Until the final week of July, Tamirat Tola wasn’t even supposed to be in Paris this summer.
And yet the 32-year-old found himself hurling his body through the idyllic streets of Paris, past the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, as he won the men’s marathon gold medal in Olympic record time.
Despite running on the most challenging course in Olympic marathon history, Tola’s time of 2 hours, 6.26 seconds beat the previous Olympic record set by Kenya’s Samuel Wanjiru (2:06.32) by six seconds.
“I am happy today because I fulfilled my goal," Tola said. "I prepared well. I trained hard so I could win. In my life, this is my great achievement.”
Most astonishingly of all, Tola only found out recently that he was bound for Paris. On July 26, it was announced that Tola, the 2023 New York Marathon winner, would step in as a replacement for Sisay Lemma on the Ethiopian Olympic marathon team —Lemma had been forced to withdraw due to injury.
Tola is a second-time Olympian — he took 10,000m bronze in Rio and now joins rarefied air as a medalist in two distance events. His still-growing résumé also includes a 2022 world title in the marathon, plus top-three finishes at the Tokyo and London Marathons.
Now, he can add some gold to the list.
On Friday, Tola broke out to a commanding lead by the 18-mile mark and only ballooned it from there. The trio of Deresa Geleta, Benson Kipruto and Bashir Abdi hounded him for a stretch — and Tola continually looked over his shoulder at them. But the Ethiopian didn't need to. He only continued to separate himself as downtown Paris came fully into view.
By the 24-mile mark, Tola’s advantage stood at 24 seconds. At the vaunted 26.2 miles, it was over. Running in the shadow of the striking Esplanade des Invalides, Tola — whose Olympic reality only set in 15 days ago — became an Olympic champion.
The Ethiopian held both hands high to the sky. Then, he placed them over his forehead in a daze. He draped his nation’s green, red and yellow flag over his back as the life-changing moment set in. Tola’s victory breaks a 24-year Ethiopian drought in the event — he’s the first gold medalist since Gezahenge Abera at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Behind him, Abdi (2:06.27) took silver, the best Olympic marathon finish in Belgium’s history. Kenya's Kipruto claimed bronze in 2:07.00.
The American training partner duo from Utah of Conner Mantz and Clayton Young fittingly finished back-to-back: Mantz eighth, Young ninth. Halfway through, Mantz was still in the top two, trailing Tola by just a second. U.S. teammate Leonard Korir finished 63rd in 2:18.35.
"I am very proud, very happy," Tola said.
This is the Olympics, and it is not easy to win the Olympic Games, not at all.
Tola's sentiment was especially true this year. The story of the Paris Olympic marathon can’t be told without highlighting the treacherous course that traverses from Paris to Versailles and back to Paris.
The course is dotted with Paris’ beauty: the Louvre, the, the Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, the tomb of Napoleon and the Eiffel Tower. But more meaningful to these elite marathoners are the brutal sets of steep inclines and downhills that combined to make this the most difficult marathon course in Olympic history.
Just before the 10-mile mark, there’s a 4% incline that mirrors the famous Heartbreak Hill of the Boston Marathon. But Paris’ climb — at 1.25 miles — is nearly double Boston’s hill. Then, at Mile 18, a vicious entrée of hills is presented: a 13.5% climb that struck fear into the hearts (and quads) of many of these elite marathoners. In all, the course features 1,430 feet of elevation, nearly double what Boston runners are served.
But what goes up must come down, and once runners crest those hills, they then must race down the hill, which for some runners can be just as challenging. On Saturday, the lead runners sprinted down the hill on the way back to Paris at an average pace of just over 4:30 per mile, which first put the Olympic record in doubt — but with pain.
"This is the hardest marathon course I’ve ever run," said Abdi, the silver medalist.
"Running uphill and downhill was not easy," bronze medalist Kipruto said. "This was the hardest marathon I have run."
Tola aced the tricky test with the record that now belongs to him, the same test that claimed two-time defending Olympic champion and marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya. Kipchoge, 39, came up gimpy as the incline began to set in — he was seen grabbing his left leg. Kipchoge slowed down and did not finish. The hills consumed another top favorite: 42-year-old Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, a three-time Olympic champion in the 5000m and 10,000m.
And Tola — who didn't have Paris on his summer plan — will soon fly home with a record-breaking Olympic gold.