Running News Daily

Eliud Kipchoge has spent more than two decades chasing greatness on the world’s biggest stages. Now, the Kenyan marathon legend is taking on a different kind of challenge — helping shape the athletes who could one day follow in his footsteps.

The two-time Olympic marathon champion has been appointed a Global Ambassador for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, where he will use his experience at the highest level of sport to connect with and mentor young athletes from around the world.

Kipchoge will share the ambassadorial role with Brazilian skateboarding star Rayssa Leal, while also taking on a special mentoring role with the Refugee Olympic Team, which will make its first appearance at a Youth Olympic Games in Dakar.

For Kipchoge, the appointment represents a shift from competing for medals to investing in the future of sport.

“I’ve been in the sport for 24 years; it’s my time to give back to the next generation,” Kipchoge said.

The 41-year-old has already begun that work, meeting members of the Refugee Olympic Team at their training camp in Kaptagat, Kenya. His message has extended beyond running and competition, focusing on discipline, education, personal values and what success means both in sport and in life.

“When I go to Dakar, I’ll make sure I meet young athletes from across the world — meet them, have an honest talk, mentor them, and look at what the future of sport, and the world, looks like,” Kipchoge said.

The assignment carries enormous significance for Africa. Dakar 2026 will be the first Olympic sporting event ever staged on African soil, with the Youth Olympic Games bringing together approximately 2,700 young athletes across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.

It will also mark a historic moment for young refugee athletes, with the Refugee Olympic Team making its Youth Olympic Games debut. World Athletics has confirmed that young athletes hosted by the National Olympic Committees of Kenya and Uganda will form part of the team competing in Senegal.

For Kipchoge, Dakar is therefore about much more than ceremonies, appearances and titles. It is an opportunity to share the lessons accumulated through an extraordinary career and encourage a new generation to believe in its own potential.

“Dakar 2026 is a huge event on our young continent — something we’ve long waited for here,” Kipchoge said. He added that being part of the first Olympic sporting event in Africa would leave a lasting impression on young people across the continent.

From Athens 2004, where he won his first Olympic medal, to his marathon triumphs at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, Kipchoge has experienced virtually every level of Olympic competition. His next contribution will not be measured in seconds, medals or records.

This time, his impact will be measured by the young athletes he inspires.

The man who spent years showing the world how far a human being can push the limits is now preparing to help the next generation discover how far they can go.

Kipchoge is no longer simply chasing history. In Dakar, he will be helping the next generation write its own. 

Protecting the environment is a priority for many in 2023, and athletes like Eliud Kipchoge are leading the way.

In 2020, the Kenyan double Olympic gold medalist and world record holder adopted 50 hectares of forest land in the Kaptagat Forest near where he spends most of the year training at high altitude.

“If you train in a polluted environment, then you cannot perform,” marathon great Kipchoge told the BBC from his homeland.

“Kaptagat Forest made a huge difference in my career. I’ve been here for the last 20 years and without this forest, and staying in the area, I think that I could not be where I am today.”

“I realized that the only way to perform and to actually enjoy running is by training in a good place, breathing clean air.”

A year later, the distance-running great decided to create a foundation that focused on education and the environment, including planting trees.

To date, Kipchoge has adopted 130 hectares of forest, and claims that it’s ‘just the start’.

His wider goals include adopting a forest in every country in which he would plant indigenous trees.

Kipchoge revealed the principles he employs in his daily routine in order to help protect the environment, in an interview with Olympics.com for Earth Day 2022:

 “Every day is Earth day for me,” Kipchoge told Olympics.com.

“I have improved my lifestyle to help fight climate change. I walk more, I minimize my water usage and I always try to encourage others to plant a tree on an important day or anniversary.

"My daily green effort is walking. I walk as much as I can instead of driving everywhere, so I can minimize my emissions."

Creating Africa’s Olympic Forest

Protecting the environment is also an area of focus for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

In 2021, the IOC started an initiative to grow 590,000 native trees across approximately 90 villages in Mali and Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games host nation Senegal.

The Olympic Forest is an important element of the IOC’s strategy to address climate change, which includes cutting emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, and reducing the impact of the organisation’s footprint. With an end-goal to become climate positive, the IOC is set to cut its emissions 30 percent by 2024 and 50 percent by 2030, and compensate more than its remaining emissions.

While planting trees will help to protect the environment, the project also aims to create wider social and economic benefits for communities in Mali and Senegal that are heavily impacted by droughts and floods.