I waited one and a half hours to see Faith Kipyegon
Here’s why…
I’m compelled by sport. I love the thrill, the challenge and the struggle to reach the top. Sporting stars have always impressed me – the Williams sisters, Ingebrigtsen, the Brownlee brothers, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant. Legends. Sporting Gods. Superhumans.
And they all impress me in their own way. I love their tenacity, their bravado and thirst for glory. It’s contagious. And please don’t judge me for what I’m about to say now. But some stars impress me more than others. Middle class, privileged athletes have the backing and nurturing of their families and communities. It’s easy to splash a bit of cash on a new bike, or new running shoes, or membership of a club. And there’s nothing wrong with this. It takes a village to raise an athlete. But financial backing comes easier to some and does, in no way, diminish the success or impressive achievements of a sporting star.
But for other athletes, the climb is a little steeper, more arduous, more challenging and, I’d argue, even more impressive. Worthy of a one and a half hour wait to just tell them that you’re just one more individual who admires and reveres them. They’ve probably heard it a million times before, ‘you are the very reason I run’.
Now some of you, maybe the scientists and pragmatists among us, will no doubt argue that Kenyans have a physiological advantage or the altitude that they experience, places them at the fore of endurance running. But poverty and social inequality can be a barrier to performance. And when you’ve lived for a month amongst the Kenyans, you can really appreciate the climb that they undertake to make it as an athlete.
Faith Kipyegon: the world record holder for the mile and 1500m. A stunning runner: poetry personified in a beautifully executed gait. Faith is the ultimate athlete and deserves to be revered.
I didn’t only wait an hour and a half to gush embarrassingly over her and tell her I basically love her. I literally sprinted back to the track from the HATC centre, where I was staying, after one of the most challenging sessions I’d ever done.
But my adoration of this individual goes beyond her achievements on the track. Faith is a quiet and unassuming philanthropist. She realised her dream of opening a mother and child hospital in her hometown of Keringet to ensure mothers no longer had to travel 35km to give birth. Her Dare to Dream enterprise has enabled other mothers in this area to experience safe and comfortable births. Faith, a mother herself, has never chosen between being a world class athlete and a mother; she is a role model in that she shows women that they can do both well.
Growing up in Kenya, Faith often ran barefoot to school and she is a powerful testament to the fact that hard work can beat poverty. I waited one and a half hours to meet my hero because she is an icon, who proves that having a family is not a career ending decision. This athlete has a legacy and shows historical dominance. And when I met her, I was not disappointed. She spoke to me with such genuine interest, I felt heard.
But there is one reason that no one, for me, will ever come close to beating her podium position as my number one athlete of all time: she remembered my name! I met her the week after at the same track and the iconic legend actually remembered my name.
Faith Kipyegon: dominant athlete, pioneering human rights activist, advocate for women’s rights, record breaker and humble human being.
One and a half hours wait was nothing. I’d wait a whole day to listen to her humble tale of her rise to fame.
Some people are just worth waiting for.
