Kenenisa Bekele, confirmed by the Ethiopian Athletics Federation for the Paris Olympic marathon, will face the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge on the asphalt of the French capital, a great dominator of the distance in recent years and with whom he will meet again at the Games sixteen years later.
Bekele, at 41 years old (42 in August), faces the Olympic Games after the excellence of the race he starred in in the last London marathon on April 21, when he was second and stopped the clock at 2:04:15.
That time, similar to the 2h04:19 recorded in Valencia on December 3, 2023, being fourth in the Spanish city, has allowed him to return in style to the Olympic Games twelve years after doing so for the last time. On that last occasion, in London 2012, he was fourth in the 10,000 meters on the track.
Before, in Beijing 2008, he was a double Olympic champion in 5,000 and 10,000 meters. In the 5000 he starred in a nice duel with Kipchoge, who was second and followed him on the podium with the silver medal.
In that same distance of 5,000 meters, four years earlier, in Athens, they also faced each other on the track. On that occasion the victory went to Hicham El Guerrouj, the silver to Bekele and the bronze to Kipchoge.
For the Paris Olympic marathon, the other two chosen for the men's race by the Ethiopian Federation are Sisay Lemma, winner of the Boston Marathon this 2024 with 2h06:17, and Tamirat Tola, winner of the last New York marathon in 2023 with 2h04 :58.
In the women's category, the Ethiopian team is led by Tigist Assefa, world marathon record holder with 2h11:53 in Berlin 2023 and who, at 27 years old, will make her debut in Paris at the Olympic Games.
The other two members of the Ethiopian women's team are Amane Beriso, second in the 2023 Boston Marathon and who credits the best time of 2h14:58 in Valencia 2022, and Gotytom Gebresilase, world marathon champion in Eugene 2022 with her best time: 2h18 :eleven.
