By Charles Onyango-Obbo

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On the face of it, the defeat of Eliud Kipchoge at the London marathon on Sunday was a shocker. For seven years, Kipchoge was unbeaten. There was no opponent who crossed his path whom he didn’t wallop.

Then last October, at the special INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Kipchoge became the first person in recorded history to run a marathon in under two hours. He became Superman. The world was in awe of him.

As the sports commentariat put it, Kipchoge became one of those rare once-in-a-generation sportsmen, who were now competing only against themselves. And that might not be a good place to be. Expectations became too high and unreasonable.

Like Superman, therefore, Kipchoge needed a kryptonite moment, which exposes a weakness. Kipchoge went into the London marathon looking to win, but what he really needed was a defeat. Coming home eighth, in that sense, was not just a good result, but necessary.

For most us of, our lives are a record of setbacks and losses, with the occasional triumph that we celebrate to high heavens and cry happily over for days.

A seven-year winning streak without a bad day at the office, not even Valentino Rossi in Moto GP in his glory days or the mercurial and supreme Marc Marquez; not Tiger Woods in golf; not Lewis Hamilton in Formula One today, have managed it, yet they remain among the greatest of all time. If nothing else, a judge, referee, or race steward, will intervene with a stupid or biased decision and hand a seeming invincible champion defeat.

I watched on TV the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as Kipchoge blew apart the field. I was embarrassed. I have watched Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba thrash opponents in that way in the 1,500 metres, overhauling some of them by more than a lap. Kenenisa Bekele used to do the same in the 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres; they’d give rivals such a drabbing, you imagine the vanquished would be afraid to go back to their homes and face their spouses and children.

Fortunately, for Kipchoge, his defeat wasn’t so complete. The breakaway pack stuck together, with Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata, who took it, pipping Kenya’s Vincent Kipchumba at the tape. Kipchoge was not left desperately clutching a tree in St. James’ Park, or sitting forlorn on the sidewalk near Buckingham Palace. He came home with his self-respect intact.

And for a conspiracy theorist, his defeat could well be a plot to stage what he himself has said will be a comeback. And Eliud will be back. And that return will have more glory on it than if he hadn’t cracked in London, especially if he goes on to break a record. You can already see the headlines; “World’s greatest athlete reclaims his crown”, “Kipchoge’s great comeback”, “The King is back”, “The greatest rebound in marathon history”, and “Kip exacts his revenge.”

It will be framed in the terms of Muhammad Ali trouncing George Foreman in Kinshasa, then-Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo), on October 30, 1974, in “The Rumble in the Jungle” for the world heavyweight crown.

So, there. In defeat, Kipchoge may have booked his biggest pay day.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is a journalist, writer and curator of the “Wall of Great Africans”. Twitter@cobbo3