He Jie of China celebrates after the men's marathon final of athletics at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, Oct 5, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

YINCHUAN - When He Jie, the 25-year-old marathon gold medalist at the Hangzhou Asiad, arrived in the Kipchoge Keino Stadium on the outskirts of the northwestern Kenyan town of Eldoret, he found what had made Kenya the world's cradle of marathon champions.

"My one-month training in Kenya reinforced my will to devote to long-distance running. It greatly widened my perspective and lifted me to the top of a mountain. To say it short, I saw for the first time the whole layout of world marathon," he said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua this week.

READ MORE: He Jie wins first men's marathon gold for China at Asiad

He, a native of Pingluo county in Ningxia Hui autonomous region of northwest China, beat a rival from DPRK to win the championship of marathon event at the 19th Asiad held in Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8. He is now targeting medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The local kids were all very talented, very devoted to the sports. I found kinship with them, because both of us were changing our life through running, from poor rural kids to the winners of world sports-ship.

He Jie, Chinese long-distance runner

He and a dozen other Chinese runners underwent a one-month training in Kenya in August 2022 under a program of China-Kenya sports cooperation.

"I had the opportunity to have direct instruction from Kipchoge Keino, the world marathon legend who is my icon. He taught me the essence of marathon - the strongest will to run, run, run until the end," said He.

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He met many runners at the training center, young and middle-age, all of whom gave him very deep impression for their devotion to running and guts to win world championship, apart from their deep love for marathon.

"The local kids were all very talented, very devoted to the sports. I found kinship with them, because both of us were changing our life through running, from poor rural kids to the winners of world sports-ship," he said.

He Jie of China crosses the finishing line during the men's marathon final of athletics at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, Oct 5, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

He also found during the training that running does not require a standard posture, and different runners can keep their own postures to fit for their own habits. His coach, Madame Xiao Li, personally decided his training details in coordination with Kenyan counterparts.

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"We did not have any time for leisure activities except for a tour to the East African Rift Valley. There was neither 4G network nor Wi-Fi, nor any place of amusement nearby," he said.

"They trained really hard and were full of enthusiasm for long-distance running. I hope to fly to the finish line together with them in near future," said Gideon Kipchirchir, a 33-year-old Kenyan half marathon champion who participated in the training program.