Kenya
Olympic marathon winner Eluid Kipchoge jetted back home to a quiet reception early Wednesday morning.
Kipchoge and team earned Kenya 10 medals; including 4 Gold, and 4 Silver, making it the best team from Africa at the Tokyo Games.
"I have a huge plan to inspire the youth, and inspire everybody in this world. I want to inspire Kenyans and make running the Kenyan lifestyle. I want to actually tell those people, those young people to respect the sport, or treat the sport like a profession. ..... So I want to tell the young people: please concentrate, be self-disciplined and above all respect the sport and make the sport a real profession," the double Olympic marathon gold medallist told journalists at the airport.
Kipchoge ran the 42-km race in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 38 seconds on a breezy and humid day along the streets of Sapporo.
He was 80 seconds ahead of runner-up Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands. Bashir Abdi of Belgium earned bronze to close out the track and field portion of the Tokyo Games.
Kipchoge becomes the third athlete to win multiple gold medals in the men's marathon, joining Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila and Waldemar Cierpinski.
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