It was 1964 and the newness of the country called Kenya still had a distinctive shine to it. Our flag was not even a year old when it led in Kenya’s 37 competitors into Tokyo’s National Stadium during the opening ceremony of the XVIII Olympiad.
Kenya’s first ever team under the flag of our republic consisted sportsmen who represented Kenya in athletics, boxing, hockey, sailing and shooting. The team represented the ethnic diversity of the new nation and set the bar for Kenya’s future participation in the world of sports.
Representing the new flag must have been an exciting achievement, and for Wilson Kiprugut we can only imagine the joy he felt at being the first citizen to win an Olympic medal for Kenya.
Born in Kericho in 1938 Kiprugut joined the army after high school where he spent a fair amount of his time on the athletics field. The Kenya Amateur Athletics Association – Kenya’s then athletics governing body, was scouting for indigenous talent and Kiprugut’s ability was recognized early.
Selected to run the 800m Kiprugut joined 47 athletes from 32 countries for the race heats in Tokyo. The first round was divided into six heats with 8 athletes competing against each other. The top 4 qualified to the three semi-final races. The semi-finals, narrowed down to the top 8 who would compete in the final round. Kiprugut came in first and second respectively in both rounds automatically qualifying for the final round. He was the only Kenyan to make it to the finals.
The 800m race began with Kiprugut demonstrating how his body could easily take on the middle distance. A stumble in the final stretch almost took him out but he managed to stay on. The race got even tighter in the final meters to the finish line and Kiprugut at his best pace came in third for the bronze.
It was our independence medal.
For Wilson it was the first major highlight in an illustrious sports career. In the 1965 All Africa Games he went on to bring home two gold medals – for the 400m and 800m races and the following year the silver for the 880 yard in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica. A true flag bearer.
We salute Wilson Chuma Kiprugut and all the Kenyan athletes of the 1964 games… you set the pace!