David Rudisha celebrates after breaking the world record in London 2010 Olympics. [Photo/ ducorsports.com]
Kenya first participated at the Olympic Games in 1956, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except for the boycotted 1976 and 1980 Games, in Montreal and Moscow respectively.
Kenyan athletes have won 91 medals in total, all from boxing and track and field events. Of those, 61 medals come from the long-distance running events. All Kenyan athletes are remarkable, but various names have come up over the time to establish themselves as powerhouses. Here are 5 of the greatest Kenyan Olympians.
David Lekuta Rudisha
Fondly known as ‘King David’ by his fans, Rudisha is the reigning world and Olympic record holder for the 800metres race. He is also the 2012 and 2016 Olympic World champion. Rudisha is the first and only person to ever run under 1:41 in the middle distance race and he holds the three fastest, six of the eight fastest, and half of the twenty fastest times ever run in this event. Rudisha is also a 3 time Track & Field Athlete of the Year and IAAF World Athlete of the Year, which he won in 2010.
Vivian Cheruiyot,
‘Pocket Rocket’ as she is fondly known, was born in Keiyo in the 1983. Vivian is the reigning Olympic 5000metres champion. She represented Kenya at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics, scooping an array of silver, bronze and gold medals. She is also an African champion, Commonwealth Games champion and IAAF Continental Cup champion, as well as a winner of the 2010 IAAF Diamond League title. She holds the Kenyan record and Commonwealth record for the 5000metres.
Samuel Wanjiru
The late Samuel Wanjiru, became the first Kenyan to win an Olympic marathon gold at the 2008 Olympics games in Beijing, China. Born in 1986, he set the current 10000metres World Junior Record in 2005 and broke the world record in the half marathon when he was 18 years old. In 2007, he broke the 20 km road running record and improved the half marathon record by over twenty seconds. In 2008, he became the youngest Gold medalist in the Marathon since 1932. The following year, he won both the London Marathon and Chicago Marathon, running the fastest marathons ever recorded in the United Kingdom and United States, respectively. He retained his Chicago title in 2010 in a season fraught with injury. He died in 2011.
Ezekiel Kemboi
The showman of Kenyan athletics was born in 1982 in Marakwet district. He was the winner of the 3000metres steeplechase at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2009 World Championships, the 2011 World Championships, the 2012 Summer Olympics, the 2013 World Championships and the 2015 World Championships. His 3000m steeplechase best of 7:55.76 set at Monaco in 2011 places him as the sixth fastest of all time. He is the only athlete to have won four consecutive world championships.
Julius Yego
Yego is a track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is nicknamed "Mr. YouTube" because he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes. Yego is the African record and Commonwealth record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 m.
He won the javelin title at the All-Africa Games in 2011 and at the African Championships in Athletics in 2012 and 2014; at the 2013 World Championships he placed fourth, losing a medal in the final round. In 2014, he became the first Kenyan to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in a field event. At the 2015 World Championships he won the gold medal with a throw of 92.72m, becoming the first Kenyan to win a World Championships gold medal in a field event. He won silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Other well deserving and notable mentions are Kipchoge Keino, Eliud Kipchoge, Brimin Kipruto, Asbel Kiprop, Catherine Dererba, Janeth Kipkosgei, Paul Tergat, Pamela Jelimo and more.