Kenya’s golden girl

What you need to know:

  • Kapkuto Secondary School dropout, Jonathan Kiplimo Sawe from Kapsabet, took up the cue following through with another gold in the men's 1,500 metres.
  • No journalist at Hayward Park would believe it when told that prior to this competition, Wambui had run just one competitive 800 metres race ever - at the Kenyan Junior trials!
  • Metric miler Sawe and Ng’etich had planned a perfect 1,500m race in which they were supposed to run away with the gold and silver unscathed.

IN EUGENE, OREGON

The phrase "meteoric rise" may be a long-drawn-out cliche, but it, perhaps, most suitably describes Margaret Nyairera Wambui's fledgling athletics career.

Just when gold medals were proving elusive, desperation setting in and cross-border rivals Uganda taunting the Kenyan camp at the 15th IAAF World Junior Championships here, the 18-year-old from Endarasha proved to be the Joker in the pack, effectively opening the floodgates for her country's gold medal rush with victory in the 800 metres final.

Kapkuto Secondary School dropout, Jonathan Kiplimo Sawe from Kapsabet, took up the cue following through with another gold in the men's 1,500 metres.

But in stark contrast, while Wambui is featuring in her first competition abroad, Sawe, a Youth Commonwealth Games gold medallist, is a veteran despite being still a junior, having struck bronze in his maiden race abroad at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Lille, France.

The double victory Thursday catapulted Kenya to the top of the medal standings after three days of competition at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus with eight medals, two gold, two silver and four bronze.

SUPRISE WINNER

No journalist at Hayward Park would believe it when told that prior to this competition, Wambui had run just one competitive 800 metres race ever - at the Kenyan Junior trials!

Hers is a tears-eye story of determination, self-confidence and a humble upbringing that resulted in Thursday night's victory with a personal best 2:0.49 seconds that opened Kenya's account.

Raised by a single mother, Anne Wambui, the Form Three student at Nyeri's Tetu High School, interestingly, started off as a 400-metre runner while in Form Two and also played volleyball up to national level for her school team.

"But I also used to compete in the heptathlon, which has 800 metres competition in it, and when I ran 2:05 at one 800 metres race as part of the heptathlon competition, my coach thought I should move up to the 800 metres and focus more on this race.

"I know my mother will be proud of me now because always encourages me to work hard."

Wambui ran a tactical race and was not distracted when Kenya national junior champion Maximila Emali pulled out with hamstring problem on the final lap.

"I was very hurt when Uganda won a gold medal in the men's 10,000 metres (through Joshua Cheptegei) and we had none, so I said I will give it my all to bring glory to my country.

"My strategy was to closely observe Cuba's Sahily Diago, who was the strongest in the field, and I'm glad I did it!"

Diago settled for silver in 2:02.11 while Australia's Georgia Wassall (2:04.12) claimed the bronze.

"I'm so happy and now I will cheer my teammates so that we win more gold medals," said Wambui who intimated that she will take up professional athletics after graduating from high school next year.

SUCCESSFUL DAY

Thursday was by far Kenya’s most successful day in the office at these championships so far as besides Wambui’s and Sawe’s gold medals, Kenya also bagged a silver through Lilian Kasait Lengeruk in the 3,000 metres with Hillary Cheruiyot Ng’etich (1,500m) and Velentina Chepkwemoi Matieko settling for bronze medals in the 1,500m and 3,000m respectively.

Hosts USA were second in the standings with six medals (2-2-2) after Alberto Salazar-coached Mary Cain ran a tactical race to beat the Kenyan challenge from Rengeruk and Chepkwemoi, with Great Britain third with three medals (2-0-1).

“I had a really good kick,” home girl Cain, who was accused of spiking Kasait in the heat of the battle, said. “I could hear (coach Salazar) Alberto screaming I have to move now. The crowd went wild!”

Kasait was absolutely shattered after the race, wondering why no action was taken against Caine.

“They should have ordered a re-run of the race. She spiked me,” said Kapenguria-born Kasait while pointing at her bruised shin.

But Chepkwemoi, a Form Two student with love for the sciences at Mt Elgon’s Moi Girls Kaptama Secondary School, was celebrating, happy to win a medal on her first trip outside Kenya.

“I’m happy beyond words. We controlled the race pretty well but Cain beat us with the final sprint. We had a problem kicking. Nonetheless I’m happy with my bronze medal,” she said.

“I want to work hard now and be like (former world champion) Vivian Cheruiyot, and probably break the world record in the 5,000m and study perhaps here at the University of Oregon.

HATCHED PLAN

Metric miler Sawe and Ng’etich had planned a perfect 1,500m race in which they were supposed to run away with the gold and silver unscathed.

“We had even agreed with Hillary that I win the gold and he takes silver, because I know he didn’t have a good finishing kick,” explains Sawe who was forced out of high school in Form Two said.

He won in a personal best 3:40.02 ahead of shock medallist Abdi Mouhaydin of Djibouti (3:41.38) while Ng’etich took the bronze in 3:41.61.

Sawe, who has been out with injury for two months, trains in Kaptagat and Eldoret’s Chepkoilel University under famous Italian coach Claudio Berardelli in a group that includes 800-metres star Job Kinyor and Hillary Maiyo.

After his latest triumph, he has vowed to go back to complete his high school studies and continue running.

“I will most probably go back to my former school Kapkuto to complete my education while still training hard because I know athletics will lift my life up,” he said.

Earlier Thursday, Kenya’s overall team captain Alexander Lerionka Sampao fell just outside the medals, finishing fourth in the 400 metres in 46.5 seconds with the medals going to Trinidad and Tobago’s Machel Cedenio (45.13), Japan’s Nobuya Kato (46.17) and Abbas Abubaker Abbas (46.20) from Bahrain.

The Kenyan triumphs aside, perhaps Day Three’s biggest performance belonged to French Wilhelm Belocian who won the 110m hurdles in a World junior record 12.95 seconds.

This story first appeared on SportOn!