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Possibly you by no means observed him earlier than, however chances are high you’ve seen him – pitched in among the many world’s finest marathoners, preventing in opposition to outrageous odds.
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir of Mongolia has by no means gained a world or Olympic medal. He’s by no means damaged 2:08 for the marathon. He’s by no means made the highest 15 at a worldwide championships.
However sufficient about what he hasn’t performed. As a result of what the 40-year-old has performed is way extra vital.
For the reason that 2003 World Athletics Championships, he’s been ever-present at main championship marathons, 14 of them in complete: Paris (63rd); Athens (74th); Helsinki (61st); Osaka (fifty fifth); Beijing (52nd); Berlin (twenty ninth); Daegu (Nineteenth); London (51st); Moscow (thirty fifth); Beijing (thirty eighth); Rio (91st); London (forty eighth); Doha (54th) and Tokyo (DNF).
That final one – and people three dreaded letters – damage like a stab wound, which is acceptable given what Bat-Ochir resorted to in the course of the race (extra on that later).
However what that disappointment in Sapporo – which he says sparked two months of melancholy – finally led to was a contemporary resolve: to turn out to be the primary athlete in historical past to contest six Olympic marathons if he could make it to Paris in 2024.
Bat-Ochir has run 74 marathons so far – he thinks – however he continues to epitomise the mantra made well-known by former Boston Marathon champion Desiree Linden: hold exhibiting up.
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir on the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha (© Getty Pictures)
On the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, he’ll present up for his tenth straight World Championships marathon. Nobody in his occasion has come near that report, whereas throughout your entire sport solely two race walkers – Portugal’s Joao Vieira (11) and Spain’s Jesus Angel Garcia (13) – have surpassed it.
However within the marathon, this most attritional of occasions, how has Bat-Ochir not burnt out after a interval of world-class racing – 20 years – that forces so many others to fade away?
“It’s two issues,” he says. “One: I like to run, it’s an actual supply of enjoyment. After I run lengthy, I’m happiest. The opposite is having my spouse there with me. She’s been performing as a purposeful coach for 17 years. Having her watching me, having my again, makes all of it worthwhile.”
If Mongolia looks as if a spot that doesn’t produce many world-class distance runners, nicely, there’s motive. In winter, temperatures may rise to -15°C/5°F on day. At evening, they will drop to -40°C/-40°F.
For Bat-Ochir, the one solution to practice for a lot of the 12 months was by doing lengthy, regular runs, with interval coaching not possible given the situations. In these icy months, he’d cowl himself in 4 or 5 layers and head out on the freezing roads, arriving again to his automotive an hour or two later – the engine left working to make sure a direct supply of heat.
Mongolia’s Ser-Od Bat-Ochir carries his nation’s flag on the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Video games in London (© Getty Pictures)
He grew up in Govi-Altai – a area within the west of Mongolia that sits at about 2000m of altitude – and his household moved to the capital, Ulaanbaatar, when he was 12.
Bat-Ochir found working in elementary faculty, profitable his first race at a sports activities day. “Ever since then, it’s what I wished to do,” he says.
He took the game severely from the age of 14, competing in middle-distance races on the observe (which was a 400m oval with a tough, paved floor).
“I wasn’t superb however in the course of the Sydney Olympics, I watched the marathon and I actually favored working lengthy,” he says. “So I stated I’d goal the marathon within the subsequent Olympics.”
He made his marathon debut in 2002. A 12 months later, he lined up on the World Championships in Paris, clocking 2:26:39 to hack 10 minutes off the Mongolian report. Given the place he got here from, there was no actual template for what he was doing, Bat-Ochir simply figuring it out as he went alongside.
“I didn’t know easy methods to practice,” he says. “After I began, there wasn’t a lot historical past however as soon as I ran some marathons I began considering: ‘How can I take the subsequent step to maneuver up?’”
He competed at his first Olympics in Athens in 2004, clocking 2:33:24 to complete 74th, however attending to a second Video games in Beijing required a big enchancment.
