Born in Nandi in 1940 Hezekiah Kipchoge Keino has become synonymous with the phrase “run like a Kenyan”. As a child his feet carried him swiftly across the hills of Nandi and at 2000m above sea level, the luck of his birth location gave him an advantage for a future in long distance running.
While Kipchoge represented Kenya in the 1964 Olympics in the 5000m, he didn’t place in the top three. It was a different story though at the 1965 All Africa Games hosted in Brazzaville, Congo. With an ever increasing number of newly independent nations taking part in the inaugural African Games, it was a heady time for pan-Africanism in the world of sports. Kenya’s track team was a hard one to beat and Kipchoge among them. His events were the 1500m and 5000m, and he clinched gold medals in both contributing to our overall tally of 23 medals. The end result placed Kenya second in athletics with a total of 15 medals, three medals behind top ranked country Nigeria. The British Empire and Commonwealth Games took place in 1966 and Kipchoge proved once again that he was Kenya’s runner to beat. He won both the one and three mile races, bringing his personal gold medal count to four.
By 1968, several African countries were ready to show off their talent at the Mexico Olympics. Kenya had a notable number of track athletes and 28-year-old Kipchoge was among them. His prowess had earned him slots in three racing categories – 1500m, 5000m and 10000m, over a span of eight days. Although the intervals between each hardly gave Keino much time to gather strength, he portrayed gallantry, determination and stamina to the very end
Kipchoge’s first event in Mexico was the stuff of legends. He had a gallbladder infection and the medics advised that he drop out of the race for his own safety. A stubborn Kipchoge decided to go ahead and two laps before the finish, he collapsed. Surprisingly he woke up and managed to complete the race but was disqualified for passing out. Talk about morale! He had four days to his next race which he considered ample recovery time and he proved himself right by taking the silver in the 5000m. Kip still had one more race in him and it was the one that made him an athletic legend. Kip was on his way to the stadium when he got caught up in a traffic jam. Barely an hour to his race and with the stadium a mile away, Kipchoge got out of the vehicle and began running. You’d think this would have him exhausted but he arrived in time for his final race. In what is one of the Olympics greatest victory margins, Kipchoge Keino won the 1500m race, 20m ahead of the next runner and favourite to win, establishing an unbroken record of the longest margin ever in that race. Kip Keino – the stuff of legends!
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