| PHOTO: | Kenya's Jemima Jelagat Sumgong celebrates her victory in the Women's Marathon during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Sambodromo in Rio de Janeiro on August 14, 2016. PHOTO | AFP |
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By:
STEVE OMONDI
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| Posted:
Aug,15-2016 12:23:17
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IN RIO DE JANEIRO
Long before newly crowned women's marathon Olympic Champion, Jemima Sumgong, attained her landmark achievement, many Kenyans, had attempted--without success--to win gold in the 42km event.
All that changed on a hot sunny morning in the Brazilian city when a composed Sumgong strode majestically to the finish line unchallenged and in the process writing her name in Kenya's Olympics folklore.
Among those who had previously attempted the marathon feat include Catherine Ndereba, fondly known as 'Catherine the Great'.
A serial winner at the Boston and Chicago Marathons, as well as many other road races in cities across the world, Ndereba's only flaw was her failure to win a gold at the Olympics.
She tried twice but she had to be content in both by managing second position--Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
On Sunday, as Sumgong breasted the tape at the Sambodromo finish line in Rio de Janeiro, Ndereba was among the Kenyans who cheered wildly. At last, the barrier had finally been broken and Ndereba was delighted.
"It makes me feel so good because after the far I went, there is someone who has finally taken over the baton and achieved something that I didn't," Ndereba said immediately after the race.
It turns out Ndereba had actually foreseen the long awaited achievement.
A day before the race, Ndereba, who is in Rio as the deputy general team manager--cum--chaperone, took time to pysche up and motivate the Kenyan women's marathon team, which also included, Paris Marathon champion Visiline Jepkesho and world silver medllaist Helah Kiprop.
"I was speaking with them last night and telling them that they have what it takes to win that gold medal," said Ndereba, who even before the team left for Brazil, expressed confidence in the team's ability.
"Why not? I see a lot of potential in all the three athletes. A gold medal is not beyond their capability," Ndereba told the Daily Nation Sport at the time.
For a country with athletes who perennially dominate world major marathons--in Tokyo, London, Boston, Berlin, Chicago and New York--it has been puzzling that over the years Kenyan women marathoners have struggled to claim the ultimate prize at the Olympics.
Not until Sumgong came along.
But according to Ndereba, there are many factors that have contributed to this occurrence.
"Championship races are quite different from city marathons. The timing and other factors such as whether play a big part in championship races," Ndereba told Daily Nation Sport in Rio.
And now with the women's marathon jinx broken, there is renewed hope within the Kenyan camp that men's team can follow suit and reclaim a title that has only been won once by a Kenyan--the late Samuel Wanjiru--eight years ago in Beijing.
The men's marathon will be the showstopper when the curtains come down on the 2016 Olympic Games on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.
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