If Bekele could be as disciplined as Kipchoge, would his limits be higher?
Written by/Odd Monkey
Edit/corduroy
Production/Macondo Running Laboratory
"Those 2 seconds really wasn't a big deal, and I was confident of breaking the marathon world record."
Recently, Bekeler's agent, Jos Hermens, revealed to the Team Newspaper that Beckler will not go to Tokyo for the Olympic Games.
Although Beckler, who did not participate in the Ethiopian Olympic Trials, has repeatedly publicly stated that he wants to participate in the Olympic marathon, it seems that he has now calmed down, for a genius like him who only sees the world record, it seems that only breaking Kipchoger's world record of 2:01:39 is his most perfect curtain performance, so it is no longer important to participate in the Olympic Games to win medals.
Let's first review the segment time of Beckerer 2:01:41 and Kipchog 2:01:39:
The first half of the race was 1 second faster, but the second half of the beckler lost the advantage and eventually missed the world record by a difference of 2 seconds.
For Bekele, if he did not challenge himself and Kipchoge again, I believe that his heart would never be at peace.
It all started with Gebry Selassie
Bekler was born on June 13, 1982 in a village in southern Ethiopia called Bekki, and because of his beautiful eyebrows, his father named him Keneñissa, which means "bring joy" in the local dialect.
Initially, his father hoped that Bekele would study hard and become a knowledgeable scholar in the future, but Bekele was obsessed with running. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the 14-year-old Beckler watched the long-distance running competition of his idol Gebre Selasi intently, "At that moment, in my heart, he was as great as a national hero." ”
In 1997, After seven years of schooling, Beckler began to harvest the championships of the competition, the school champion, the provincial champion, the national champion, and he proved his running talent to his father with absolute strength.
Defeat idols and become the king of long-distance running
At that time, Bekele had a wish in his heart: it would be great to train and compete with his idol GebreCerasi.
Later, with his great talent and hard work, Bekler was successfully selected for the national team, and while realizing his dream of training with idols, the wheel of fate of the king of Ethiopian long-distance running began to rotate.
In 2003, Becker first beat his idol Gebrecerasi in the Hengelo 10,000m race, and then defeated the idol again in the 10,000m of the World Championships in Paris the same year, 26:49.57, and set a world championship record, and the second half took only 12:57.24, the fastest time at the time.
After the game, Gebrecerasi sighed, "I'm really old, I can't run him now."
Hearing the admiration of his idol, Beckler had mixed feelings, "No matter what time he is, he is my mentor and leader, without him, I would not be where I am today." ”
In 2004, Beckerer broke the men's 5,000m world record at the Hengelo Golden Grand Prix at 12:37.35 on 31 May, followed by the 10,000m world record at the International Athletics Challenge in Ostrava at 26:20.31 on 8 June.
At the Athens Olympics, Bekele won another 10,000-meter gold medal and set an Olympic record. In the 5000m race, only the silver medal was won due to tactical errors.
In 2005, Bekele's fiancée died of a heart attack in training, which made him sad, he gave up the 5,000 meters of the Helsinki World Championships, but then participated in the 10,000 meters of the Brussels Golden Grand Prix on August 26, and beckler ran all the way on the track, venting his sadness and anger, as if he wanted to make a deal with his heart.
Instead of falling on the field, he set a new world record with a time of 26:17.53, and it was not until 16 years later, 2021, that he was broken by the latest technology-added Ugandan young talent Cheptegai.
In 2006, Bekele won the Indoor World Championships 3,000 meters in Moscow, becoming the first and only Mr. Grand Slam in history to win the Olympic Games, outdoor World Championships, indoor World Championships and World Trail Running Championships.
In 2007, Beckerer set a world indoor 2000m world record of 4:49.99 in Birmingham; in the same year, he ran a personal 1500m PB 3:32.35 in Shanghai and a personal 3000m PB 7:25.79 in Stockholm.
In February 2008, Beckerer set a world record of 8:04.35 in the indoor 2 miles in Birmingham, and in March, he ended his cross-country career after winning gold at the World Trail Running Championships in Edinburgh. Then, the Beijing Olympics, which awaited his brilliance, finally arrived.
At the Beijing Olympics, in the final of the 10,000 meters, Beckler set a new Olympic record with a time of 27:01.17, and five days later, he set a new Olympic record in the 5,000 meters with a time of 12:57.82.
The advantages of the two games show the dominance of the king, which makes the domestic audience and sports fans very addicted, and Bekele has thus laid the title of "king of long-distance running" and "Beishen" and "Beiye" in the hearts of Chinese runners.
