Sally Barsosio was the first Kenyan female athlete to bag the coveted IAAF World Athletics Championships title.
Barsosio won Kenya’s maiden women’s World Championships gold medal during the 1997 edition that was held in Athens, Greece.
She did not just win the medal, she did it in a spectacular fashion. Aged 19 years, Barsosio then a form four student at Sing'ore Girls High School produced one of the most memorable performances ever witnessed in the history of the competition to bag the title.
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No one expected the Kenyan teenager to register a podium place finish, leave alone winning the race. Barsosio had performed dismally during the 1996 Olympic Games staged in Atlanta, United States, finishing a distant 10th.
She had also failed to qualify for the 1995 World Championships, having clinched a bronze medal at the previous edition held in Stuttgart, Germany at the tender age of 15.
Barsosio’s win in Stuttgart made her the youngest athlete ever to bag a medal at the World Championships.
In Athens, she started the race at a high pace, opening a wide gap between her and the rest of the participants. At some point, she was about 50m ahead of the chase group.
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Although most people thought she would eventually get tired and fed off, Barsosio had an entirely different plan. She never looked back and went on to win the race in a time of 31:32.92 ahead of race favorite Ribeiro who clocked 31:39.15.
Ribeiro, a Portuguese international, was the favorite going into the race. She was not only an Olympic winner but also the 10,000m World Championships defending champion.
Japan’s Masako Chiba and Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere settled for third and fourth position. They clocked 31:41.93 and 31:48.95 respectively.
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