Kenya: Historic Shoes

Jonathan Komen

19 June 2011

Nairobi — Daniel Kipng’etich Komen, a living legend and the current 3,000 metres and two miles world record holder, has achieved what no other man has on the globe: He is the only man alive to have run two miles under eight minutes.

He basks on three world records in 3,000m outdoors and 3,000m indoor and two-miles – and having held 5,000m all-time best that earned him global fame. Komen still keeps the pair of shoes he used to break the records.

“I kept the shoes because the achievement really made a mark in my life. I intend to establish a sports museum in future and, if Eldoret Municipality will set up one, I will donate the pair of shoes,” Komen told Monday Sport last Wednesday at his home in Elgonview residence in Eldoret.

“You know, I broke the 3,000m record (7:20.76) in Rieti, Italy, with shoes meant for sprint runners since I failed to get my size.”

Komen, who was initially under Nike Sports stable, says he ran the race barely a week after signing a contract with another sportswear firm, Puma and, without a pair of the new brand, he could not on run in Nike’s brand.

Shoes from Johnson

He also has a pair of shoes he received from former 100m world record holder Michael Johnson and 400m all-time best Donovan Bailey, who he says are his friends in athletics.

And with the two world records, and a second fastest all-time of all run outdoor and indoor in 5,000m and the overall 5,000m Grand Prix top prize in 1996 tucked in his armpits, Komen certainly stands out as celebrity.

He bagged the 1994 5,000m and 10,000m world junior titles in Lisbon, Portugal.

He then graduated to the senior level with an insatiable hunger for more glory, running a brilliant 13:29.33 in the Engen Meeting in Nairobi, the fastest high altitude time in the 5,000m.

He erased the previous 13:30.06 mark held by five-time world cross-country champion John Ngugi in 1987.

Komen had then floored world beaters, among them Olympic 5,000m silver medalist Paul Bitok and Simon Chemoiywo and was among the favourites for the Atlanta Olympics team but placed fourth in the 5,000m finals at the trials.

“I really felt disappointed when I was locked out of the team. I expected a wild card, which I was not given,” Komen says.

He then tightened his belt as he posted incredible performances in the Grand Prix meetings, emerging the overall men’s winner and received US$200,000 and US$50,000, (Sh14.2 million) for winning the 5,000m Grand Prix final in Monaco.

Like many other runners, Komen’s house is decorated with trophies and pictures of him competing and receiving awards at international outings.

One of them, a picture of Rieti Stadium, where he broke the 3,000m record and the same venue David Rudisha broke the 800m world mark last year, hangs on the wall .

He is, however, excited by the millions of shillings he made in the track. “I even trained without knowing as used to trek long distance to school.

“And since I lived with my grandfather who was not so strict, I spent most of my weekends in the forests hunting and competing with my peers.

“We had prepared our track in the forest fields, complete 400m hurdles using twigs,” said Komen, who attended Chepketeret Primary School in Keiyo South.

Komen talks of undergoing challenges in his childhood, including taking milk and fetching firewood and drawing water from a stream deep inside the forests.

“My grandfather believed that boiling milk meant roasting the cows and stopped anyone from boiling milk. But the experience helped me. Carrying firewood and 20 litres of water prepared me,” he said.

Komen, who was unearthed as the fastest runner on grass in three races, now relishes his life on the fast lane:

“Athletics blood kept running deep in my blood and I believe anyone can break a record. Psychological preparation and training partners count most.”

Broke two world records

Apart from winning the overall men’s Grand Prix prize, Komen broke two world records, the first being Haile Gebreselassie’s two mile record in Lapeentranta, Finland, and the 3,000m record (7:20.76), in Rieti.

He also broke Algerian Noureddine Morceli’s earlier world record of 7:20.76 set in Monaco in 1994.

In 1997, Komen made history again in Hechtel, Belgium, as he became the first and the only man to run two miles under eight minutes, clocking a world record 7:58.61.

Just seven months later, at an Australian Athletics meet in Sydney; Komen ran another 7:58, missing his world record by 0.30 seconds.

In August that year, he broke the 5,000m world record and took two seconds off of Haile Gebrselassie’s best to bring it to 12:39.74.

Only 12 days after the previous world record of 7:26.15 was set by Gebrselassie, Komen broke the indoor 3,000m record in a time of 7:24.90, set in Budapest on February 6, 1998.

This mark is still referred to as Mount Everest in athletics circles and has been bettered only twice outdoors, one of them being Komen’s own world record.

Third fastest time

Komen also returned 12:45.09 in the 5,000m at the Zurich Grand Prix, the third fastest time in history after Ethiopian pair of Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele.

He is now the Commonwealth Games record holder as Bekele banks on his 12:37.35 record set in Hangelo in 2004.

But Komen was the fourth Kenyan to hold the 3,000m record, the first having been legendary Kipchoge Keino in 1965 when he erased France’s Michael Jazy’s record of 7:49.2, slapping a new one of 7:39.6.

Belgium’s Emil Putterman improved on Keino’s world record to 7:37.6 in 1972 but two years later, the record was lowered to 7:35 by Britain’s Brendan Foster.

Then came the great Henry Rono who was the second Kenyan to hold the record.

Rono, who hails from Nandi South, posted 7:32.1 in 1978 in Oslo, Norway and from then African runners have maintained a firm grip on this record.

Other African record holders since then have Morocco’s Said Aouita, 7:29.45 in 1989, Moses Kiptanui 7:28.96 and Algeria’s Morceli.

However, the first official world record was set by Finland’s Hannes Kolehmainen in Stockholm in 1912. Kolehmainen’s compatriot, Paavo Nurrmi improved the time to 8:28.6 in 1922 with Belgium’s Gaston Reiff breaking Nurmi’s record in 1949 when he returned 7:58.8.Started career in 1990

Komen started his athletics career in 1990 while at Chepketeret Primary School and his childhood hero then was the five-time world cross-country champion John Ngugi.

“I wanted to be like John Ngugi. He used to impress me lot especially in the 5,000m,” said Komen, the 12th born in a family of nine men and four women.

Komen’s major victory in school was to come in 1992 -one year after he joined Biwott Secondary School in Keiyo South.

He won the secondary schools’ cross-country championships that year.

He, however, recalls with bitterness when he was left out of Kenya’s team to the 1992 world junior championships in Seoul, South Korea.

“I got mad with the federation selectors and I tried to prove them wrong. I set base in London with the national team, and despite being the only one out of team, I just wanted to beat them all,” said Komen.

His first test in an international meeting came in 1993, when he won the 5,000m race during Kenya Secondary Schools versus Australia meeting in Sydney, Australia, returning an impressive 13:57.0. Unfortunately, he had no pair of shoes and had to toil for one.

“I sold potatoes to buy a pair of shoes in Eldoret. I went to a sports shop and coincidentally met Kipchoge Keino,” he said.

Team appearance

The following year Komen made his appearance for Kenya’s national team in the World Cross Country Championships in Hungary, finishing second in the junior category won by compatriot Philip Mosima.

Later in 1994, he won a gold medal in the 5,000m in the Africa Junior Championships in Algeria and went on to further demonstrate abilities in the world junior championships in Lisbon, Portugal.

AllAfrica – All the Time