“The qualifying time was round 2:14 and all people was telling me, ‘Mongolians can’t run marathons; you’ll be able to’t run that point.’ Paula Radcliffe ran 2:15 a number of years earlier than and everybody was telling me: ‘You possibly can’t even run what the ladies are working. How are you going to run 2:14?’ However I stored engaged on it.’”
He ran 2:14:15 in 2008 to qualify for the Video games, then lowered his nationwide report to 2:12:35 in 2010 and a couple of:11:35 in 2011. On the Daegu World Championships in 2011, he produced his finest ever end at world degree, Nineteenth, and the next 12 months he took the nationwide report right down to 2:11:05.
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir within the 2012 Olympic Video games marathon in London (© Getty Pictures)
Between 2009 and 2012, Bat-Ochir spent a lot of his time within the UK, the place his spouse’s sister and her husband lived. Eager to discover a coaching group, he reached out to Morpeth Harriers, the place he earned the nickname ‘Ziggy’ – an Anglicised, pop-culture tackle his Mongolian nickname – which was coined by membership secretary Mike Bateman.
In 2014 he moved to Japan, beginning a brand new chapter by working professionally for the NTN Company Workforce. In December that 12 months, he lowered the Mongolian report to 2:08:50 and within the years that adopted he stored exhibiting up at each main championship – it doesn’t matter what got here his approach in preparation.
He had damage points earlier than the Rio Video games in 2016, which worsened in 2018 and 2019, the issues stemming from the coaching he was doing on the insistence of his company staff coach.
He certified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a 2:09:26 clocking in Lake Biwa in February final 12 months, and Bat-Ochir was in flying type forward of the Video games. His final coaching camp was in Chitose, Japan, however that was the place issues went downhill.
Bat-Ochir was staying in an outdated lodge with air con that he couldn’t management, its sporadic nature which means the room temperature alternated between flaming and freezing all through the evening. He quickly got here down with an an infection, which led to a fever that lasted three days.
“After I recovered, I simply didn’t really feel proper,” he says. “All my power, all my energy, was gone.”
He needed to attempt, although.
Within the Olympic marathon in Sapporo Bat-Ochir set off strongly, however after 14km he felt his quads stiffen, which led him to hunt an uncommon, don’t-try-this-at-home resolution.
“I used to be having bother lifting my legs and so I took one of many security pins off my bib and poked or stabbed my quad muscle tissue with it two or 3 times on every leg,” he says. “That truly served to loosen up the muscle tissue and I used to be capable of hold going.
“However by the point I obtained to 30km I used to be utterly useless and couldn’t hold going in any respect. That was the place my Olympics got here to an finish.”
He went by a darkish interval within the months after, however it was his spouse, Oyuntuya, who pulled him out of it.
“She advised me: ‘You need to flip this round, to set the subsequent purpose. It’s not over but.’ I made the choice to go for the Paris Olympics, to resume all the things and work in the direction of it.”
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir competes on the 2015 World Championships in Beijing (© Getty Pictures)
Along with his NTN contract at an finish, Bat-Ochir sought the assistance of his consultant, Brett Larner, find a brand new sponsor. Larner is aware of the Japanese working scene in addition to anybody, and he linked him up with a buddy of a buddy who ran a photo voltaic panel set up firm, Shin Nihon Jusetsu Co., Ltd, which was increasing its sponsorship of athletes.
The corporate will now help him all the best way to the Paris Olympics, giving Bat-Ochir – who has 4 kids: Jambaldorj (19), Nomin-Od (12), Naran-Od (6) and Uran-Od (2) – the backing to maintain chasing his dream.
He’s at the moment logging 150-200km per week as he prepares for his subsequent main championships, and his purpose in Eugene is to surpass his Nineteenth-place end in Daegu.
Each time his aggressive days are performed, Bat-Ochir plans to transition into teaching within the Japanese company system, however proper now that day appears distant.
“Even after I can’t be aggressive, I’ll hold working as an newbie,” he says.
And the explanations he’ll run for then would be the similar causes he ran for at first – when he was a toddler in western Mongolia, prepared to set off on a highway much less travelled.
“I’ll run for my very own enjoyment, well being and peace of thoughts,” he says. “I’ll hold doing no matter I can, so long as I can.”
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics
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