{"id":425298,"date":"2011-05-17T01:31:10","date_gmt":"2011-05-17T01:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/17\/kenya-barefoot-boy-from-nyahururu-who-became-a-world-champion\/"},"modified":"2011-05-17T01:31:10","modified_gmt":"2011-05-17T01:31:10","slug":"kenya-barefoot-boy-from-nyahururu-who-became-a-world-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/17\/kenya-barefoot-boy-from-nyahururu-who-became-a-world-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya: Barefoot Boy From Nyahururu Who Became a World Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

16 May 2011<\/p>\n

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Nairobi \u2014 Mr Samuel Kamau Wanjiru’s life history reminds one of the famous story of Simon Makonde in primary school English classes — one who was born on Monday, married on Wednesday and died on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Like the Makonde story, Wanjiru’s rise from rags to riches and eventually to his grave was record breaking.<\/p>\n

The world marathon champion was a star at 18, married around the same age, was a millionaire in his early 20s and was dead before he turned 25.<\/p>\n

Back in 1999, a Japanese athletics coach Sunish Kubayash, watched a barefoot boy win the national primary school cross country championships in Kisumu.<\/p>\n

Impressed, the Japanese coach traced the lad to Nyahururu, and offered to train him for two years.<\/p>\n

If the boy attained international standards, the coach promised to facilitate his move to a Japanese high school on athletics scholarship.<\/p>\n

And a star was born.<\/p>\n

Ten years later, the poor boy from Nyahururu had set several records in international athletics, and broken old ones.<\/p>\n

The boy, who ran barefoot in primary school athletics meetings, drove the latest Range Rover and was worth a couple of millions.<\/p>\n

Born on November 10, 1986, in Nyahururu, Wanjiru did not shy away from discussing his humble background, including how his parents separated when he was five, and how his mother struggled to bring him up.<\/p>\n

“I wore my first shoe when I was in Standard Eight,” he told the Nation in an earlier interview.<\/p>\n

Had he not met Mr Kubayash, Wanjiru conceded that he would never have made it in life and that he would have been another poor casual labourer somewhere in the wheat fields of Nyahururu.<\/p>\n

“My family had no means to pay for my high school education. So, probably I could be doing masonry or be doing some casual work,” said Wanjiru.<\/p>\n

He was 14 when he wore his first pair of shoe — a pair of plastic slippers commonly referred to as Sandak. Four years later, he made his first million, after breaking the world half-marathon record.<\/p>\n

After completing primary school at Githunguri Primary, Olkalau, in 2000, Wanjiru left for Japan in 2002 two years later. There he joined Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School in Sendai, thanks to Mr Kubayash.<\/p>\n

After graduating in 2005, Wanjiru joined the Toyota Kyushu athletics team. The rest is history.<\/p>\n

From his base in Japan, Wanjiru went on to rake millions of shillings in five marathon victories.<\/p>\n

One victory that made him a household name was the Beijing Olympics, which he clocked 2:06:32, breaking a 44-year record set by a Portuguese.<\/p>\n

Until his death, the athlete drove a Sh8 million Range Rover and an equally expensive Toyota VX. He also told the Nation that he owned property in Nairobi and Nakuru, as well as shares in Japan.<\/p>\n

But the millions earned on the track and the celebrity status that came with it put the athlete’s social life in sharp focus.<\/p>\n

Both friend and foe say he was a party animal — and would not hesitate to spread the cash around.<\/p>\n

Prior to his death, Wanjiru was facing charges before Nyahururu senior resident magistrate Alice Mong’are, on three counts of being in illegal possession of a firearm, assaulting and threatening his watchman.<\/p>\n

Earlier, his wife Teresia Njeri had filed complaints that the athlete had threatened to kill her. She later withdrew the complaints.<\/p>\n

He met Ms Njeri through her brother Waweru Mururi, his roommate in the early days in Japan.<\/p>\n

They married when Wanjiru was 18. Asked why he married early, the athlete said he needed someone to take care of his property back home, as he concentrated on the races back in Japan.<\/p>\n

“I come from a very small family, my mother and one brother. I wanted to get children early,” he said in an interview.<\/p>\n

The marriage was not entirely without its ups and downs, with Wanjiru and his wife at one point admitting that they were going through a rough stretch — thanks to the marathon dollars, their tender ages, and what they described as “interference” from friends and relatives.<\/p>\n

Wanjiru was still trying to balance between the money, a rocking marriage, and a complicated social life when he died on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

He left behind his young wife, and two children, Anne Wanjiru, four, and Simon Njoroge, two.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\nKenya: Barefoot Boy From Nyahururu Who Became a World Champion<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16 May 2011 Nairobi \u2014 Mr Samuel Kamau Wanjiru’s life history reminds one of the famous story of Simon Makonde in primary school English classes — one who was born on Monday, married on Wednesday and died on Sunday. Like the Makonde story, Wanjiru’s rise from rags to riches and eventually to his grave was record breaking. The world marathon champion was a star at 18, married around the same age, was a millionaire in his early 20s and was dead before he turned 25<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-425298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\nKenya: Barefoot Boy From Nyahururu Who Became a World Champion - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/17\/kenya-barefoot-boy-from-nyahururu-who-became-a-world-champion\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Kenya: Barefoot Boy From Nyahururu Who Became a World Champion - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"16 May 2011 Nairobi \u2014 Mr Samuel Kamau Wanjiru's life history reminds one of the famous story of Simon Makonde in primary school English classes -- one who was born on Monday, married on Wednesday and died on Sunday. 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