Last year, Stephen Kiprotich lost his world marathon title to Eritrean Ghirmay Ghebrelassie. And now the Ugandan prisons officer is preparing to defend his Olympic title in Rio in August.

Kiprotich is at Kaptagat training camp in Elgeyo Marakwet County in Kenya, run by the Nijmegen-based Global Sports Communications; he is training with world cross-country and half marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor, and Berlin and London marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge, among other Kenyan athletes.

The camp is run by Dutch distance running champion Jos Hermens.

Backed by support from the Ugandan government and sponsored by Ugandan mineral water company Sipi, Kiprotich is focusing on defending his Olympic title with a return to the Tokyo Marathon next month. Losing the world title at last year’s Beijing World Championships challenged him to work hard for a second Olympic gold.

In Tokyo last year, Kiprotich clocked a personal best of  2:06:33 for second place behind Ethiopia’s Endeshaw Negesse, a remarkable feat considering his state of mind after the death of his 19-month-old baby daughter Elizabeth Chelanga last January.

It was also a Uganda national record.

“I have started off a tight training schedule, which, most importantly, aims at ending up with good results at the Rio Olympic Games,” Kiprotich said in an interview at the training base.

“I will be defending my title in Brazil and I’m well aware that I must be ready to take on the opposition that lies in wait,” he said.

His victory at the 2012 London Olympics was the first Olympic gold for Uganda after hurdler John Akii-Bua won in Munich in 1972.

“Victory in Tokyo will be a blessing for me ahead of the Olympics. It will give me a good start; I hope the winter conditions will be favourable for a course record and improvement on past performances,” Kiprotich said.

Kiprotich also won gold at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow in 2013, where the highest placed Kenyan, Peter Some, was ninth.

He is only the second person, after Ethiopia’s Gezahegne Abera, to win back-to-back Olympic and World gold medals.

Kiprotich came fourth in last August’s World Championships in China: Uganda won a bronze medal through Solomon Mutai, behind Eritrea’s Ghebrelassie and Ethiopia’s Yemane Tsegay.

“I love training in Kenya because I have developed close relationships with the local athletes. We chat and joke in the evenings, which is very important,” he said.

“Training with the world-beating Kenyans gives me inspiration that I can break the world marathon record tht Kenyans have held for long.”