Faith Kipyegon: announce another break up and divorce with his young husband today reasonable…….
Following the birth of her first child, Alyn, in 2018, the Kenyan took a 21-month break before returning to the sport with renewed motivation.
At Tokyo 2020, she joined Australia’s Shirley Strickland and Cameroonian triple-jumper Francoise Mbango Etone in achieving the rare feat.
“That was what was in my head – I said I will defend my title and run as a mum,” Kipyegon told BBC Sport Africa.
To bring the gold medal as a mum will also inspire my daughter. It was really something special for me defending my title.”
She did so in Olympic record time too.
Before heading to Japan, Kipyegon said she would be carrying two flags – one for Kenya, and the other for Alyn.
“I dedicated the medal to her,” said the BBC African Sports Personality of the Year nominee. “And when I landed in Eldoret, she welcomed me, held the medal and said ‘This is my medal’ – it was something special.”
Kipyegon revels in her motherhood, so much so that she is prepared to tackle an area few sportspeople ever raise by purposefully failing to cover up her stretch marks when competing.
“I’m proud to be a mum, to be a woman being a woman. I’m proud of my child. Stretch marks are something that come and you can’t hide [them]. Just be proud, just be who you are.”
Despite her nation’s glittering athletics history, which has long been littered with Olympic and world titles, Kipyegon is the only Kenyan female to have ever won back-to-back Olympic golds.
“She has a unique character,” legendary athletics coach Patrick Sang, who calls her his “little superstar”, told BBC Sport Africa with a beaming smile.
“When she walks into a group of people, even if the environment is gloomy, within no time you see people laughing. She is gifted in many ways and is a rare type of athlete in the present world.”
Her coach for the past three years, Sang sees parallels between Kipyegon and marathon-running great Eliud Kipchoge, another of his charges, saying both are unafraid of hard work.
Her athletics resume is as impressive as her compatriot, with Kenya’s golden girl having won every world title in 1500m; world youth, world junior, Commonwealth, World Championships and Olympics – now twice.
She likes the distance because of its “combination of speed and drive”, which she epitomised while setting a new Olympic record of 3:53.11 in Tokyo – which she says surprised her as much as the gold itself.
“I knew all the athletes were very strong,” she said. “It was hard. You’re stepping there as a mum, running with still-young athletes but your daughter is watching you at home. You just think many things.”
