Ethiopian Tamirat Tola has ended Eliud Kipchoge’s Olympic reign in the marathon with a stunning victory in Paris on Saturday.
Kenyan legend Kipchoge was chasing an unprecedented third-straight Olympic title, but was never really in it and eventually pulled the pin at 31km.
The 39-year-old, who has won just about every major marathon in the world, appeared to struggle through the gruelling event, grabbing at his hip at times.
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He stopped logging times after the 30km checkpoint, with commentators wondering what had happened.
“We’re hoping he’s OK,” one said on the world feed.
News eventually came through that he pulled out in a sad end to his race.
“If we have seen the last of him, we should cherish that we lived in the era of Kipchoge,” the commentator added.
While Kipchoge crashed out, Tola dominated from the halfway stage to win in a new Olympic record time of 2:06.26.
It was Ethiopia’s fifth gold in the event, which is two more than any other nation in history.
The 42km course was described as “brutal” and “bizarre” by commentator Gerard Whateley because of the hills.
The route included a 436m climb and 438m descent, which is rare for an Olympic course.
Going downhill is just as hard on the body,” Tamsyn Manou-Lewis said on Nine.
“Aerobically, you can switch off a little bit and let the incline flow, but on the knees when they have just gone up a huge, huge hill, they would be so sore, those knees and running down off it would be difficult.”
Tola lopped six seconds off the Olympic record set by Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya in Beijing 16 years ago.
Belgium’s Bashir Abdi claimed the silver medal on Saturday in 2:06:47 and Kenyan Benson Kipruto was third in 2:07:00.
Pat Tiernan hung tough and was the first Australian across the line in 2:10:34, finishing 24th.
Andrew Buchanan — a late replacement for injured Australian record holder Brett Robinson — was 45th in 2:12:58 and Liam Adams was 49th in 2:13:33.
– With AAP
