When many did not give him a chance, Moses Kipsiro silenced many doubting Thomases as he put up a blockbuster finish to retain his Commonwealth 10000m gold title at the Hampden Park in Glasgow on Friday night.
That must arguably be Uganda’s most memorable sporting night in history after a late magical surge from Kipsiro to clock best time of 27 minutes and 56.11 seconds to beat Kenyan Josphat Bett by 0.03 seconds and Canada’s Cameron Levins by 0.12 seconds.
Prior, Kipsiro had been denied a chance to defend his 5000m and 10000m titles he won in New Delhi four years for blowing the lid off the allegations of sexual harassment by Peter Wemali during the camp for the Africa Cross-Country Championships in Bukwo four months ago.
He would later be given a chance to head to Glasgow but the 5000m bronze medallist at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka needed to nurse a series of injuries.
A month to the Games, Kipsiro spent a month in London trying to nurse a hamstring and could not train much. By the time he arrived in Glasgow, his right knee posed problems.
He settled for eighth place in the men’s 5000m final last Sunday but more pain oozing from the knee almost forced him out of Friday’s action.
“I’ve been having a lot of injuries so my knee was very painful,” he told BBC Sport after winning Uganda’s fifth Commonwealth gold medal in eight years.
“I said I wasn’t going to take part but something deep inside said ‘you can make it’. I stuck to it and now I’m really happy.” he added moments after receiving a congratulatory hug from team manager Apollo Musherure and the national flag from Halima Nakaayi for the lap-of-honour.
He was given huge pats from teammates Moses Kibet and Timothy Toroitich who finished seventh and 11th respectively.
Kipsiro was almost lost throughout the entire until the final lap when he upped his gears to move from sixth to first within the remaining 350m in stunning fashion.
Incredibly the margin between gold and silver in the 10,000m was smaller than that of the 100m final where Jamaican Kemar Bailey-Cole beat England’s Adam Gemili by 0.10 seconds.
For long, this memorable victory will remain in the hearts of many Ugandans.