The mindset behind Sifan Hassan's historic treble at Paris 2024: “I already got what I wanted, I wanted a challenge”
There’s a determination in Sifan Hassan that has been part of her very being since the days of her childhood.
Back in Ethiopia, years before she moved to the Netherlands as a 15-year-old, a friend challenged her to compete in a race. Reluctantly, Hassan accepted the challenge and the first signs of this determined character began to reveal themselves.
“I remember running from 100 metres to 800 metres [end everything in between] until I won,” explained the athlete with her customary laugh in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com.
After beginning a new life in the Netherlands as a teenager, Hassan returned to the sport of athletics and that dogged determination continued to emerge - even in her very first training session.
“I went for so long that my leg was bleeding,” she remembers.
Hassan’s determination has led her to take on some of the biggest challenges in her sport. She ran the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m treble at the last Olympics in Tokyo, with two shining golds and a bronze the rewards for her audacious efforts.
Just two years later, she competed in - and won - her debut marathon in London, following it up with victory in the Chicago Marathon just weeks after competing on the track at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Now, at Paris 2024, she has set herself her most ambitious challenge yet: the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon treble.
While determination may have been the driving force behind all of these challenges, it is the times she has fallen down - both literally and figuratively - that have made her into the person she is today.
How almost quitting the sport began a turnaround in the life of Sifan Hassan
“That’s the reason I tell people ‘do not stop’." Hassan reflects, looking back on perhaps the most formative moment in her running career. "I stopped. I told my manager I was done with running.”
The moment Hassan is talking about came just after the Rio 2016 Olympics when the 23-year-old was left devastated by a fifth-place finish in the final of the 1500m.
Injury prior to the Games had left her participation in doubt but by the time she competed in Brazil, her impressive performances in the heats left her confident that she could win the final.
Whether it was due to overtraining - or even overenthusiasm - things didn’t go to plan in the gold medal race and the loss left her looking for a reason to continue running.
“It hurt me so much,” the now 30-year-old remembers. “I took seven showers to calm down and I wasn’t calmed down.”
Effectively quitting the sport for two months, Hassan admits now that the determined self-belief she is so well-known for was shaken to its core.
“Can you imagine after Rio, when they asked me if I was going to become Olympic champion, I said, ‘nope!’
“But I became two times [Olympic champion] and one time bronze [medallist]. That’s the reason I cannot predict my life, it’s a lot of lessons for me.”
Sifan Hassan: "Life is not about gold"
After picking herself up, Hassan’s return to the sport was spectacular as she won gold in the 1500m and 10,000m at the Doha 2019 Worlds.
But like all other aspiring Olympic athletes, she was hit by another hammer blow when she received the news that the Tokyo 2020 Games would be postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By this time, however, the Dutch star was a different person, with a completely changed outlook on life.
Gone were the days when losing would cause her to want to quit. Instead, she “threw away the anger” and decided she would “become the strongest ever”.
Armed with this new mindset, she took on her greatest challenge to that date: to run the 1500m, 5000m, and 10000m treble at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
As she explained: “After the Doha [2019] World Championships, someone told me, ‘Oh why don’t you do three [events]?’
“I told them, ‘You’re crazy’
“But then I couldn’t take that thing out of my head… I was like, ‘What is wrong with me?’
The challenge became an obsession for Hassan - so much so that nothing else could satisfy her.
“Whether I get two medals and go home or just do three distances and go home, that will make me more happy,” she thought.
“I said, ‘Life is not about gold. I’m lucky to be at the Olympics, there are people that dream about being there. I’m going to do three [distances], if I don’t get [gold], I don’t get it.' So I just took a risk.”
A post-Tokyo crash and a marathon revival
What Hassan achieved in Tokyo was historic. Her two golds and a bronze made her the first athlete ever to medal in the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m at the same Olympic Games.
However, after the highs of becoming a double Olympic champion, “everything crashed” for the athlete. She felt flat in training and that she had nothing left to work for.
“I already got what I wanted, I wanted a challenge,” she explains.
So the seeds of a new objective began to plant themselves in her mind. What about the marathon?
While it is considered one of the greatest races in sport, the marathon distance is daunting for anyone who decides to take it on. Yet in typical Hassan fashion, there would be no easy introduction to the mythical race format.
“The marathon I know is London and I’m going to do that,” she told us, recalling the first conversation she had about her decision to run one of the biggest races in the world in her debut marathon.
In the race itself, she stumbled - stopping seemingly injured on various occasions to stretch her legs - but did not fall.
Then, to the surprise of the watching world, she recovered to secure a victory that had seemed beyond even her considerable reach.
Once again, Hassan’s athletics life was on an upward trajectory but just months later, she did fall in one of the most important races of her career.
"We all have ups and downs. That's what makes life beautiful"
These days, Hassan has not only accepted the ups and downs of life but also fully embraces the unpredictability.
“Sometimes you do everything really perfect but things go wrong without it being [about] only you,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t do that well but you win.”
At the 2023 Worlds in Budapest, she was metres from the finish line on her way to 10,000m gold when she tripped and fell to the ground, her dreams of glory in tatters.
However, unlike in Rio, when disappointment led to thoughts of quitting, Hassan is a different woman today.
“When I fell down, everything came into my head, a thousand things. I was like, ‘OK, I have to calm down, I can’t cry because I am already a success, I have to be a role model for people who have challenges’.
“Immediately, what I said was, ‘It could be worse. Did I lose my teeth? No. Did I lose my hand? No. I’m OK, I’m healthy, I have to be grateful.”
Later, she explained her philosophy further:
“We all have ups and downs, I think that’s what makes life beautiful. The falling down, the standing up, everything. If we are perfect, I think it’s just boring.”
"After dark, always light"
When Hassan says that life is about ups and downs, her sporting career pays testament to that.
Six weeks after her fall at the Budapest Worlds, she was back on her feet again as she stormed to victory at the 2023 Chicago Marathon in what was then the second-fastest time in history.
Yet nowadays, you get the feeling she accepts the costly falls in the same breath as her regular wins - they are all part and parcel of the rollercoaster of life.
“Once we accept it [challenges], we say ‘this is life, this makes it beautiful, next time I’m going to smoke it and I’m going to be a beast,’” she said.
“And also, I’m just grateful for what I have. You just say, after dark, always light, after hardship, always ease… It’s beautiful.”
We now know what Hassan will do next, as she navigates the rounds and finals of the 5000m and 10,000m on the track, before taking on a gruelling 42.195km distance when the women's marathon takes place on 11 August - the final day of these Games.
Most would baulk at the thought of chasing a dream that seems to go beyond the bounds of reason. However, one thing that remains constant in Hassan's message is that no matter what life throws at you, good things will come if you persevere.
“If you don’t give up, I know there are going to be bright and beautiful things,” she said.
You can watch the amazing Sifan Hassan get her Paris 2024 campaign underway in round 1 of the women's 5000m on 2 August.