World marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge is a global symbol of excellence, resilience, and humility. And now he’s HSN’s Athlete of the Year.
His performance shows his excellence and resilience, and his humble words reconnect his mythical being to mortals.
“Today, we went to the Moon and came back to earth!” Eliud Kipchoge penned a tweet shortly after smashing the legendary two-hour wall for the marathon on October 12, 2019, in Vienna, the capital of Austria.
He finished the race in a time of 1:59:40. Though unofficial, the record was the first in human history.
That feat was his most significant and humanity’s most outstanding in the marathon. The commentator of that marathon race, which was dubbed the “INEOS 1:59 Challenge”, marveled— “one giant leap for human endeavor” after Kipchoge crossed the finish line.
The 38-year-old from Eldoret had broken the limits, rubber-stamping his place as the greatest marathoner of all time and beautifully and literally unpacking his mantra— No human is limited.
For that achievement, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, during the 2019 national celebration for Mashujaa Day, honored Kipchoge with the Elder of the Order of Golden Heart (EGH), the highest civilian honor by the state.
“No Human is Limited.”
EGH is feted on someone who has offered extraordinary services to the nation.
“His achievement reminds us that we should never limit ourselves to the ordinary. Eliud Kipchoge remains the greatest of our time,” then-President Kenyatta said.
He has ever since set his sights on loftier goals and aspirations, some of which he has achieved. Others are in the pipeline.
In September 2022, the two-time Olympic winner beat his world record and set another in the Berlin marathon.
In the Marathon, Kipchoge crossed the line in two hours, one minute, and nine seconds, 30 seconds faster than his previous record. Earlier in 2018, in Berlin, he had set a world record of 2:01:39 time.
After the new record, he told the BBC: “I believe that I still have time to show the world how to push limits,” clearly indicating his dreams of breaking new records are very much alive with him. The man can’t stop breaking records.
After Kipchoge’s record-breaking victory at the 2022 Berlin Marathon, Isuzu East Africa honored him by unveiling a new pickup model— the Eliud Kipchoge 1:59 Limited Special D-Max Edition.
Isuzu made a special announcement in honor of Kipchoge’s fete during a welcome event on September 25, 2022.
“We are delighted to announce that over the next few months, Isuzu East Africa will introduce to the market an Eliud Kipchoge 1:59 Limited Special D-Max Edition. To honor Eliud’s vision of running a sub-two marathon in a competition, this special edition pickup will have 159 units to be sold on a first-come, first-served basis,” Isuzu Managing Director, Rita Kavashe, said.
A portion of the proceeds from the vehicle sales would be channeled to the Eliud Kipchoge Foundation.
Photos from Eliud Kipchoge’s Twitter
The father of two sons, and a two-time Olympic champion, has earned 15 victories in 17 career marathons. He stamped his dominance on the race between 2014 and 2019, where he won all ten marathons he entered.
A short preview into his early life, as written on his Eliud Kipchoge Foundation website, shows a man born into an ordinary family but broke clear of the shackles of poverty and hardships to make a name for himself and inspire humanity.
He grew up on a farm in Kapsabet, in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. More often, he would haul several gallons of the family’s milk by bike to sell at the local market.
He also used to run to school every day, covering the 3 km twice a day. A nursery school teacher raised him. He used five-months savings to buy his first pair of running shoes.
At 18, Kipchoge stormed the world stage when he beat stars Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco and Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia to triumph in the 2003 World 5000m title on the track. Furthermore, he won the Olympic 5000m bronze medal in 2004 and silver in 2008. Later, he moved to the marathon after falling short of making it to the 2012 Olympic team on the track.
Kipchoge is an avid reader. He says reading books prepare him for running events by putting him in the right frame of mind and motivating him to achieve outstanding accomplishments.
In a past press interview, he said that before his Ineos 1:59 race in 2019, he was reading the book ‘Atomic Habits’ written by James Clear.
“Reading clears your mind and gives you practical lessons on how you can make your life better. It gives you new knowledge, and the best way to learn is to read,” Kipchoge said in an interview with Nairobi’s Capital FM.
“I was lucky in my life to have access to books and knowledge from a young age. It taught me to value life,” he says in the Kipchoge Foundation.
Through his Foundation, he hopes to give all children in the world access to knowledge and education.
“I want those children to grow up into healthy adults in a green and breathing world where forests keep our people safe,” he says on the Foundation’s website.
In addition, through his Foundation, the soft-spoken marathoner hopes to contribute to and grow a movement in education and environmental protection “to raise awareness and to raise finances to build libraries, schools, forests.”
His educational goals are to sponsor school fees and give more children access to education, build libraries, and inspire people through the importance of education and the power of books.
In the environmental realm, his ambitions are to help to keep forests, plant trees, and make full use of farms by planting trees and producing good fruit and vegetables. He also wants to conserve the environment for the next generation and help make running a lifestyle for as many people as possible.
In all his recorded interviews, the marathon king comes off as self-motivated with a strong desire to succeed in his endeavors.
“When you are doing the right things in the right way, then your psychological path is really strong,” he told Athletics Weekly, an online publication, on December 13, 2022.
“I get a real plan – one plan only – and work on it to make sure I achieve it. If I don’t achieve it, then I go back and set the plan again,” Kipchoge said.
He keeps his focus on the field.
“I always run my own race. I always treat myself as the best,” Kipchoge said.
Early in December 2022, Bankslave, the renowned Kenyan graffiti artist, immortalized Kipchoge via a mural in Nairobi Central Business District.
The mural bears the writings “1:59:40”, depicting Kipchoge’s iconic sub-two-hour time at the INEOS-1:59 event in 2019, and “No Human is Limited,” his most famous quote.
A non-fungible token (NFT) of the mural has been put up for sale on the blockchain website OpenSea