Two weeks ago, Tamirat Tola had no Paris 2024 Olympics plans.His best shot at the Games was long gone, or so he thought. And now, he can now proudly add Olympic champion to his resume.
The Ethiopian, a late replacement in the Olympic marathon team, on Saturday clinched the men’s gold medal in difficult conditions that saw Eliud Kipchoge, the two-time gold medallist over that distance drop out of the race.
A huge career highlight for the marathoner who was added to the team after the Opening Ceremony.
The 32-year-old was hugely disappointed when the Ethiopian marathon team to the Olympics was confirmed last July.
His recent performance may have not convinced the selectors to consider him for his second Games, but he was always hopeful that his proven championship record could count for something.
A failure to finish his last run at the 2024 London Marathon sealed his fate, as the top placed Ethiopian from the April run Kenenisa Bekele earned a spot alongside Sisey Lemma and Deresa Geleta.
When injury locked out his training mate Lemma, the two-time world medallist excitedly stepped in to fill the gap, yearning for another Olympic appearance after the 10,000m bronze in Rio.
“I changed to marathon from track as I was not able to get gold on track,” Tola tells Olympics.com after the gold he has long coveted in 2:06:26, a time that erased Samuel Wanjiru’s Olympic record from 2008 Beijing.
The frustrating spell on track sowed the seeds of Tola’s success on the road.
His biggest win before being crowned the 2023 New York Marathon champion was the 2022 world title in Eugene, but he clearly wanted more.
When he stepped on the starting line at the Hotel de Ville — Paris’ city hall — and its grand square, it was not the heaviness of his own expectations that was weighing him down, but that of over 124 million Ethiopians. The country was yet to win a gold medal at this Games.
“The mood in the Ethiopian camp has not been good,” said Tola who bases his training in Sendafa, on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where he also trains with his wife Dera Dida and brother Abdisa Tola, both former winners of the Dubai marathon.
“Today is the tenth day since the athletics started, and I was really hoping to change that by winning.”
It was a huge task.
Despite being well positioned to deliver as a long distance powerhouse, Ethiopia had not found success in the men’s marathon at the Olympics since Gezahegne Abera’s gold at Sydney 2000.
Tola knew it would take a fight to wrestle the title back from one of the favourites Kipchoge on a demanding course, and in the rising heat and humidity.
“This is the Olympics, and it is not easy to win the Olympic Games, not at all,” he reckoned.
But nothing would stop him, not the tough terrains or the ‘scary’ up and downhills.
In fact, at one of the challenging steeps, as Kipchoge’s title defense ended, that’s when Tola switched gears and pulled away from the field.
He kept glancing back until the final stages of the race, to ensure no one ruins his moment.
“I didn’t put into my mind up to the last kilometre, because this is athletics, [I felt] somebody will [catch-up] and pass me. When I arrived at the 41km, I knew I have this, I am going to win. I was happy. I am so happy, I achieved my dream.
“I was a reserve in the team, when my friend and training partner Sisey Lemma was injured, he said they said, ‘this was the chance for Tola’. I was happy to step in and represent Ethiopians here.”
Kenenisa Bekele, who at 42 made a comeback to the Olympics after 12 years finishing 39th in 2:12:24, was delighted by the achievement.
“He got a chance to participate quite late and still won the medal, that’s really special. Special for Ethiopia and more so for him. I am really happy for him.”
Source: Paris Olympics
