Australian details recent “awkward situation” he shared with the Olympic marathon champion
Australian David McNeill, a two-time Olympian, recalls a humorous story of a pre-race experience he shared with Eliud Kipchoge recently.
Two-time Olympian David McNeill shared a pre-race story from New Delhi featuring Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge ahead of a recent road race. Both athletes were in India on the weekend for the Airtel Delhi Half-Marathon.
Prior to the event, McNeill was in the meet hotel and received a massage and proceeded to post the happenings on his social media account. He ends the story by saying “one for the memory bank for sure.”
McNeill’s massage experience with Kipchoge
“As is customary at meets like this, massage and physiotherapy is often made available to the elite athletes in the lead up to the race,” he writes. “I got told I could go to one of the hotel rooms this morning for some massage, which I decided to do. I knocked on the door, and was given the familiar Indian bobble-of-the-head greeting. It was a young guy, wearing skinny jeans, loafers, and a polo shirt. He looked ready for a night on the town. He had a friend with him dressed similarly. I walked in with another athlete, who’d also come for treatment. We sat on the couch, while the two men went into an adjacent room. They came back out a couple of minutes later, and ushered me in. The adjacent room was a dark bedroom with fairy lighting in the roof, that changed colour every 10 seconds or so. I’m not sure what mood you would call that type of lighting, although I daresay with the right music, it would have seemed a little too intimate for comfort. There was no massage table – just a king size bed with the sheets drawn back. You might imagine the pictures that were appearing in my head. I stood awkwardly for a few seconds, assessing the situation, and wondering where the massage therapist was. Turns out our friends in jeans, loafers and polo shirts were the massage therapists, and the bed was our massage table. I tried not to appear too hesitant or awkward, and eventually thought, “bugger it”, and took my pants off and lay on the bed ready for massage. The other athlete then got ushered into the room too now, and was directed to lay on the bed next to me. I buried my head in my lap, wondering whether I’d ever been in a more awkward situation. We simultaneously were massaged on the same cushioned bed, bobbing up-and-down out of sync as the massage therapists applied pressure, distorting the surface of the bed. Ten minutes later, the massage was over.”
“Usually a massage will last 30 to 60 minutes, but on this occasion, I was glad it didn’t,” McNeill continues. “I got up, put my pants back on, and headed out. The other athlete was right behind me. We got to the lift, looked at each other, and had a good chuckle. “Bet you haven’t had a massage like that, have you!?” I said. “Part of the Indian experience I guess.” He laughed. The story is made better by the fact that the athlete I shared the massage bed with was Eliud Kipchoge, current Olympic Marathon champ, and one of history’s greatest and enduring distance runners. One for the memory bank for sure.”
McNeill raced the 10,000m at the Rio Olympics and finished 16th overall. Kipchoge, one of the world’s top distance runners, was racing competitively for the first time since his Olympic gold medal performance in August. The 32-year-old is the third fastest man ever in the men’s marathon with a 2:03:05 lifetime best.
McNeill’s post as it appears on Facebook
Kipchoge won the Delhi Half-Marathon in 59:44 and said after the race, “It was easy for me. I wasn’t concerned about the weather. The quality of the air might have been bad, but it didn’t stop me from winning the title.”
McNeill does not appear on the results page following Sunday’s event in the Indian capital.
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