News27 Apr 2006


Kosgei no longer out of his depth

FacebookTwitterEmail

Reuben Kosgei in action at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games (© Getty Images)

In world athletics you rarely find a Kenyan out of his depth.

But when it comes to treating injuries they tend to come back to the field.

One of the greatest of Kenya's current champions, Reuben Kosgei, lost two years of his career waiting for an Achilles tendon injury to heal without medical help.

This would be a major blow for any athlete, much less Kosgei who was the 3000m Steeplechase gold medallist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton.

He sat out 2003 and 2004 to let the tendonitis settle down and when he teamed up last year with Sydney coach, Di Huxley and her friend, Peter Healey, a lawyer who now manages Kosgei and a handful of other athletes, he returned to the international track.

Kosgei has resurrected his career with a bronze medal in the Kenyan steeplechase clean-sweep at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

When Australian athletes must rest a foot injury they can usually retain their cardio-vascular fitness and protect the vulnerable area by running in deep water.

In fact the house Kosgei built in Eldoret with some of his prize money winnings has a swimming pool 3.5m deep at one end which would be ideal for such cross-training.

"But I never fill it with water because I have not had time to learn to swim," Kosgei admitted.

In the interests of helping him rehabilitate injuries in the future when he's home in Kenya, Huxley and Healey took Kosgei and training partners Haron Keitany and Jonathan Komen - the first two finishers in the Kenyan 1500m championship - to North Sydney pool recently where former Olympic swimmer Stephen Badger was on hand to assist.

Healey said his plan involves the Kenyans spending three months each year in Australia, training with local athletes and supporting the sport competing on the Telstra A-series circuit.

Mike Hurst (Sydney Daily Telegraph) for the IAAF

Loading...