A marathon glow on Santoshi and Siphon's face

When Santoshi completed the marathon distance. Hasan, the runner from the Netherlands, who won the gold by crossing the distance about 33 minutes ahead of her, hugged Santoshi and congratulated her. Both exchanged pleasantries and rejoiced. Both had a distinct Olympic glow on their faces. Santoshi completed the distance in 2 hours 55 minutes 06 seconds. Overall, she finished in 79th place, just one behind. Behind him was Bhutan's Kinzong Lhamu. Kinzong covered the distance in 3 hours 52 minutes 59 seconds.

Hasan, a Dutch runner, won the gold in 2 hours 22 minutes 55 seconds. She broke the Olympic record of 2 hours 23 minutes 07 seconds held by Zelana Tiki of Ethiopia. Tiki set the record in the London Marathon.

The meeting of Santoshi and Hasan is by the Dutch organization Global Sports Communication. Both are scholarship recipients of Global Sports. The management of both is Global Sports. Santoshi is the first player from South Asia and the second player from Asia to receive its fellowship. Santoshi went to the Netherlands and trained with Hasan. Both have similarities in their games. Both are middle distance runners. Because of that, intimacy between each other increased.

Santoshi said about Hasan, "Since the course was tough, she wanted me to complete the distance as best I could." She was encouraging. I did that. Then I covered the distance, came running and hugged me and Audhi was happy. Hasan also surprisingly won the gold. Santoshi says that gold winner Hasan is an ideal sportswoman. At the same Paris Olympics, she won three medals within a week of running. Including the marathon, she covered a distance of about 62 km. She won bronze in the 5000m on Monday and the 10000m on Friday. She ran the marathon in 35 hours.

Hassan elbowed Ethiopia's Essefa Tigst with the last 150 meters to go. Hassan, who was born in Ethiopia, was supposed to win gold in Paris. While she was in 11th position till the distance of half marathon. Tigst clocked 2 hours 22 minutes 58 seconds. Kenyan runner Obiri Helen finished third in 2 hours 23 minutes 10 seconds.

Like Hasan, Czech runner Emil Zatopek achieved the feat in 1952 at the Olympics. Emil also won medals in the 5,000, 10,000 meters and marathon at the Helsinki Olympics. Hasan, 31, now has six Olympic medals. She won gold in 5,000 and 10,000 meters and bronze in 1,500 meters at the Tokyo Olympics. Kenyan Perez Zepchirchir, who won gold in the Tokyo Marathon, finished 15th.

Why Santoshi could not reach the goal?

Santoshi's goal when she was in Nepal was to finish her Olympic journey with a much better timing than the national record. However, after reaching Paris 10 days ago and looking at the route, I was worried that I would not be able to complete the distance. After consulting with her management team, athletes, coaches, everyone, she ran smoothly with the message that finishing the race at the Olympics was a big deal.

Santoshi said, 'If I have to leave the race in the middle because of the tough and difficult course, I consulted with all my mentors and I decided to finish the race.' After making the record, Santoshi said that she got more energy. She said, "If Tola has set a record, why can't I complete the race itself?" After meeting and talking with him during the evening meal, my confidence increased even more.'

Earlier in the day, Tamirat Tola, a runner from Ethiopia, won the men's marathon gold medal, setting a record. At the age of 32, he won gold by completing the distance in 2 hours 06 minutes 26 seconds. It was Ethiopia's first in an Olympic marathon since June 2000.

Nepal's women's marathon national record is held by Santoshi. She set the national record when she won gold in the Bangabandhu Dhaka Marathon in January. That is 2 hours 46 minutes 23 seconds. Bangabandhu is Santoshi's first marathon participation.

Because of that difficult route, 11 runners out of 92 competitors abandoned the race in the middle. Starting from the Paris City Hall (Hotel de Ville) and ending at Les Invalides, the athletes faced an ascent of 438 meters. The course took in world famous landmarks like Louvre Pyramid, Grand Palace, Eiffel Tower along with many Olympic venues. The course was approved by World Athletics itself as 'unique, demanding and technical'.

Dhading's Santoshi is the 13th South Asian Games (SAG) gold winner in the 10,000m race. Her medal in Saag was the first international gold won by a female athlete in Nepali athletics. After that, she was introduced as 'Golden Girl'.

Participant of the Paris Olympics in Universality Quota, she competed in the 5000 and 10000 meters race at the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China last October. Santoshi, who has a habit of coming first in all the competitions in her country, has bagged more than 40 gold medals. He won those medals in 5 km, 10 km and half marathon.

Santoshi history's fourth

Santoshi is the fourth runner from Nepal to run marathon in Olympics. 28 years ago, Vimala Ranamar participated in the women's marathon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Before that, Rajkumari Pandey and Menuka Raut competed in the women's marathon at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Nepal has continuously participated in athletics, but it has been participating only in short and medium distance events for women.

Runner Santoshi has got the opportunity to carry the flag of Nepal at the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics. At the opening ceremony, Saintu Shrestha of table tennis and Manita Shrestha Pradhan of Judo carried the flag of Nepal.