Why the greats like Eliud Kipchoge never retire

However, for the sake of all those arguing that he hang up his running shoes at the lowest, I must.

 
Watching a teary-eyed Eliud Kipchoge in New York after he finished a distant 17th in the marathon was not heartbreaking for anyone who knows and, slightly, understands him as a man. 

Firstly, the New York City Marathon is the largest marathon in the world. It is part of the World Marathon Majors (WMM), which is important because Kipchoge has won all of the other World Marathon Majors except the Boston Marathon and, if you are paying close attention, the New York City Marathon. 

In 2023, Kipchoge finished sixth in the Boston Marathon, a race considered one of the toughest due to its hilly terrain. Finishing 6th in a marathon at the tail end of one's career is no mean feat, but Kipchoge, aged 39, achieved just that. 

What was left in his list of unaccomplished goals was the New York City Marathon. In 2025, at the age of 41, Kipchoge finished 9th in the Sydney Marathon, which was now a World Marathon Majors event; he also recorded the fastest marathon times in Australia, with a new course record set. 

Also in 2025, Kipchoge finished sixth in the London Marathon, an event he had won four times before.

Secondly, to understand Kipchoge, one must refer back to 2017 during the "Breaking2 Challenge", and the "INEOS1:59 Challenge" two years later. 

After many years of post-race interviews with Kipchoge, many journalists will agree that he meant every word he spoke; he is not only a man of his word, but he is also a very intentional man. Therefore, when Kipchoge says, "No human is limited.", then he means it by all standards, and the two challenges were not merely PR stunts as many argued they were. 

These challenges were an alignment of the universe to allow Kipchoge to live by his mantra, not prove it.
 
We need to understand that an athlete like Kipchoge comes along once in a generation, not just because he won 11 World Marathon Majors between 2013 and 2025, but because of how he achieved this incredible milestone. 

He made his debut in the Marathon Majors arena with a second-place finish in Berlin in 2013, a course he went on to win a record five times. It took him seven years to suffer his first loss in a marathon since Berlin, when he finished eighth in the 2020 London Marathon at the height of the pandemic. 

He won the London Marathon four times. 

Due to fitness, health and scheduling of sporting events, many athletes cannot compete in all World Marathon Majors events in one calendar year. However, I'm certain that if it were permitted, Kipchoge would attempt to do so. During this period, he won in Hamburg and Rotterdam, and set records in Tokyo, London, Hamburg and Berlin. Notably, he became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours in an experimental race in Vienna, Austria.

Outside his personal achievements, Kipchoge wore the Kenyan flag as he did his very own being.

Kipchoge, like many Kenyan athletes, started as a junior runner in cross country and in 2002 and 2003 dominated the men's junior races, winning three gold medals; one individual and two as a team. His mission was as set apart like when he won Olympic gold with the largest margin since 1972 in Sapporo, Japan. 

Kipchoge loves Kenya, and he did her proud, winning gold in a 5,000m world record time at the World Championships in Paris, France, in 2003. 

Once he left the track for the road, there was no looking back, which he rarely did, unless he was urging his Kenyan teammates on. 

In 2016, he won his first Olympic marathon gold, when he blazed the streets of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, before adding a second in Sapporo, Japan in the COVID-19-affected Olympic Games.
 
Without divulging details of the selection process due to contractual obligations, as a judge for the Sports Personality of the Year (SOYA), within the period Kipchoge dominated the world of sports, we had little to no room to unanimously agree that every single year he wore his running shoes and bib, the top accolade had to be his.

It is from this position that I was left bereft of pride when a social media user, whose biggest achievement is probably having about 206 followers and 159 likes on his best post, now most likely pinned on his X account, claimed that Kipchoge, the greatest of all time should have retired at his crescendo and not after finishing 17th in New York, USA. 

Such people have most likely never played a sport and often interchange sports with games when they speak. Even a young boy knows what competition is not about; it is neither about the opponent nor the medals, but the sports person.

Kipchoge has always said, "No human is limited," and those who understand this know that time limits and expectations imposed by others are irrelevant. Kipchoge no longer runs for the records or the medals; he runs because he lived by that mantra.

Kipchoge is the greatest of all time, and it will take a long time to forget him. A man like Kipchoge understands what it means to control time because Eliud Kipchoge is not limited. 

As an athlete, Kipchoge knows every athlete, both active and nascent, will always be competing against him, even when he retires to his simple and idyllic abode in the (previously) remote village of Kaptagat, Kenya.

He clearly, and with his contagious smile, knows that as he leisurely jogs alongside eager athletes past herds of livestock, his legacy is always atop the leaderboard in major cities of the world and the rural villages like Kaptagat. That is, singularly and precisely, what it means to be the GOAT.

 
Watson Karuma is a sports journalist. [email protected]