Husband and wife - Peter Kiprotich Murrey with Pamela Jelimo (© PETER OCHIENG/THE STANDARD)
Pamela Jelimo is undoubtedly the revelation of the year after providing the answer to a country starved of a true global superstar and few know she is married.
Jelimo’s phenomenal success is largely due to the bedrock support she receives from her husband, Peter Kiprotich Murrey.
By kind permission of The Standard in kenya, we are pleased to reproduce Mutwiri Mutuota’s recent story about Pamela, Peter and their courtship and marriage -
Like the fairytale of Cinderella, this year Pamela Jelimo, the teenager, who earned the nickname of ‘Kapsabet Express’, found the fitting golden shoe that saw her become the million-dollar princess of women’s 800m at the ÅF Golden League in her debut season.
She is now firmly established in the palace of young sporting superstars alongside the likes of Briton Lewis Hamilton, the crown prince of Formula 1 or Argentina’s football heir apparent, Lionel Messi.
Jelimo’s spectacular rise from paucity to dining with sporting royalty in just over 16 months is the stuff great Hollywood movie scripts are written. Having just celebrated their first anniversary as a married couple, Peter, 21 and Pamela, 19, now share the tale of their marital bliss and the challenges they face.
They wed in a civil ceremony towards the end of November last year, after almost two years of courtship and the young couple are keen to ensure this lifelong commitment is upheld for the rest of their days.
"I met her at the 2006 Secondary School athletics nationals," Peter starts, as Pamela eases next to him after serving a hearty meal to us that was preceded by a word of prayer in true African hospitality.
"We met when all participants went for the team’s marshalling. She was representing Rift Valley and I was running for Western but after striking a conversation, we realised that we come from neighbouring villages," Peter adds.
"We got to know each other," Pamela offers with a wide smile as she looks furtively at her husband and adds with a laugh, "and after we went back to school, we wrote letters to each other since then, we could not afford mobile phones!"
Through this long distance correspondence, feelings towards each other blossomed and soon what began as casual talk between two from neighbouring villages turned into deep affection.
"Like anyone else in our situation, we fell for each other with time and when we discovered this, we started working on a lasting relationship," Pamela says.
"We had so much in common," Peter, also a budding 800m athlete chips in. "Both of us wanted to make a career out of running and we began exchanging ideas which brought us closer."
At the beginning of last year, the adage ‘if poverty knocks through the door, love escapes through the window’ came to haunt them.
"My family were struggling and I wanted to get employment to support them after finishing school. Having realised I had talent, I used it in weekend meetings so that I could get noticed by the Kenya Police, Army or Prisons to get a job."
"It is at this period that I disappeared from him for a while since I would compete in many towns and fortunately, I qualified for the Africa Junior Championships in Burkina Faso," she says.
At the August 2007 event, Pamela won the 400m gold medal and on her return, Police, who had been monitoring her ability recruited her.
"I had no money for shopping to join Kenya Police Training College in Kiganjo and I did not want to go back home," she says with a tinge of sadness.
"I did not want to leave my family in complete poverty; I did not want to lose that opportunity to earn a living, but they were kind enough to provide for the shopping and I went to Kiganjo," she says.
At the same period Peter was training in Kapsabet and when Pamela got a mobile phone from her first Police salary, she sent the number to him via her mother and communication was re-established.
At this moment in our meeting with Peter and Pamela, visitors arrive and the interview is paused as Pamela rose to serve them refreshments while Peter welcomes them.
"Sorry, I hope you are not bored," Peter offers after the guest leaves and we resume the extraction of their remarkable odyssey.
Talk now turns to the rise of Jelimo’s phenomenal career.
"I introduced her to (coach Said) Aziz whom I had trained under for a long period when she came for her break from college," Peter says adding, "I also asked her to consider training for the 800m race."
The pair started training together and at the same time their love grew in leaps and bound. This prompted Peter to pop the question and to his delight, Pamela accepted.
"We formalised our relationship in a simple civil ceremony. Our lives were too dependent on each other and we decided to make this leap."
Pamela adds as she strokes the wedding ring on her finger: "I loved him so much and he did the same to me but then we did not have resources to organise a huge wedding and we did not want to live under an informal arrangement."
"We intend to organise a church wedding where we will renew vows before all when the right time comes, but for now we are happy we can get on with our lives without people questioning why we are together."
And in a ringing endorsement, the Olympic 800m champion and World junior record holder adds, "since we got married our careers have improved. I have been more focused on my running and academics now that I want to improve my knowledge in the field of law."
Both concur that matrimony has also been challenging especially in light of Pamela’s raft of achievements that have catapulted her to fame in such a short time.
"When she started winning, I was under so much pressure with people saying that she would leave me but we kept on communicating. With the vows we made to each other, I knew everything would be okay," Peter confesses.
He adds: "Sometimes what people said about her almost made me crazy but I kept faith and trust in what we share."
"An example, when Harambee Stars were playing (Namibia) and placards written ‘Pamela will you marry me’ were flashed by fans, it got many talking negatively just because she had achieved so much."
"I was also under pressure from people who would write placards, letters, messages in the internet and newspaper articles saying that people were coming in to my parents saying that they want to marry me," his wife shares.
"They were just after what they thought I had made, none had taken time to study and know me the person like Peter who has always supported me."
Since her elevation to stardom, Pamela has invited a great deal of attention, adulation and interest from admirers that Peter has had to contend with.
"It is normal for people to feel that towards her but that has not been a problem for me since what we have is most important," he says.
"I am learning to deal with it and I do not foresee it being a problem since we understand each other," Pamela puts in.
And don’t they think they rushed into marriage at such a young age?
"We made that decision early to give our careers room to grow, mature faster as people and know life lessons. We get a lot of advice from our parents and older married couples who help us a lot," replies Peter.
"It has made us more responsible at an early age and focus on other things than these issues of boyfriends-girlfriends and affairs. It has also helped me forget about suitors and concentrate on running," offers Pamela.
At home, the Africa champion says, "I like cooking Peter Ugali and Mursik (traditional sour milk) that he enjoys a lot."
Both enjoy listening to gospel music in addition to R n B while Nigerian productions are their favourite movies although Pamela has a strong liking for action flicks. "I am a soldier you know," she quips.
Both avid readers, Peter is going through a book titled ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Hawkings while Pamela enjoys novels since, "they improve my language and exercise my mind."
After discussing their marriage and careers, focus turns on Pamela’s family.
"Thank goodness, they are better off now and I am proud of having been raised in a single family," she says, shutting the door on all those who have claimed to be her father.
Mutwiri Mutuota – The Standard – for the IAAF