Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge cemented his place among the all-time greats of the sport after winning the second consecutive Olympic men’s marathon in a time of 2:08.38.
The world record holder clocked 2hr 08min 38sec to win gold, becoming only the third man to win consecutive marathon titles.
The 36-year-old’s victory on Sunday is the 13th win in the 15 marathons he has raced since 2013.
File Image of Eliud Kipchoge.
Taking to his Twitter, the legendary marathoner noted that the Olympic dream was a special one for him.
“The Olympic dream is a special dream. For every athlete here it has taken a lifetime of preparation to get to this point. Today I lived my Olympic dream. I always say that sport is like life, whereby you can win and lose. But today was a day where I won.
“I can say I successfully defended my Olympic title. I want to share thanks to the people of Japan and the Olympic organization for an incredible job in making these Olympics happen. A running world is a happy world,” Kipchoge wrote on Twitter.