'I could not lose' — Olympic hero Tamirat Tola on why marathon was Ethiopia's last chance saloon to win gold in Paris

marathon champion has revealed the reason why he spared Ethiopia from the blushes of exiting the global championship without a gold medal.

Tola earned ’s only gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics with an extraordinary performance in the men’s marathon. On a uniquely testing course, and in grueling conditions, he won gold in an Olympic record of 2:06:26 – a performance that was all the more remarkable for the fact that he had only been called into the team with two weeks’ notice as a replacement for his injured compatriot .

Allyson Felix has revealed the emotional turmoil of winning silver in the 2008 Olympics, feeling devastated and letting others down.

“It was a very difficult course in Paris. But the only thought in my mind was that I could not lose. Our country had won no gold medals on the track, and the marathon races were the last chance for us, so I needed to make the most of my talent,” Tola, 33, told

Tola, who is the , earned Olympic bronze over 10,000m in 2016, thus adding a second global marathon title to his collection after his victory at the 2022 World Athletics Championships.

Allyson, the multiple Olympic champion always struggled to get his out-of-shape body back on track after the offseason.

In his quest to win gold, Tola said the challenging Paris course gave him sleepless nights but words of encouragement from his coach motivated him and he felt anything was possible.

«It was the hardest from 27 to 30 kilometres, with the steep hill and the long drop. I wasn’t thinking about the time, but when I finished I had the Olympic record, which was another reason to be proud,» he said.

«My coach had told me that this was a very difficult course, so when I arrived in Paris I thought about how I could run my best on this course. I used this challenge as motivation, and thankfully I overcame it,» Tola added.

Doing the best for his country is never an option for the 2017 marathon silver medalist at the World Championships. «In athletics, challenges are part of the sport. And we always have to do the best for our country.”