Born to Run: The Secrets of Kenyan Athletics

In 1968, I found my true athletics hero in Kip Keino of Kenya.

To me, he was the Mohammed Ali of the track world.

I was only 15 years old and winning local races in Dublin.

I realised then that I wanted to be a runner.

I quit playing soccer, to concentrate solely on a career in athletics.

COMMENTATOR: But it's Keino coming home

to become the Olympic Steeplechase Champion.

By the 1972 Munich Olympics,

Kenyan athletes were the talk of the track world.

COMMENTATOR: Mike Boit for Kenya.

And so the champion comes to the front.

At this stage, I was now attending Villanova University in the United States

and pursuing my own career in athletics.

COMMENTATOR: Eamonn Coghlan leads it at the tape!

As my career developed,

I got to know, and race against, the best that Kenya had produced -

Mike Boit, Henry Rono, Wilson Waigwa.

These men, like Kip Keino, had inspired

a nation of athletes that would follow.

For that next generation,

there is an Irishman responsible for much of their success.

Brother Colm O'Connell has been a mentor and coach to athletes setting world records,

winning World Championships and, the ultimate accolade of all, Olympic gold medals.

I've come to Kenya to meet Brother Colm and I want to find out how this country

has produced more world-class runners than any other nation.

Iten is a small town that lies 8,500 feet above sea level in Africa's Great Rift Valley.

With a small population of about 4,000 people,

this modest town has become a focal point for Kenyan distance running.

It is here that Brother Colm O'Connell has worked for the past 25 years.

St Patrick's High School has become the engine room of Kenya's

success in turning out world and Olympic champions.

It's not easy. You're in a tough, tough sport.

It's only going to be the survival of the best.

But now's the time to lay your foundation.

That's why we're taking it easy for you to learn.

We want you to learn about the sport. This is not just a training camp, this is a learning camp.

So athletes who can learn exercises, learn the value of exercises, the value of certain types of training.

That's what's important.

I never really considered my coaching ability a talent.

I came to Kenya with a certain openness to fit in,

wherever it would take me, so to speak.

And it just happened to be athletics.

I think when you get into a teaching job, in Ireland anyway, you tend to stay in the same place,

in the same school, and it becomes a bit of a routine in your life.

So I was a bit afraid of that, a little bit thinking about,

"Is this how my life is going to be for the next 20-30 years?"

So I felt coming to Kenya would certainly open up new opportunities and maybe even a new look on life.

New challenges. So it appealed to me in that sense.

And on 17th March '76, I was told, "OK, you're going, get ready."

I had seen athletics meets on television and Olympics and I had seen and heard of people like

Kipchogi Keino, I knew who they were,

but no knowledge of coaching or really having worked with an athlete.

Of course, when I came to St Patrick's then, there was a tradition in the school.

They had produced international athletes before I came.

So there was a programme in place.

At the time I arrived Pete Foster, the brother of Brendan Foster, the Olympic athlete for Britain,

he basically handed me a stopwatch, starting blocks, whistles, tape measures -

all the paraphernalia inside the basket - and said, "It's all yours now, you're the coach."

There are four things that we look at - F-A-S-T.

F - focus.

A - your alignment.

S - your stability.

T - your timing. Timing with the ground.

As you know yourself, that tempo off the ground.

If you look at their face, when you look at them coming towards you, you see their eyes,

the position of their heads and their eye focus, where they're looking.

So there's no real physical stress or strain and that is the purpose of this particular session.

Because they're running slow, also they can concentrate on their technique of running.

They can think about their running.

They don't have to think about, "What position I'm in or who's going to make a move in the group?"

-Everything is controlled.

-Correct.

-Is this still just part of their warm-up at the moment?

-No, this is the work-out.

-And they won't go any harder?

-No, this is it.

Because many of them come from a background where they only see athletics as an exertion.

They don't see it as a discipline, they don't see it as a focus

and as something you can actually bring out from inside.

