As we roll out the past 365 days, the name Stephen Kiprotich will remain Uganda’s best sportsman. His splendid efforts cannot be questioned. In his early 20’s, the Ugandan boy did proud to the Pearl of Africa.
Kiprotich rose Uganda’s flag highest after he beat competitors to the London Olympics 42 km marathon title on August 12. What a way for Uganda to end the XXX Olympiad from the lad who hails from Kapchworwa. Uganda finished 50th on the medal table. He clocked in a winning time of 2:08:01 in hot, sunny, and humid conditions. This was the first Olympic medal for Uganda since 1996 after sprinter Davis Kamoga’s heroics.
This was the first gold medal since 1972, and the first ever in the marathon for Uganda. Indeed, it had been a long wait.
It has been a long wait. To call Kiprotich’s victory a surprise would be as much of an understatement as claiming the British weather in April and June was a bit drizzly. Most had suspected the race would boil down to another battle between those old rivals, Ethiopia and Kenya. Few were brave enough to suggest otherwise.
But the 23-year-old Kiprotich had other ideas. He was calm enough to allow the Kenyan Wilson Kipsang, the 2012 London Marathon winner, to establish a breezy 16-second breakaway before halfway, before being part of the pack that gradually reeled him in with nine miles remaining.
With three miles left, three men were left in contention: the race favourite Kipsang, his fellow Kenyan Abel Kirui, a two-times world champion, and Kiprotich. But then the Ugandan produced a thunderous injection of pace, the sort that scrambles a runner’s rhythm and shatters his morale, and never looked like being caught.
His winning time of 2hr 8min 1sec was 26 seconds clear of Kirui in second, with Kipsang in third a further 1min 10sec back. Kiprotich sounded just as shocked. “Before the race I thought a Kenyan or Ethiopian would win,” he said. “I didn’t believe it could be me. But I kept in touch and, when it came to three miles to go, I just decided to go. I’ve joined the champions and I am very happy.”
What makes Kiprotich’s victory even more remarkable is his back-story. His parents are subsistence farmers in Kapchorwa, a tiny district on the Kenya-Ugandan border.
He was a sickly child who missed three years of school due to an undiagnosed illness. As a teenager he was lapped in a school 10,000m race against runners his age and from 2003 to 2005 he quit athletics for two years.
Kiprotich showed his potential by finishing 24th in the world cross-country championships in 2006.
But it has taken a while for his talent to shine fully. Finishing 13th in the world championships last year showed glimpses but, with his personal best of 2:07.20 being around four minutes slower than the leading runners, he was not regarded as a major player at these Games.
How wrong everyone was. After the race Kiprotich credited his improvement to moving to the Eldoret region of Kenya’s Rift Valley, which straddles Uganda, to train with the former world 5,000m champion Eliud Kipchoge. “In Uganda we need better facilities,” he said.
“I have asked our athletics federation for better facilities and they have been promising them without delivering. That pushed me to Kenya. I spend most of my time training there and get back to Uganda to visit my family.”
Kiprotich’s victory meant a disappointing Games for Kenya’s middle- and long-distance runners ended on a humbling low. It is hard to overstate the dominance of Kenyans in the men’s marathon.
In 2011 athletes from the country ran 144 out of the 150 fastest marathon times, while 278 Kenyans made the A-standard Olympic qualifying time. They expected to defend the title won by the late Sammy Wanjiru in Beijing but instead were upstaged by an athlete who lives, breathes and trains among them.
Afterwards Kipsang was sanguine, saying: “In competition the best athletes always win. He was the best today. The preparation was very high but sometimes you don’t always win.”
Meanwhile Kiprotich was all smiles, still struggling to comprehend that his journey from the slopes of Mount Elgon in Kapchorwa, Uganda, had ended with kissing the hot tarmac of the Mall as Olympic champion.
“I was unknown before today. Now I am known,” he said, his face shining bright enough to light up a galaxy. “I can say I am very happy to win a medal for my country. I love my people.”
And with the year looming, a lot is anticipated from him. Thank you Kiprotich.
Kiprotich is Uganda’s 2012 sports king
