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News15 Jun 1999


Kenyan women winning the race against tradition

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By Onyango Omulo (Reuters)

16 June 1999 - Nairobi - Less than a decade ago they were living in the shadows of their male counterparts, but Kenya's middle and long distance female runners are now making their own mark on the world athletics stage.

Today it is almost unthinkable for any major international athletics event to take place without a Kenyan woman being fancied to take a medal at anything over 3000m. Since bursting onto the scene at the IAAF World Championships in Tokyo in 1991, Kenya's women runners have not looked back and each new championship seems to unearth another record breaker.

Susan Sirma, then unheralded, showed determination and strength to take bronze in the 3000m in Tokyo in a performance that was to prove a turning point for Kenyan women athletes. She has been followed by top runners such as Tegla Lorupe, Jane Ngotho, Hellen Chepng'eno, Jackline Maranga, Sally Barsosio, Joyce Chepchumba and Esther Wanjiru - all of whom have won major events.

Lorupe won the Rotterdam marathon three times in a row and is also a two-time winner of the New York marathon. Barsosio won the 10,000m at the World Championships in Athens to become Kenya's first female World Champion, while Chepchumba has won the London marathon two years in succession. Maranga battled through the mud to win the World Ccross Country Championships in Belfast earlier this year while Wanjiru became Kenya's first female Commonwealth Games gold medallist by winning the 10,000m in Kuala Lumpur last year.

It is only Olympic gold that has proved elusive, but Lorupe hopes to change that by winning the marathon at the Sydney games next year.

"I want to become the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold medal," Lorupe told Reuters. "The Olympics are the most important."

But making a success of athletics is no easy task for Kenyan women, who need to beat tradition, cultural taboos and unscrupulous agents even before they step foot on the track.

"Before, women athletes - especially the married ones - were not allowed to interact freely with their fellow athletes in training and were treated like domestic animals," said Dan Muchoki, a Kenyan national coach.

"But the husbands have realised the importance of having their women in training to keep in good shape for both health and commercial purposes".

And the commercial rewards can be great.

Vivian Cheruiyot, a 15-year-old who won the six-km event at the World Cross Country Championships in Belfast, took home $20,000 for her effort - a fortune in a country where the average national wage is around $300 a year.

But Cheruiyot - who hails from the same Kalenjin tribe that produces so many of Kenya's male world beaters - has had to work hard for her success.

"I train three times a day to keep in shape, but I have great speed and I don't mind a challenge."

Her training schedule at the high-altitude camp in Kenya's Rift Valley highlands starts at 5.30 am and includes rigorous sessions on the hilly terrain and centres on speed work and endurance and honing techniques such as kick finishes and acceleration around corners.

But there is no hi-tech diet for Kenya's athletic stars -- just a simple meal of ugali (maize meal), beans, milk and, more rarely, a bit of meat or chicken.

The rigours do see a number of potential stars drop out of the training school before they have fulfilled their potential and the Kenya Amateur Athletics Association is working hard to try identify what causes this.

Muchoki said over-exposure and "burnout", problems with agents, pressures from parents and early marriage can all contribute to dampening motivation.

"Many young girls have had success in the junior ranks but early marriage has remained a formidable barrier to the senior ranks," said Muchoki. "There are some women who have continued to distinguish themselves after marriage, but they are exceptional cases," he added.

Authorities are now working on programmes whereby athletes are brought up with a sense of stability, loyalty and a long-term view of their careers.

"This is to avoid a situation in the future where the country produces masses of young talent but few stars," Muchoki said.

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