from bronze in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters to taming the “devastating” Paris 2024 marathon

The athletics competitions of the Olympics which have just concluded in Paris They offered dazzling moments and figures, records for all tastes, a general technical progress that seems limitless. But on the podium of that vintage the feat of the representative of the Netherlands will remain in the history of athletics, Sifan Hassanby conquering the women’s marathon, breaking the world record holder, the Ethiopian, in the final stretches Tigst Assefa. She had astonished with her world record last September in Berlin (2h11m53) and now she wanted to revalidate, with a great title, what she had already demonstrated in a so-called marathon. majors.

Of course, the conditions for marathon runners in Paris were completely different: a circuit of supreme demand (“devastating”according to the technicians, due to the climbs) and a very hot climate. In the case of the marathon at the Games, the question for the favorites is the place, not the mark.

And what Hassan achieved, competing and winning the marathon after having participated – taking home bronze medals – in the 5,000 and 10,000 meter dash races during the previous days, defies all technical conventions. A madness that no long-distance runner – whatever their level – attempts today.. But she turned out well. He even set a new Olympic record with a time of 2h22m55.

During the times before the appearance of African runners there were two names considered super-athletes in long distances: the Finn SpongeBob Nurmi and the czech Emil Zatopek. Exactly a century ago and also in Paris, Nurmi left with five gold medals in middle and long distance (one of them, in the cross country event, which later disappeared from the Games program). He did not venture into the marathon, a mission that he delegated to his compatriot Alvin Stenroos who, by the way, complied by contributing another gold to the flying finns.

At the 1952 Helsinki Games, Zatopek reaffirmed his nickname of Human Locomotive, since he easily triumphed in the 10,000 meters, with intense fight in the 5,000 and then decided to debut in the marathon, which he would also win to enter a stadium exhausted, where 70 thousand people cheered him shouting “Za-to-pek… ”. The Argentinian Reinaldo Gorno He was a brave escort and participant in that feat that no one could match since then.

Although the 5,000-10,000 double is more common among great distance runners, everything tends towards specialization, since the toughness of each test forces them to concentrate on it. The Ugandan Joshua Cheptegeicurrent world record holder for both distances, was now very happy about his victory in the 10,000 and immediately canceled his registration in the other.

The only one who at some point tried to emulate Zatopek was another formidable runner from Finland, Leave viruseswho at the 1976 Montreal Games repeated his victories in both track events achieved four years earlier in Munich. And he decided to face the marathon… in which he finished fifth. Nobody else.

And for that, when Sifan Hassan announced that he would run all possible tests in Parissome interpreted it as audacity, others as bravado and many more, as madness. Even more: Hassan also said that he would run the 1,500 meters, another of his favorite distances, but it was already too much…

The 5,000 (series and final) and the 10,000 demanded a great effort from Hassan, who was defending her Olympic crowns won in Tokyo 2020 – there, before the golds, she became famous for a fall in the 1,500 qualifying rounds that she made. viral – and now had to face a new and powerful generation of Ethiopians and Kenyans. These also turned the races into a boxing ring, there were fights and disqualifications. The winner in both distances was the new Kenyan prodigy, Beatrice Chebetthe first capable of running 10,000 meters under 29 minutes. Hassan did not get involved in those other people’s brawls and took home bronze medals.

The marathon represented, for her, a riskier challenge, a distance that she only tackled last year by winning in London (2h18m33) and then in Chicago (2h13m44), achieving here the second mark in history, behind Assefa’s record. However, last March, she was fourth in Tokyo with 2h18m05 and some doubts could arise, mainly about an overload of training and demands. Now she cleared them all, even though she faced the marathon with less than two days of rest after the final of the 10,000.

Born 31 years ago in Adama, south of Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Hassan was raised by her mother and grandmother on a farm. There are few references from those times, including the decision to leave his country when he was barely 15 years old and Her mother put her on a plane to the Netherlands, where she arrived almost as a refugee..

She was housed in a youth center in Zuidlaren. “She cried every day, I didn’t know what she was doing here,” she recalled. She was saved by her ties with a group of athletes who saw her running conditions and took her to the club. Eindhoven Athleticswhere he perfected his technique and training. The rest is better known history because she, with a passport from the Netherlands first and with her status as champion and record holder, became one of the best semi-long distance runners in the world, in distances from 1,500 to the marathon.

To his tally of Olympic medals we must add everything obtained in the World Championships since Beijing 2015 until Budapest 2023with an unforgettable stopover in Doha 2019 when he won two events as dissimilar as the 1,500 and 10,000.

He also carries out training cycles in the United States. He had the guidance of a controversial coach like Alberto Salazar but, with this sanctioned and evicted from all athletic fields, Hassan prepares with Tim Rowbery.

Now it was his coronation in a marathon, where he combined feelings of anguish and decision. “At every moment of the race I regretted having run the 5,000 meters and the 10,000. “I told myself that if I hadn’t done it, I would feel much better,” she said, already the winner and before receiving the medal at the closing party of Paris 2024. “From the beginning to the end, it was very hard. Every step of the way. She thought: ‘Why did I do it? “What’s wrong with me?” she confessed.

Two Argentines, Florencia Borelli and Daiana Ocampothey can feel proud to have been part of this feat. For both of them, qualifying for the Olympic marathon with increasingly tough minimum marks was already a merit. And they both turned -21st. the one from Mar del Plata with 2h29m29 and 41ma. Ocampo with 2h32m02 – ranking among the best Latin Americans, among the 80 athletes who completed the tough route of the City of Light.