Plagued by injuries and running
In early 2010, Beckerer planned to break the men's indoor world record in the 3,000m, but missed a full year of racing due to injury.
At the 2011 Daegu World Championships, the injured Bekele 10,000m withdrew and subsequently gave up the 5,000m race. But in September, Beckler, who returned from injury, ran the world's best time of 26:43.16 in the 10,000 meters in Brussels, which was also the world's best in the past eight years.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Beckler did not win the 5,000 meters due to a series of injuries, and although he participated in the 10,000 meters, he only finished fourth, just 1.01 seconds away from the medal, while his brother won the bronze medal.
In 2013, Bekele finished fourth in Ethiopia that year in the Eugene 10,000m with a time of 27:12.08, but unfortunately did not win the right to participate in the World Championships. At this point, Bekele's career on the field came to an end, and he began to turn the course to marathon.
The 2013 British Great North Run (Half Horse) was Bekele's half-horse debut, and he staged epic duels with Mo Farah and Gebrecerasi, with Becker laughing at the end with unparalleled control, winning the championship in 1:00:09, with an average pace of 2 minutes and 51 seconds.
After the peak, there were injuries again
At the Dubai Marathon in January 2015, Beckler ran 29 kilometers and injured his right Achilles tendon and chose to retire; three months later, he withdrew from the London Marathon due to his injuries.
In 2016 London Horses, Beckler and Kipchoge met, and in the end Beckler finished third in 2:06:36 and Kipchoge won the title in 2:03:05.
In September 2016, Beckerer participated in the Berlin Marathon, and this time he finally won the championship and proved himself with the second place in marathon history at that time, 2:03:03. The king of long-distance running, is back.
Subsequently, both in terms of results and withdrawals, Beckler began to become extremely unstable.
In 2017, the Dubai Marathon withdrew from the start of the race with a fall; the London Horse was 2:05:57 second; the Berlin Marathon was withdrawn. In 2018, the London Marathon was sixth, and the Amsterdam Marathon withdrew.
People began to distrust Bekele, even if he could stand on the starting line, which was a big question mark.
The perfect comeback risk broke records
Plagued by almost general injuries to ankles, calves, Achilles tendons, hips, hamstrings and back, coupled with the helpless withdrawal of the game that could not achieve the goal, many people no longer looked favorably on Beckler, and even labeled him as the "king of retirement".
But these are nothing in Beckler's eyes, his eyes are always aimed at the world record, he only needs an opportunity to give a full blow.
To this end, Bekele and the team went to Nijmegen in the Netherlands, where they first corrected their ankles and hips, then managed to slim down through a reasonable diet plan and trained in a system that strengthened and matched his top athlete level.
This period of training life comparable to Thatkyogue's ascetic training gave him a great help.
On September 29, 2019, with the small goal of breaking through his marathon PB 2:03:03, Bekeler stood on the starting line. Since its departure, Beckerer has been in the front position of the First Group, running through the half-time point in just 1:01:05, which is a result that is 1 second faster than the first half of kipchoger's 2:01:39 world record on the same track in 2018.
Then came the most critical 30 kilometers of the race, Beckler lost speed because of muscle tension, just when people habitually thought that he was not good, he turned on a crazy Jedi counterattack mode, step by step to catch up with the 25-year-old compatriot Legsør and achieve a rebound in about 37.4 kilometers, but also in the 36 to 40 kilometers of the most difficult 5 kilometers of the fastest segment of 14 minutes and 15 seconds (average pace of 251).
At this moment, Bekele obviously realized that he was not just achieving PB on this day, but had the opportunity to impact his dream world record, he gritted his teeth, looked at the watch from time to time, and strode in the direction of his heart.
However, when Becker crossed the finish line at 2:01:41, the reality was so cruel, and the result was only 2 seconds away from Kipchoger's marathon world record.
"Those 2 seconds really aren't a big deal, I'm confident of breaking the marathon world record", although the regret is huge, but Bekele's confidence in breaking the world record is clearly back, and his goal for the next race is no longer in doubt.
But the sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic caused the marathon to be suspended for a while, and then the 2020 London Marathon Beckler and Kipchoge brush circle battle was not staged because of his suddenly announced injury before the race, and just when people were expecting Bekele and Kipchog to play the final battle on the marathon track of the Tokyo Olympics, Beckerer's agent revealed that he would not go to Tokyo.
Keneñeza Bekler, the ups and downs of this long-distance running prodigy in the marathon, is really amazing.
But now that the goal is so clear, whether it's in Berlin or London, and whether his goal can be achieved or not, it is enough to expect Bekele to appear on the track he is eager to break through this autumn, and as runners, it is enough to be able to enjoy the legend's all-out performance.