Kipchoge Keino defines the word “inspiration”.
Kipchoge is a Nandi (A tribe in Kenya known for producing renowned athletes) expression for something to the effect of “born near the grain storage shed.” If you guessed he came from humble beginnings, you’d be right.
He is a two-time Olympic gold-medallist and he is one of the first in a long distance of powerful long-distance runners from Kenya.
Byname of Hezekiah Kipchoge Keino was born in Kipsamo, Nandi District, Kenya. Both of his parents died while he was young. He was then brought up by his aunt. After finishing school, he joined the Kenya Police. Before taking up athletics, he also played rugby.
Keino’s father, a long-distance runner, encouraged his son in the sport. Keino herded goats and trained in Kenya’s hill country, which prepared him well for high-altitude competition.
When once asked about his childhood and how he got started running, this was Kip’s response:
“When I started at primary school, I ran in my bare feet four miles to school in the morning, home for lunch, again for afternoon school and back at the end of the day. I did this every day until I left school.”
After finishing school, he became a physical training instructor for the Kenyan police force. At the time, Kenya was not the runner generating powerhouse it is today.
It wasn’t until the early 1960s that Kip realised that his thighs demanded a greater challenge and he took up competitive athletics on the side from his day job. Though Kip was ultimately one of the finest distance runners of his time- perhaps one of the finest of all time- he didn’t achieve significant results until the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he narrowly missed qualifying for the 1500M final. A year later, in 1965, Kip broke two distance running world records (the 1500M and 5000M events respectively) at the 1965 All-Africa Games. A year after that impressive feat, during the 1966 commonwealth games, Kip won a double gold in the mile and three mile sprint events.
During the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City Kip suffered from crippling gallstones for the entire duration of the games. So much so that he literally collapsed while running the 10,000m. Determined to finish the race anyway, he stumbled back onto the track and, despite the pain, managed to do the final laps, even though it didn’t count.
Prior to running the 10,000m, Kip had been told by a doctor not to run and that any strain to his body was at risk of causing him serious harm, and in the extreme case could even lead to his death. Of course, Kip ran anyway as noted. Two days after the 10,000M- the race he collapsed in- Kip ran in the 5000M and won a silver medal, finishing just one fifth of a second behind the gold medalist. On top of that, he then ran another 1500M race and qualified for the final of the event.
The day of 1500m final, Kip, decided to sleep in and there was some thought that he was simply choosing not to race that day. Nevertheless, only an hour before the actual event, he hopped out of bed and headed off to the games. On the bus ride to the Olympic stadium, the bus got stuck in traffic, Kip got off and ran the remaining 2 miles to the Olympic stadium while carrying his equipment.
He then registered with 20 minutes to spare, got himself ready, and walked out onto the track and won a gold medal, outpacing the second place runner by an astounding 20 metres- the longest distance anyone had ever won by in the event at that time. In the end, Kip finished with a time of 3:34.9, the second fastest in history at that point.
In 1987, he shared Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Sportsmen and Sportswomen of the Year” award with seven others, characterized as “Athletes Who Care”, for his work with orphans.
Keino and his wife took in more than 100 orphaned children and had seven of their own. His success on the track and his commitment to the welfare of Kenya made him one of the nation’s most beloved heroes. Later Keino served as president of the National Olympic Committee Kenya.
Currently, Keino lives on a farm in Western Kenya where he controls and runs a charitable organization for orphans. He is married to Phyllis Keino.
In 1996, he was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.
In 2007, he was made an honorary Doctor of Law by the University of Bristol.
In July 2012 he received further recognition from the City of Bristol after the Kenyan Olympic Committee, under his presidency, made Bristol the training base for its athletes in preparation for the London 2012 Olympics. The Bristol City Council awarded him freedom of the City, making him the first to receive this honour from Bristol since Sir Winston Churchill
His son Martin Keino was a two-time NCAA champion and highly successful pace-setter. Martin now works as a sports marketer.