They, kind of, see it just pounding the road or doing very hard track sessions.

I'm trying to convince them, from a young age that there are a lot more little aspects to the sport.

You build them up, so he will do this faster and faster.

In a sense, you will do certain things to distract the body.

Because things are going on around you in a race and even your arms and legs are almost a distraction

to your core strength, but can your core strength hold during the whole race?

Or, as happens to many athletes, it collapses.

Suddenly their hands start to flail, their legs start to wobble, their head starts to roll.

So suddenly you have lost control of it and it's the core strength that's going to sustain.

So you, in a sense, you almost lock it into position before the race starts.

Most times in Ireland, when I'd look at some of the lads I would train,

the tendency for them is to be

intense about their training all the time.

Over here, it's to be relaxed about their training.

Every single session you do, you don't have to get the very best out of yourself.

They warmed up for ten minutes and then did 30 minutes of diagonal running on a football pitch.

They came away not feeling exhausted, but feeling like they could really do more.

Whereas we have the tendency to try and run ourselves into the ground

and if we don't get sick at the end of the session, then we're not benefiting from it.

Over here, it's totally the opposite.

For all its previous success, the Olympic boycotts of 1976 and 1980, because of apartheid,

prevented Kenyans from exploding onto the scene earlier.

But it was during this period that St Patrick's was starting to train future world champions.

I suppose for the first few years, I did not realise how good the athletes were,

because they were only against themselves, they were only running in local meets and in local stadiums.

So it was only slowly in the early '80s, when some went to a couple of competitions here and there.

1983, the twin Cheruiyots went to Munich for a friendly competition of Kenya versus Germany

and each of them broke a world junior record.

It was only then I began to realise, they're among the best in the world.

It was only then it kind of opened up for me, to realise this thing is working, we're getting somewhere.

At the end of the dining hall here, we display photographs and records

of various aspects in the history of the school.

This in a sense is a, kind of, way of keeping our present generation of students

reminded of the achievements of the school over the years.

We have here Peter Rono, Olympic Champion, 1988.

St Patrick's had ten past students in Seoul in 1988 at the Olympics.

-800 metres?

-800 metres, 1,500 metres.

-5,000 metres.

-And steeple.

-And bronze?

-And bronze in 10,000.

And a silver in the marathon, with Douglas Wakiihuri.

We have a photograph here of David Rudisha and Sylvester Kirwa, who was a 400 metre runner.

Myself, at the back.

-Here we have the twin Cheruiyots.

-I remember seeing this photograph.

That is from Time magazine, 1984.

These were still students in the school, secondary school students, when they represented Kenya.

Kipkoech went as far as the semifinal in the 1,500.

Charles was fifth in the final of the 5,000, which was won by Said Aouita.

It is so inspiring to our younger kids to know who has passed through here and sat here as a young kid

day after day, when they were in school, and then went on to achieve Olympic or world fame.

It is amazing.

In modern athletics, coaches and agents are everywhere to be seen.

The sport that is such a test of one individual

is now surrounded by professionals, bringing different agendas.

-COMMENTATOR:

-The superstar in the making from Kenya, the leader at the moment.

Brother Colm breaks the rule and stays in Kenya,

while many of his top athletes compete throughout the world.

-COMMENTATOR:

-The legendary Irish coach, Brother Colm, from St Patrick's College in Iten,

says he's the greatest talent...

Any athletes I have, have been with me from the beginning of their athletic career.

Therefore, they are well used to the idea of having to cope on their own.

During the training, you prepare them for that, both mentally and physically.

So, none of them ever feel that, "I need you to be there", when the competition comes.

-COMMENTATOR:

-Augustine Choge, he is going to go under 13 minutes

and win the Commonwealth Games 5,000 metres final.

In second place is Craig Mottram, gallant in second, and third is Benjamin Limo.

