by Sifan Hassan has dismissed suggestions she is the greatest distance runner of all time despite winning Olympic marathon gold and 10,000m and 5,000m bronze medals over six extraordinary days in Paris.
This made the Dutch athlete, who has just been announced as the star attraction at this year’s London Marathon, the first person to win medals in all three events in a single match since Emil Zatopek in 1952.
However, Hassan, who has also previously held world records in the mile and 10,000m, refuses to believe she is the greatest of all time as she believes it will stop her from pushing to further heights higher.
“I don’t think I’m the goat,” she said. “Because if I do, I’m not going to get better. Everyone has improvement in them, as long as they don’t give up. Even when you think you’re amazing, you always have room to become more amazing.
This includes plans to go faster at every distance from a mile to a marathon, as well as running four major marathons in a year.
“I’m really mad,” she said. “If you open my head, it has so much stuff. If I try to do something, or if I’m closer, I’ll be like, “Oh, I’m the goat of my imagination.” I want to see what I can do. And I have room to improve.
Hassan won the 2023 London Marathon despite crying before the start, stopping twice to stretch an injured hip, then almost being taken off by a motorbike. However, this victory in his first race over 26.2 miles sowed the seeds for Paris a year later.
“London is in my heart,” she said. “A miracle happened to me by working hard, by practicing, by trying. I never dreamed that I would win marathon gold. But after finishing London, my brain suddenly thought of Paris. »
“Then, before Paris, I really struggled. I had overestimated. When I got there, I was like, “Okay, my Olympic year is over.” I had no desire. But I thought I did my best.
Since that victory, Hassan has watched Ruth Chepngetich become the first woman to run the marathon in under 2 hours 10 minutes, her time of 2:09:56 beating the world record by almost two minutes. But she believes she can go faster – eventually.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “No one thought a woman would run at that time. I’m really happy she did it, because I don’t care how she did it, she just showed me it was possible.
“If I train it correctly, it might take me two years. I’m first in shape 2:11. Then 2:10. And then run this time. But it’s possible.
