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Ingebrigtsen had just beaten Cheruiyot to the 1,500m gold but the Kenyan still showed him a gesture of gratitude
After finishing the race at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2019 world 1,500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot was seen awarding reigning world 5,000m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen a Kenyan bracelet.
Ingebrigtsen had just beaten Cheruiyot and taken the 1,500m crown at the event, forcing the Kenyan to settle for second place.
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Cheruiyot has come out to disclose the reason why he awarded Ingebrigtsen the bracelet even though he had defeated him.
“After the race, I gave Jakob Ingebrigtsen a Kenyan bracelet as a token of my congratulations. Jakob is a good runner, young and improving all the time. He’s confident but is also a nice guy. We always have good battles," Cheruiyot told World Athletics.
"My message in giving him that bracelet was that competition is about us coming together, and with that, there is always one winner.
"Sometimes it’s you. Sometimes it’s not. But coming up second best at the Olympics has given me a lot of motivation – to go back, train harder and rise to the top again.”
At the time, Cheruiyot noted that he was also suffering from an injury and he did not want to make it known since it would seem like an excuse. He added that there was a lot of pressure for him to deliver and he had to dig deep for the medal.
At the time, Cheruiyot has also revealed that his son was suffering from meningitis and he was in and out of the hospital.
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“Ahead of the biggest event of my career, the Tokyo Olympics, I was struggling with injury. I had a problem with my hamstring, but I did what I could, and managed to get back to good fitness before travelling to Japan," he added.
"I went there as the world champion. Being Kenyan, the expectation from the people at home is that you win gold, which can be difficult. But the truth is: every medal is special, and they’re all worth so much. I learned that in Tokyo.
"While I was there, my son was in and out of the hospital back home in Kenya, battling meningitis. It was serious. He recovered in the end, but the situation brought a lot of stress, something I didn’t want to mention at the time. I didn’t want it to sound like I was making excuses."
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