In Paris

Emil Zatopek made history by winning three distance running gold medals at the Olympic Games during the Helsinki edition in 1952.

Famously known as the “Czech Locomotive”, Zatopek won gold in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres races before diving into the marathon and winning on his debut over the 42-kilometre distance.

And the man from Prague won his debut marathon in an Olympic record two hours, 23 minutes and three seconds, finishing ahead of Argentina’s silver medalist Reinaldo Gorno (2:25:35) while Swede Gustaf Jansson (2:26:07) took bronze.

Zatopek’s feat inspired Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan who struck three medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m, settling for bronze in the 1,500m.

A lot has happened since Tokyo with Sifan having added the marathon to her rich repertoire and announcing yesterday that she will attack the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon at these Paris Olympics.

Initially, there was talk of the Ethiopia-born athlete also going for the 1,500m title but in a zoom call yesterday, Sifan ruled out the metric mile.

She believes after her impressive performances over the marathon distance, her body is now ready to take on more beating.

Sifan’s challenge is one of the main talking points here this week as the Paris Olympics’ athletics programme begins today with the men’s 20-kilometre walk where Kenya’s Samuel Gathimba is in the mix.

Sifan won the London and Chicago marathons last year, the first in a national record 2:18:33, and the latter in a European record 2:13:44.

This year, she competed in the Tokyo Marathon in March, finishing fourth in 2:18:05.

The 31-year-old will have little time to rest in between with the 5,000m heats launching on Friday followed by the final next Monday.

World record

And she will have less than 48 hours to rest between the 10,000m final at 8.57pm on Friday, August 9, and the Marathon, which will be the final athletics event on the Olympic programme on Sunday, August 11, at 8am.

But she is not giving herself the extra pressure of eyeing gold medals in each of the three events, noting that she will be up against world record holders at each distance which make the challenge even more difficult.

Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay holds the world record in the 5,000m at 14:00.21 while Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet is the world’s best in the 10,000m at 28:54.14, and another Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir has the women-only marathon world record of 2:16:16, having improved on compatriot Mary Keitany’s 2:17:01 at the London Marathon this year.

The three are all on the start list against Sifan here in Paris.

“I’m happy to be running against these athletes and I can’t say I will get gold medals in all events as I have to face a world record holder in every event.

“My biggest goal is to complete the event, rather than the medal. I don’t want to make myself crazy by focusing on gold… the medals will come later.

“It’s good to take the risk and challenge yourself as a human being because life will always challenge you… I have been challenging myself from my youth,” she added, reflecting on her life as a refugee from Ethiopia that saw her saw her live in the US before settling in the Netherlands.

The tight athletics programme certainly played a big role in Sifan dropping from the 1,500m where she would have been up against another world record holder, Kenya’s indefatigable Faith Kipyegon.

“I had initially planned to run four events but I have decided to run at the Paris Olympics the 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon…

Energy system

“I decided to drop the 1,500m because of health reasons… it’s quite challenging to the mind and body and the programme is very tight that sometimes I have to run four events in a short time,” she explained yesterday, noting that her biggest challenge so far has been to juggle between track training and preparing for the marathon.

“The way you run and the energy system, and the training is totally different between the track and the marathon.

“In the marathon you have to build a lot of endurance and clock as many kilometres as possible, but on the other hand on the track you have to push yourself and get a good kick, for which you must really recover and not clock too much mileage.

“Before Tokyo, I thought it was the hardest (preparing for three events), but now it’s harder… this is the most challenging moment, having to clock the mileage (for the marathon) and also push myself and improve my speed for the track.

“From my experience it’s almost impossible, but I’ve done my best and will see what will happen.”

With the temperatures in Paris rising to a heatwave, Sifan faces another challenge in recovering in between her races.

“It’s all about nutrition,” she responded to a question from Daily Nation.

“Nutrition is important, not just for the pro athlete but for everybody... whatever you put in your gut will affect your brain, your longevity… everything!

Preferred distance or event?

“Nutrition plays a big role, and that’s what I’m focusing on because I will run in the 10,000m and in less than 48 hours in the marathon… but before (winning) the London Marathon I wasn’t experienced but now it’s different.”

Her preferred distance or event?

“Every event is important to me,” she reacts.

“I really love the 10,000 metres because I’m the world champion and also Olympic champion.

“The marathon is also very important – forget about the medal but the challenge of pushing yourself for more than two hours, going hard and not giving up.”

What inspiration does she draw from Zatopek?

“I read about him… I remember in 2018 when I ran 1:56 in the 800m and then the same year ran 65:00 in the half marathon, someone said to me: ‘you are gonna be like Zatopek!, and I was like ‘who’s that?’

“I started searching and I was really inspired and became a big fan (of Zatopek) and even two times I watched his move about his days in the military before the Tokyo Olympics when I was stressed.

“He is an inspiration. He’s amazing. He’s great! But our time and his time are not the same – I’m running in all events against a world record holder and the times being run are crazy!

“Women athletes these days are running like men! They broke 29-minute barrier in the 10,000 metres, they are almost running 13:00 in the 5,000m and in the marathon these days it’s easy to run 2:15, 2:16…”

Meanwhile, Sifan, a Nike Alphafly die-hard, maintains the choice of shoe for her challenge should not be overhyped.

“Shoe companies are doing great and always improving, but the athletes have to work super hard… the shoes can’t run by themselves!,” she summed it up.