Quiet hero Kipchoge sidesteps marathon celebration
He is the man of the moment in Kenya and indeed the entire world, but true to character, Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge “snuck” back home in the early hours of Wednesday, sidestepping a potentially frenzied hero’s welcome.
Last Saturday, the marathon world-record holder became the first person to run the distance in under two hours when he stopped the clock in 1:59:40.2 at a Vienna event financed by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, owner of the chemical giant INEOS.
“Honored to fly our champion @eliudkipchoge home from Amsterdam. The Pride is so proud of you! #ChampionOnBoard #NoHumanIsLimited,” national carrier Kenya Airways tweeted on Wednesday, confirming that the athlete widely acknowledged as the greatest marathoner of all time was back on Kenyan soil.
His arrival was in sharp contrast to his departure for the ‘INEOS 159 Challenge’ in Vienna, when INEOS sent a private jet to fly Kipchoge from his native Eldoret via the capital Nairobi and Alexandria in Egypt.
Local and international media based in Nairobi were eagerly anticipating a return fit for a king but, once again, the four-time London Marathon and three-time Berlin Marathon winner stayed true to his humble nature and slipped back home as quietly as possibly.
“Kenya’s world-record holder Eliud Kipchoge snuck back into the country quietly early on Wednesday morning following his historic exploits on Saturday in Vienna,” the Daily Nation newspaper reported on its website.
Rival daily The Standard wrote: “Eliud Kipchoge is back in the country after his astonishing feat in Vienna, Austria, where he completed the marathon in under two hours. Many Kenyans were eagerly waiting for a publicized return but it seems the athlete preferred to keep it low key.”
Later, the paper’s website published another piece headlined “Eldoret residents demand to see Kipchoge”. The article reported: “During an interview on KTN News on Wednesday, a section of Eldoret residents demanded to see Kipchoge, saying they should be allowed to celebrate their hero.”
Another Kenyan newspaper, The Star, adopted a much more measured tone, writing: “World-record holder Eliud Kipchoge is back in Eldoret, Kenya, after a good run in Vienna where he beat the two-hour barrier. Kenya Airways took to Twitter on Wednesday to express its pride in flying the marathoner home.”
Kipchoge caught the media unawares once again following similar low-key returns from his previous major marathon conquests — in 2016 in Rio, where he won the Olympic title, and 2019 in Berlin, where he clocked the 2:01:39 world record.
His Vienna time is not officially recognized as a world record because of the use of pacemakers and pace cars in the Austrian capital.
Those who know the 34-year-old, who transitioned to the marathon after missing out on a place in the Kenyan men’s 5,000m and 10,000m teams for the London 2012 Olympics, are cognizant of the fact that, despite his global superstardom, he never veers away from his calm, patient and disciplined demeanor.
“Once you cross the line, that is in the past and it’s time to change focus to what lies ahead,” the philosophical athlete explained to this writer when asked why he did not organize a huge celebration following his record run in Berlin last year.
Kipchoge’s astonishing performance in Vienna has piqued the Kenyan corporate world’s interest in sports, with companies queuing up for a piece of the pie in a country where many sporting institutions struggle due to poor financing.
Kenya Airways, for example, is mulling naming the aircraft that flew Kipchoge home after the marathon superstar, while low-budget carrier JamboJet and alcohol producer East Africa Breweries were among an assorted list that offered discounted products priced with the magical 159.
Prior to his departure for Vienna, network operator Safaricom and General Motors East Africa, through its Isuzu brand, were the only local companies to have working partnerships with Kipchoge.
In conjunction with Twitter, Safaricom changed the logo of its money-transfer service, M-Pesa, to Eliud 159 as it milked the online traction of Kipchoge’s feat.
According to Gadgets Africa, the historic run generated 11 billion impressions on social media.
While the above companies had the right to use Kipchoge’s image in promotional material, others exposed themselves to legal action for the unauthorized use of photos.
Following his Rio Olympics success, a local TV station was forced to pay an out-of-court settlement to distance-running great after it used an image without his permission.
Expect similar lawsuits in the coming months as corporate Kenya scrambles to jump on the Kipchoge bandwagon.