Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir showed her agility and kindness in a punishing weather during the Olympic women’s marathon in Sapporo on Saturday – and won gold.
She was the water and ice errand girl during the race – a gesture that showed just how big-hearted she is an athlete.
In more than one instance she gave her compatriot Brigid Kosgei water bottles – and even shared her cooling ice bag with the World champion.
She also assisted Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter with water bottles, sadly the Israeli dropped out at the 38km stage.
After spending the first 40 kilometres helping fellow athletes – especially Kosgei – Jepchirchir knew that it was now time to concentrate on herself. She tried encouraging Kosgei – but the champion was spent.
I pushed the pace
“When I was there I said, ‘Wow, I’m going to make it.’ So I pushed the pace because I knew I was going to win,” said Jepchirchir, the two-time world half marathon champion.
“I’m so, so happy because we win as Kenya, first and second … I’m happy, for my family, happy for my country Kenya for supporting us.”
“I knew that I was really fit coming in, so that performance is nowhere close to my fitness. I know the heat had to play a role and I just thought I was going to cope better and I didn’t,” said Jepchirchir.
Jepchirchir clocked 2:27:20, 16 seconds ahead of Kosgei and 26 seconds ahead of Seidel.
Some athletes dropped
Chepngetich dropped out at the 30km mark, while Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter dropped out at the 38km mark.
The race had been moved to Sapporo from Tokyo before the Games to beat the sweltering summer heat in the Japanese capital.
The race was rescheduled to begin an hour earlier at 6am to beat the temperatures which still hit 30 degrees Celsius by 9am.