J. H. Kimura
23 May 2011
opinion
Nairobi — In one of Shakespeare’s most famous quotes, he wrote: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them” (Twelfth Night).
There is no doubt that Sammy Kamau Wanjiru belongs in the middle category.
When a friend called me at 3am on Sunday to tell me that “Kamau Wanjiru is no more,” my immediate reaction was: What has happened this time?
As the reality of the tragedy sank in, my next reaction was: What a waste! I had come to know the young man quite well over the past few years as part of our efforts to promote the Ndakaini Half Marathon, an awareness drive to conserve the catchment area for the dam that supplies most of the water consumed in Nairobi.
We had settled on Wanjiru because he had been “discovered” in the 21-km race in the 2005 marathon and again in 2006.
Recently, he had also started taking an interest in environmental issues — at the time of his death, we were trying to help him set up a project for the conservation of the area around Lake Olbolosat, a dying lake near his Nyahururu home.
What struck me most about Wanjiru was his self-deprecating nature borne partly out of shyness and, more sadly, lack of adequate formal education.
His diminutive 5ft 4in frame did not help in adding to his self-esteem. His determination not to let that disadvantage bother him perhaps drove him to reach where only eagles dare.
And that was his most enduring character trait; not to let minor adversities come between him and his dreams.
Now that he is gone at an age where lesser athletes are beginning to bloom, we may want to ask whether there was anything that could have been done to change things.
During last year’s Ndakaini Half Marathon, I had the honour of sitting next to our guest of honour, Sports Minister Paul Otuoma, and I recall asking him about what his ministry was doing to “manage” the sporting men and women who had done so much for this country.
As an observer of sports, I was keenly aware of the many shortcomings of our athletes in certain aspects such as self-confidence, ability to speak to the media, managing themselves, their relationships, and their finances.
It is no secret that many of our athletes have certain deficiencies, which could be corrected before they got out of hand.
In the case of Wanjiru, one was an obvious education shortcoming. I had suggested to a local university that they could assist by giving him special admission status. Alas, it was not to be.
Another area that needs the attention of Athletics Kenya is provision of what I may call psycho-sociological support.
Success in sports has its peculiar challenges in that success tends to attract all manner of “bounty hunters” whose sole aim is to exploit any weakness the sportsman may have.
So, as we prepare to bury Wanjiru, I throw a challenge at the sports and youth fraternity to address the issue of success management as part of the training of budding sportsmen for, as someone put it, we need mens sana in corpore sano — a healthy mind in a healthy body.
May Sammy Kamau Wanjiru find peace and may his sporting spirit long outlive him. We, the people of Ndakaini, shall find a suitable way of honouring him.
Prof Kimura is the founder of the Ndakaini Half Marathon.
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Kenya: Let Us Learn From Samuel Wanjiru Tragedy