Ezekiel Kemboi announces retirement after bagging Bronze for Kenya at the Rio Olympics
Athletics
By
Bismarck Mutahi in Rio Di Janeiro
| Aug 18, 2016
Ezekiel Kemboi announces retirement after bagging Bronze for Kenya at the Rio Olympics in the 3,000m steeplechase finals
Outgoing Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi has announced his retirement.
Kemboi who finished third on Wednesday in the 3,000m steeplechase finals, said he has had enough of the track and was calling it quits.
“I have retired from running,” is all Kemboi could say as he walked fast away from the journalists at the mixed zone.
Kemboi was not ready to entertain further questions from the journalists who were keen to know more about his retirement.
The Olympic champion Conselsus Kipruto, however, said he was aware of Kemboi’s impending retirement as they had discussed it with him before the race.
“I knew Kemboi was going to retire as he told me that this was his last Olympics and he wanted to try really hard to win an Olympic title, but that was never to be,” Kipruto said of Kemboi who had earlier on won Gold in London four years ago.
About his win, Kipruto was elated and said it was such a good feeling to be an Olympic champion.
“I am happy to be an Olympic champion. To beat Kemboi at the Olympics is not easy. I have tried it two times to beat him but it has always been difficult, but I am happy that I managed to beat him today,” Kipruto said.
The newly crowned Olympic champion paid glowing tribute to Kemboi saying he was a good competitor and wished him all the best in his future endeavors.
“Kemboi congratulated me after I won the race and told me Conselsus now it is your time to shine, take over then mantle and guard it well,” I am elated Kipruto told a group of journalists at the mixed zone.
It now remains to be seen if indeed Kemboi will stay to his words about his retirement as he had said or before soon he will be seen at the track once again.
Earlier he had said he was going to the marathon before he came back and won a number of global titles including the Olympic title in London in 2012 and the world title last year in Beijing where he beat Kipruto.
Kemboi has won a number of titles throughout his outstanding career going back all the way to the 2004 Olympic Games where he won gold.
He has also won world titles from the 2009 in Berlin, 20011 in Daegu, South Korea, 2013 in Moscow Russia and last year in Beijing China.
He also won a Commonwealth Games title in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia plus a number of silver medals at the various global events and then exited the stage yesterday in Rio with a bronze medal.