Kenya has been at the top of the game when it comes to athletics, many stars have graced the athletics tracks and left us with great memories.
From double world champion Vivian Cheruiyot’s one-finger salute to two-time Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion Ezekiel Kemboi’s ‘crazy dance’ in celebration, to the 2015 world javelin champion Julius Yego scream on the pitch; the sporting fraternity is no doubt left in awe.
But a majority of these heroes and heroines left the sporting scene without bidding us bye.
Teamkenya.co.ke revisits the moments these athletes made us proud.
David Rudisha
David Rudisha’s brilliance in the 800m race has been unmatched in the past five decades. He was the first Kenyan to win the prestigious World Athlete of the Year award in 2010 and has won a record three consecutive Track and Field Athlete of the Year awards as he tied with Carl Lewis.
Rudisha has the world 800m record (1:40.91); Olympic Champion and World Champion titles. He also wore Africa and World Junior crowns.
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He was the first person to run under 1:41.00 for the event, and he holds the three fastest, six of the eight fastest, and half of the 20 fastest times ever run in this event.
At the 2012 London Olympic Games, Rudisha led from start to finish to win Gold in what has been dubbed “The Greatest 800 Metre Race Ever.”
He has not competed since early 2017 and has put on significant weight.
Ezekiel Kemboi
Ezekiel Kemboi’s wins at the IAAF World Athletics Championships, Olympic Games, and brilliant shows at the Commonwealth Games have made him enter the pantheon of 3,000m Steeplechase superstars.
With two Olympic titles and four world crowns to his name and three world Silvers and three medals at the ‘Club’ as a bonus, Kemboi is the world’s steeplechaser of all time.
When he won Silver in the 3,000m steeplechase at the World Championships in 2003 in Paris, two-time world champion Conseslus Kipruto, who won silver behind him in Moscow (2013) and Beijing (2015) was just nine years old. He has not competed since making his 42km debut at the Hamburg Marathon.
Milcah Chemos
Milcah Chemos, the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and 2013 World 3,000m Steeplechase champion, also vanished from the tracks.
She started running after she was recruited into the Kenya Police Service, successfully ensuring that Kenya breaks away from the traditional Bronze medal spree at major global competitions when she bagged Gold in Moscow in 2013.
As a police officer, she is best remembered for arresting and prosecuting a senior politician while serving at a police station in Machakos County.
Janeth Kepkosgei
While a form two student at Sing’ore Girls, Elgeyo Marakwet, Jepkosgei earned her nick-name ‘Eldoret Express’– the public transport buses plying Western, Rift Valley, Nyanza routes.
But her giant strides to the pinnacle of world distance running began in 1999 when she was part of the national team to World Youth Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Watching her sprint on the homestretch, her legs piercing the air with the rhythmic power of a well-oiled engine, Jepkosgei’s looks always left packed stadiums in awe.
She is a prodigious talent, who earned her place in the genuine pantheon of the world’s 800m superstars in the 21st century. Mozambique’s Maria Mutola, South Africa’s Caster Semenya, and 2008 Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo have been her rivals.
She has been named among coaches to the team headed for World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, between March 18 and 20.
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