldn’t get into a stride and my legs and back were hurting a lot.  I didn’t do anything different in training to my usual marathon preparation and that seemed to have worked.”

Olympic debutant and winner of this year’s Tokyo Marathon, Kipruto had been tipped for a medal and did not disappoint, claiming bronze in 2:07:00.  British athlete Emile Cairess excelled to take fourth ahead of second Ethiopian Deresa Geleat.

Fast-finishing Samson Amare of Eritrea overhauled South African Elroy Gelant in the final kilometre to clinch 10th behind the young American pair Connor Mantz and Clayton Young.

“I’m happy with my performance today, I can’t complain,” said Gelant, who was prominent in the first half, running close behind Kipchoge when chasing down early leader, Italian Eyob Faniel.

“The route inspection yesterday helped me a lot.  The move (by Tola) was made on that last killer hill (at 29km). With a more professional approach I think we could have done better.  But its still a solid performance and some of the big guns, like Kipchoge and Bekele are behind us.

“If we could arrange for two or three camps at high altitude for some months, that could make all the difference. Tebello (Ramakongoana from Lesotho) has been training solidly at high altitude in Arizona and that showed today with his 7th position.

“I was running with him at one stage and I knew he would be strong on the hills, coming from Lesotho.  But I also felt strong on the hills today, I just kept thinking of Two Oceans Marathon!”

Another just short of his 40th birthday, three times Cape Town Marathon champion, Stephen Mokoka, felt the heat on the hills at the backend and slipped down the field from the top twenty, where he ran most of the race, to finish in a solid 27th. The Pretoria-based Mokoka, however, feels he is only now approaching his marathon peak and would love to be there in Los Angeles in 2028.

bird story agency