By 
As a 20 year old, Joshua Cheptegei watched Britain’s Mo Farah Defend his 10,000m Olympic Gold in Rio De Janeiro 2016.
Tonight, Cheptegei will need to borrow Farah’s running shoes considering he is still the only non Ethiopian man to win Gold at this particular race ever since Haile Gebrselassie sparked Ethiopia’s dominance in Atlanta 1996 and triumphed again in Sydney.
Another Ethiopian in Kenenisa Bekele ran away with gold over the next two editions until Farah’s victory in London 2012.
That’s just how much Ethiopians have dominated this race at the global showpiece keeping in mind that even at the last edition in Tokyo, another Ethiopian Selemon Barega sent Cheptegei home with only a silver from this race.
On the flipside, Cheptegei’s own running shoes can be as good as Farah’s. At his very best, the Ugandan Silverback is capable of beating anyone and he has enough jewelry around his neck to prove this.
No man in the world has ever run faster than Cheptegei at this distance, yet even when slashed to half he still holds the 5,000m WR and three time consecutive gold medalist at the world athletics championships.
But the olympics, world records are no guarantee for glory. With history not on his side Cheptegei has more than current olympic champion Selemon Barega to look out for.
Yomif Kejelcha who will be making his olympic debut is looked at as the favorite by many, with the best time this year across this distance and closely followed by fellow countrymanBerihu Aregawi, in total all the six best times have been run by Ethiopians.
Will Cheptegei be a lonely man when he lines up for the 10,000m finals in the French Capital tonight? That won’t be the case, fellow Uganda Jacob Kiplimo the bronze medalist in Tokyo will offer great company and Martin Magengo Kiprotich makes it three entrants for Team Uganda.
Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo.
Paris 2024 Olympics:
10,000m Men’s Finals; 10pm EAT
