KAPTAGAT (Kenya) (AFP) – When he started out running in the early 2000s, a young Eliud Kipchoge simply wanted to get on a plane and go to Europe.
Two decades later, the Kenyan marathon legend is heading to Paris for what could be his final challenge at the 2024 Olympics.
At 39, he says he is hoping to make history on August 11 by becoming the "first human being" to win the Olympic marathon three times in succession, overtaking Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila (1960, 1964) and Waldemar Cierpinski of Germany (1976, 1980).
It was in Paris in 2003 that the then 18-year-old made a thunderous international debut, snatching the 5,000 metres world championship gold ahead of favourites Hicham El Gerrouj and Kenenisa Bekele.
But Kipchoge's first major prize ended up being his only one on the track.
It was on the road, which he turned to after failing to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, that he would achieve glory.
With his long, metronomic stride, he has twice broken the marathon world record – streaking to 2:01:39 in 2018 and 2:01:09 in 2022.
He is the only man to have covered the 42.195 kilometre (26.2 mile) marathon distance in under two hours, albeit during a specially organised, unofficial race in Vienna in 2019.
He has won 16 of the 20 official marathons he has run since 2013, including 11 victories in the majors (five in Berlin, four in London, one each in Tokyo and Chicago), alongside Olympic golds in 2016 and 2021.
- 'Really determined' -
The youngest of four children, Kipchoge was raised by his mother, a kindergarten teacher, in the village of Kapsisiywa in the foothills of Kenya's Rift Valley.
His father died when he was a baby.
Young Eliud loved running but didn't dream of glory.
"Running is normal in our village, in our community, you run up and down to school, to the shopping centre," he told AFP in an interview.
He decided to take a chance in athletics, "but it was not about aiming to become a big runner... I just wanted to get into a plane and fly to Europe," he said.
"I didn't know that being an athlete can put more food on my table for my family and my siblings."
As a teenager, he often spotted a neighbour during his training sessions, someone he had watched on television winning silver at the 1992 Olympics: 3,000 metre steeplechaser Patrick Sang.
In 2001, Kipchoge approached him to ask for a training programme and Sang scribbled one on his arm.
"Then he kept coming for more," said Sang.
"At that moment, I could not say that there is something special about this guy. But in retrospect... I can say that this is somebody who knew where he wanted to go. He was really determined."
Since then, the two men have barely left each other's side, developing a quasi-filial relationship.
- Spartan lifestyle -
Kipchoge devotes his life to running, carefully recording each of his training sessions in notebooks.
Since 2002, he has lived nine months a year at an elite camp run by management agency Global Sports Communications in Kaptagat, a village in western Kenya at an altitude of 2,500 metres.
Kipchoge trains at an elite camp for runners in Kenya's Rift Valley
He rises early, with eating, shopping and rest punctuating his monastic existence. He meets his wife and three children on weekends at the family home in the neighbouring town of Eldoret.
His spartan lifestyle contrasts with his income estimated at several million dollars, the fruit of his victories and world records but also sponsorship deals with companies such as Nike, INEOS and Isuzu.
True to his origins, Kipchoge also owns a dairy and maize farm, and a tea plantation.
His taste for reading (favourites include Paulo Coelho and Stephen Covey) and love of mottos, as well his cool composure, earned him the nickname "philosopher".
He is an enthusiastic sports fan – a supporter of Tottenham football club, keen on motor sports, boxing and ultimate fighting, two sports in which he sees a parallel with the marathon.
"These people train for six months and fight for 15 minutes. And you can be knocked out in a few seconds."
Death threats
As a marathon runner, Kipchoge has known little failure but in Boston in 2023 he came sixth and was 10th in Tokyo in March this year – his worst ever finish.
"In Tokyo, I spent three days without sleeping," he told the BBC in May after experiencing months of online harassment and even death threats.
Trolls accused him of being involved in the death of Kenyan marathon prodigy Kelvin Kiptum who was killed in a car crash in Kaptagat in February, just months after beating Kipchoge's world record.
"I received a lot of bad things: that they will burn my investments in town, they will burn my house, they will burn my family," Kipchoge said, adding that he lost "about 90 percent" of his friends.
Kipchoge was deeply affected by the ordeal but said he had to bounce back.
"Marathon is life, you find ups and downs, you become tired, you hit the rock, you come back," he said.
Of his protege's hopes in Paris, Sang said: "That's his dream, to make history, to win a third Olympic title.
"Look at the span of years he has been at the top. More than 20 years. That is history in itself."