In the offices of his sponsor NN Running Team, 60 athletes from 13 countries unites with world record holder and olympic champion That Kipchoge as a major pacesetter, took Bashir Abdi today the time to meet with the press to talk after his phenomenal marathon in London, where he was a new Belgian record of 2u07:03 klokte, 17 hundredths faster than Vincent Rousseau in 1995 in Berlin. “It still had a lot faster in the olympics, but after 40 km I came to really the man with the hammer,” says the 30-year-old Belgian of Somali origin. “I didn't know what happened to me. It seemed as though my body changed, I recognized it not. I could have my legs almost not lift, I was just a skater that his feet could just go on sliding. I have been in that last two kilometres of unimaginably lost a lot of time. I saw in the distance the finish line and I saw the chrono running, but I was not able to accelerate.”
Abdi said in advance that he is one great purpose: his personal record of Rotterdam 2018 (2u10:46) to improve and immediately below the olympic minimum (2u11:30) for Tokyo 2020 and diving. In reality he had a different goal in mind. “2u07.00 that I wanted to walk. I remained there three seconds over, but I'm glad that I have the record broke. I doubted whether I made was for the marathon - London found me at ease. And it was always my dream to a performance to ensure that the country would notice, and everyone would be proud of. That I am in Belgium is due, that me so many chances and opportunities.” Abdi had as a teenager, to escape from his native country and was established in 2002 in Gent, together with his two brothers, sister and father, reunited with his mother. (continue reading below photo)