Winner of the men's race Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge poses next to his race time at the 39th London Marathon in London. Photo / AP
After the unsavoury build-up that tarnished some of athletics' best-loved characters, it was left to the quiet man Eliud Kipchoge to provide the London Marathon with a touch of class and Mo Farah to offer an apology.
Such is the level of Kipchoge's brilliance, it is almost expected when he
reels off the second-fastest marathon in history to win a record fourth London title in 2h 02m 37s. Every time he lines up for a race, the greatest of all time just seems to get greater.
Farah, on the other hand, will not look back fondly on events of the past few days — much of it his own making. Had he not decided to hijack the pre-race press conference to tell of his burglary at Haile Gebrselassie's hotel, it is unlikely Farah would ever have been publicly accused of assaulting fellow athletes and engaging in "disgraceful conduct" while training in Ethiopia — allegations he denies.
Amid a raging storm of claims and counter-claims, Farah had hoped to silence people with his performance on the streets of London, but a brutal final few miles meant he failed to run a personal best and could finish only a disappointed fifth. It was nowhere near the bold victory bid he had predicted earlier in the week.
"I didn't mean to take any limelight away from the sport," he said, of the spat that had overshadowed the week and continued to dominate his post-race media duties despite members of his entourage desperately urging London Marathon officials to extricate him when questions turned to topics they did not like.
