00:00When his shoe was ripped off his foot by another runner only 500 meters into the 3,000 meter steeplechase
00:06finals,
00:06it seemed like he'd lost all hope of winning a medal.
00:09However, as the skin tore away from Concessless Caputo's foot, with each painful step,
00:14he not only managed to stay in the race, but despite this setback, he was going to attempt to win
00:20it.
00:20The strange thing is, Caputo kind of became a steeplechase runner by accident.
00:24Growing up in a small village in Kenya, Caputo discovered his talent for running in his teens.
00:29He didn't have access to training facilities, equipment, or even an appropriate pair of shoes,
00:34but he nevertheless continued training tirelessly, often running extreme distances barefoot on rugged, unforgiving terrain.
00:41He initially specialized in the 1,500 meters, but at 16 years old, when he fell short of qualifying for
00:46the regional finals,
00:48he noticed that there was one event which didn't have a single competitor to go to regionals, the steeplechase.
00:53Despite having no idea what the event even was, Caputo put his name down for it,
00:58and on the day of the regional finals, in his first ever steeplechase, he won.
01:02And in his second ever steeplechase race, he won the national finals.
01:06The following year, Caputo went on to win gold in the under-18s world championships,
01:10and just like that, he began his career as one of the most dominant runners in the sport.
01:15When it came time for the 2018 Diamond League final, Caputo had already won gold in the Rio Olympics in
01:212016,
01:22and gold in the world championships in 2017.
01:25And so everyone expected him to win this race too.
01:28However, when he felt the back of his shoe get stepped on by one of the other runners,
01:31and he felt it get ripped off his heel, his hopes of winning the gold had seemingly been snatched away
01:36from him.
01:37There was no time to readjust, so he decided to kick the shoe off completely and run without it.
01:42Caputo was being trailed by the 2017 world championships silver medalist,
01:46Sufein El-Bakali, a particularly aggressive and combative runner who was often making contact with the others on the track.
01:52People speculated whether he'd been the one who stepped on Caputo's shoe.
01:56After all, Caputo was the only real competition that El-Bakali had,
02:00and losing a shoe this early in the race, for most runners, would be an almost insurmountable challenge.
02:06But whoever it was, whether it was intentional or not, Caputo welcomed the challenge.
02:10For him, it was almost nostalgic, feeling the rough ground at his feet, the cold splash of the water pit.
02:15In a strange way, it felt like home.
02:17As they got to the halfway point of the race, the leading pack once again got a little too close
02:22to each other,
02:22and this time, El-Bakali's foot was bumped by Charla Bayo, and he almost tripped.
02:27El-Bakali screamed at Bayo as Caputo tried to stay out of the drama.
02:31The tension on the track was reaching a boiling point, and El-Bakali was clearly getting nervous.
02:36He kept looking behind himself, trying to desperately maintain his lead, but Caputo continued hunting him down.
02:42By now, Caputo's foot was starting to tear apart, and he felt the pain shoot up his leg.
02:47But he kept pushing, and as he chased El-Bakali over the final barrier and towards the finish line,
02:52he gave it everything he had, and...
02:54Who's going to get it?
02:55It's Caputo!
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