Wilfred Bungei on Kenyan running
Olympic 800m champion Wilfred Bungei is yet another great champion to emerge from an area of his country regarded as the heartbeat of Kenyan athletics. spikesmag.com spoke to the popular athlete about his very special running connection.
On the face of it the tiny hamlet of Kabirisang located near the top of a hill near a main road is an unremarkable place in the Kenyan Highlands.
It's a typically small, rural farming community that would usually not be worth a second glance.
Yet Kabirisang is a very special place, spawning not one, not two but three great athletics champions that would be the envy of most countries. Yes, this small hamlet was the birthplace of Henry Rono, the man who broke four world records (3000m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m and 10,000m) in just 81 days in 1978, Janeth Jepkosgei, the 2007 World 800m champion, and Wilfred Bungei, the reigning Olympic 800m champion.
On closer reflection the surrounding area has also produced more champion athletes and can lay serious claim to being the epicentre of Kenyan distance running.
Two or three kilometers west lies Kapchemoiywo, the childhood home of world 800m record holder Wilson Kipketer and Kip Keino, the father of Kenyan running. Three kilometers to the east of Kapirirsang is Arwos, home to African 800m record holder Sammy Kosgei and Olympic silver medalists Peter Koech and Ben Kogo.
Not only this, but
Bungei is even more closely bound to this extraordinary collection of running talent. Rono is his mother’s first cousin and his grandfather is the brother of Kipketer’s grandmother.
Running and excelling at a world-class level it seems was almost as natural as breathing to the current Olympic 800m champion and motivation he admits came through the astounding accomplishments of his second cousin.
From the mid-Nineties through to the early part of the new Millennium, Kipketer dominated the two-lap race. Running for Denmark, where he arrived as an exchange student, he won three successive World titles and set both the world indoor and outdoor records, which still stand today.
Interestingly,
Bungei started life as a 200m and 400m sprinter at primary school and was even an accomplished performer in the decathlon.
So what kind of influence was Kipketer? “When I was growing up Henry Rono had already finished his career but Wilson was also running at that time. I would say that it was an inspiration," explained Bungei. "
Seeing what they were doing [made] you believe you can be a world-class athlete.
But did he see a lot of Kipketer when he was ripping up the tracks on the European circuit. "Absolutely, I knew him [well] because in Africa we have a close relationship with our relatives and we always visit our homes," added Bungei. "So
when I was growing up I used to go to Wilson’s place and ask for any shoes he may have.
"All along he was a gentleman he would spend time with you. At that time I was only running on a morning and my only concern would be to get a T-shirt. Almost everyone who was aspiring to be an athlete always wanted to be him."
With such a powerful familial and geographical tradition for running you could be forgiven for thinking that success was likely to be pre-ordained for the articulate and intelligent Bungei.
Yet although he talks loosely about having "the blood" for athletics he points to the influence of a more human factor that contributed to his subsequent success.
The Olympic champion recalls at primary school it was the belief instilled into him by his sports teacher that provided the bedrock for his future track and field career.
"He said I had the potential to run," said Bungei of his sports teacher. "I wasn’t the best [runner] in school and I went home and thought, 'why did he think that I had the potential? Maybe he has seen something in me and this is a reminder to me that you can make it, you can make it'."
But the burning question is why does he believe there is such a rich hot bed of running talent across his small corner of Kenya even in his extraordinary family? Bungei however cautions against making any sweeping statements on the hot topic.
"
People used to say Kenyans are very good because they run to school, but I don’t think that’s correct," he said. "People across the country are running to school in Mombasa or even Western Kenyan but it happens that they are not athletes – why? There are other things that need to be studied.
"
We have the advantages of the altitude but even then, why do all the athletes come from one place. Wilson may have the record for Denmark but we know where he comes from, where he grew up. These are all interesting things that need to be studied."
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