'The Greatest of all Time!' Harambee Stars' Wanyama ecstatic after Kipchoge's Olympic heroics

Harambee Stars and Montreal Impact midfielder Victor Wanyama is among the Kenyans who have praised gold medal winner Eliud Kipchoge for his heroics at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Kipchoge displayed a dominant performance in the men's marathon on Sunday morning as he ran across the streets of Sapporo to retain the gold medal.

The world record holder - who developed a friendship with Wanyama since his time at Tottenham Hotspur - clocked 2hr 08min 38sec to win gold and he became only the third man to win consecutive marathon titles.

What has been said

"The Greatest of all Time," Wanyama said in praise of the Kenyan marathon great.

"The Olympic dream is a special dream. For every athlete here it has taken a lifetime of preparation to get to this point," Kipchoge said after the race.

"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 and got to say I successfully defended my Olympic title."

Kipchoge's winning margin of 1:20 is the biggest since American Frank Shorter's win in 1972 during the Munich Games in South-East Germany.

"He committed to retaining his Olympic title and has delivered the Gold Medal in an exemplary fashion, leaving the entire field in the distance. You've cemented your position as the greatest marathoner in the world. Congratulations, Eliud Kipchoge," Raila Odinga, who is Gor Mahia's patron, said.

Sunday's victory, Kipchoge's 13th in 15 marathons since he started competing 18 years ago, came after Peres Jepchirchir won gold for Kenya in the women's marathon.

Residents of Sapporo - a town that hosted the Winter Olympics of 1972 - lined the streets to witness the contests. 

Kipchoge.

Kipchoge has established himself as one of Kenya's high-profile sportsmen and has been a unifying factor as he continues to dominate his discipline.

"[Kipchoge] is an inspiration to the nation not only in the athletics world but also in the sports disciplines," Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa described the athlete when he ran the 42-kilometre distance in under two hours in 2019.

Teammates Lawrence Cherono and Amos Kipruto ran beside Kipchoge as he won the race to take Kenya's tally of gold medals to four. The East African country is the highest-ranked African nation as its athletes have collected a total of 10 medals.