Kenya has become renowned over the world for its track and field athletes, securing more Olympic medals in long-distance running than any other country. Kenya made its Olympic debut at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and has since become one of the most prominent nations in Olympic athletics.
The country has participated in every Summer Games since its debut, with the exception of the 1976 Montreal and 1980 Moscow Games, which it boycotted along with several other African nations due to political reasons.
Kenya's Olympic achievements are overwhelmingly concentrated in track and field events, particularly in middle- and long-distance running, where it has established itself as a global powerhouse.
One of the few African and tropical countries, Kenya participated also in the Winter Olympic Games in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018.
Another notable development has been the rise of Kenyan women in Olympic competition. Increasingly, Kenya-born athletes are immigrating to compete in the Olympics for other countries, most notably Bahrain.
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The country is about 240,000 square miles (600,000 sq km), roughly the size of Texas. The population is more than 31 million people, made up of 70 ethnic groups. About two-thirds of the population is from the Bantu language group, which is largely concentrated in the southern part of the country. Kenya was a British colony and protectorate from the late 1890s until independence in 1963. From 1963 to 2002, the government was dominated by a single party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU). Kenya's varied landscape features diverse wildlife, including rhinoceroses, crocodiles and zebras.
The Kenyan economy has been declining for the past two decades. As of 1995, 23 percent of the population were living on less than $1 a day, and 22.5 percent of children under age 5 were malnourished. The majority of Kenyans live below the poverty line, and the majority of those in poverty are women.
Like many African countries, Kenya has been ravaged by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and women appear to be the most affected. A survey by the Kenyan government found that 8.7 percent of women tested HIV positive, compared with 4.5 percent of men. In Kenya, marital rape is not recognized as a crime. According to U.N. estimates, 42 percent of Kenyan women are battered by their husbands or partners.
For decades, St. Patrick’s High School has graduated students who have broken world records and won Olympic gold models in running. How did runners from Iten rise to international prominence, winning NCAA championships and world championships alike?
Part of this story starts at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, which constituted, in Chapman’s words, “a coming-of-age party” for Kenya’s athletes.
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In seven previous events, athletes from the “old Commonwealth” countries-the British teams, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa-had been dominant, dividing up the medals for distance running. But in August 1966 runners from the Republic of Kenya, which had gained independence from Britain just three years earlier, took home three gold medals as well as a silver and a bronze.
“I expect many … great African champions to emerge now that they have the opportunity,” wrote Ron Clarke, an Australian who set 17 world records between 1963 and 1968, in The Unforgiving Minute, published the month before the Games.
Clarke was twice defeated at Kingston by Kenyan runners.
Clarke’s customary front-running style-at world record pace that night-soon left Ron Hill of England, Fergus Murray of Scotland, Andy Boychuk of Canada, and Bill Baillie of New Zealand behind.
All of them were well-known Olympians.
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Naftali Temu had dropped out of the 10,000 meters in the 1964 Olympics, and finished an obscure 49th in the Olympic marathon.
He was nowhere on Clarke’s radar.
“Clarke was Superman.
We couldn’t believe what we were seeing.
With four laps to go, Clarke was toast.
Temu ran on alone, to a Games record 27:14.6.
His gold medal was the first, outside of Africa, in Kenyan history.
That same first night, another Kenyan burst onto the scene.
Benjamin Kogo led most of the steeplechase and held on to finish strongly in third, ahead of prerace favorite Maurice Herriott, of England.
In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Herriott had won the silver medal, while Kogo, unnoticed, was eliminated in the heats.
“I didn’t know anything about Kenyans other than Keino.
I’d heard of no Kenyan steeplechasers.
It wasn’t that those 1966 Games were color-conscious, not being held in Jamaica.
All athletes were equal and we made many friends.
Kenya’s three later medals were less astounding, except for their contribution to an unprecedented total haul.
Keino had narrowly missed a medal behind Bob Schul in the rain-drenched 1964 Olympic 5,000 meters, and in 1965 he broke the world 3,000 meters record by six seconds (7:39.6).
Then, rounding off the week that Temu began, Keino’s performance in the mile on the last day was pure sublimity.
He had won his semifinal in 3:57.4, the fastest heat in history.
In the final, he glided immediately to the front, and after half a lap was alone.
Running perfectly paced laps, apparently unflustered and without strain, he flowed through 59.3, 59.4, 58.0 and 58.6, for 3:55.3.
It’s worth noting that the fourth place in the 440 yards at Kingston went to another Kenyan, Daniel Rudisha.
As we watched the races from Kingston, it was apparent something transformative had occurred.
Five distance running medals for Kenya!
I vividly remember a crowded room loud with amazement: student runners in Cambridge, England, were leaning over the small TV, as our hero, Ron Clarke, the man who commanded our sport, was beaten, first by one Kenyan, then another, launching a dominance of the sport that has continued for 50 years.
Kenya started to assert itself as one of its athletic powers.
By the 1972 Munich Olympics, Kenyan athletes were now reknown.
Kipchoge Keino and Ben Jipcho finished first and second in the steeplechase.
Amateur Athletics Association was formed.
medalists at an awards ceremony.
However, with subsequent pan-African Olympic boycotts in 1976 and 1980 and persisting economic underdevelopment limiting national investment in sports, the training and recruiting of Kenya’s best athletes increasingly fell not to the government in Nairobi, but to boarding schools in the Rift Valley, the most prominent of which was St. Patrick’s High School in Iten.
These boarding schools became the site of a transnational exchange of athletes.
One of the few African and tropical countries, Kenya participated also in the Winter Olympic Games in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018.
Another notable development has been the rise of Kenyan women in Olympic competition.
Increasingly, Kenya-born athletes are immigrating to compete in the Olympics for other countries, most notably Bahrain.
Kenya's varied landscape features diverse wildlife, including rhinoceroses, crocodiles and zebras.
Most of Kenya's success in running has come from members of a single tribe, the Kalenjin, who number 3 million. The Kalenjin live in high altitudes, between 5,000 and 10,000 feet (1,524 m to 3,048 m), giving them strong lungs and high endurance.
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