Ethiopian marathon legend has opened up on one of the mistakes he made in his early marathon running days that he believes might be of benefit to upcoming athletes.
Kenenisa Bekele, one of the greatest marathoners in the world, has shared a mistake he made as he switched fully to the marathon that may be of benefit to the upcoming athletes.
Bekele, the two-time Berlin Marathon champion told Athletics Weekly that as he switched to the full marathon, he never picked a strong team to train with and he only did his workouts with his coach.
He went ahead to make his full marathon debut at the 2014 Paris Marathon and it was by sheer luck that it was successful since he bettered both the Paris course record and the debut marathon times of past legends Haile Gebrselassie, Paul Tergat, and Samuel Wanjiru by running 2:05:04 to win.
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“My transition from the track to the marathon was difficult…I was injured already when I transferred to the marathon so it was a hard time for me.
"I made some mistakes in the beginning because I couldn’t join strong teams as I prepared for the marathons…that was my mistake.
"My biggest mistake during my transition to the full marathon was not choosing a strong team and I chose to run alone with an individual coach…it was really difficult and maybe I missed some things at the moment.
"I could learn from others about the marathon but I couldn’t and I can’t get them back this time,” the multiple cross-country champion told Athletics Weekly.
However, after learning about the mistakes and embracing teamwork in marathon running, Bekele emerged to be one of the greatest marathoners.
He finished third at the 2016 London Marathon before finishing second at the 2017 London Marathon. At the 2021 Berlin Marathon, Bekele finished third, too.
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He has also achieved a lot on the track, winning three Olympic gold medals and five World Championships gold medals.