But Augustine Choge has gone to the next level. A new Games record too, 12.56.42.

It's absolutely fantastic to see the fruits of all the work and all the days you spend

behind the scenes - the mornings, the days sharpening the skills.

And I think people very often don't realise what has gone on behind the scenes before you see this.

This is only the icing on the cake.

I watched that race exactly as I am now, sitting here about 1.30 in the afternoon, Kenya time, alone.

It's really the only final I ever watched sitting alone.

People would always come and want to see who was running,

but that day, it just happened to be nobody around.

And so I remember very well, when he finished, saying,

"Who am I going to tell? There's nobody around!"

So it was kind of an eerie feeling, that here you have this feeling of success

and joy and exuberation and you have nobody to talk to!

The formula times the number to molecular forces.

A mark. Give him a mark.

So, do we have any athletes at this class? Hands up those great runners.

How many great chemistry students do we have in this class?

Hands up!

Well, can you tell me what chemistry do the great Kenyan athletes have that makes them superstar runners?

-What's the chemistry?

-Milk!

-Milk?

LAUGHTER

Is that a goat's milk?

Cow's milk! Do you know what we call milk in Ireland? Bainne.

Now tell me, I'm going to ask one more question...

Who is the latest hero to come from this area?

-ALL: David Rudisha

-Who?

-David Rudisha!

-Who?

-David Rudisha!

David Rudisha.

Brother Colm's roll of champions continues.

The eyes of Kenya are firmly fixed on young David Rudisha.

In 2010, he broke the world 800 metre record,

not once, but twice, within a fortnight.

Rudisha had beaten Colm's previous student, Wilson Kipketer's record,

held since 1997.

I first saw him in primary school. I saw him running.

I saw his physical size.

I saw his stride pattern.

I saw his relaxation.

You know, not stressed, not really flailing.

Somebody who was running in a controlled way.

He was prepared to leave home as a young man, move schools,

be in a place where he knew there's a programme that works.

That showed me also a determination and a focus that he had.

David is a Masai, which is a bit different.

He comes from... These are famous,

one of the most famous tribes in Kenyan, especially in terms of tourism,

because they are nomadic pastoralists and still lead a nomadic way of life.

Within four months, David will bid for his first World Championship win,

and of course, the ultimate goal of all,

an Olympic gold medal in London 2012.

Yet Brother Colm's approach to dealing with the 2010

World Athlete of the Year

is to make him do a training session with the school's junior athletes.

He knows, or realises, the value of this kind of workout

and structure in their training.

I suppose the big danger, really,

would be if someone like David,

and not just David, I'm not really singling him out,

but an athlete who breaks world records,

wins Olympic gold medals,

wins World Championships, starts making a few quid,

all of a sudden, it could go to their head.

But by coming back here, working out with the juniors, it keeps them grounded.

-It reminds them of exactly where they've come from.

-Exactly.

And that's so important for them,

because you're, kind of, living in two worlds.

You're living in the world of media attention and the iconic status,

but there must be a time when you must get back to reality.

Tell me, when you compete now against the Americans,

against the Europeans, coming out of Kenya,

what do you see is really different

that you athletes do here compared to the Americans or the Europeans?

When we are young,

we were barefooted for play,

without shoes all the time, you know.

Like for us, we are used to look after our cattle,

-you know, playing with friends.

-Yeah.

You have that good feeling with the ground.

-That also strengthen your ankles.

-Yes.

You have a nice feeling with the ground.

I think that is also very important.

So the so-called protection

we in Europe and America get from wearing shoes at a young age,

we should throw that out the door

and we should not give our children any shoes until they are ten or 11 years age?

I'm not saying that! In Africa, it is not that we have shoes.

-Sometimes in some family we don't afford.

-Yeah.

Sometimes when you go at school you see others walking barefoot.

If you have one, you only wear during special occasions.

Kenya's success in athletics

has now become a way out for aspiring runners.

At the heart of this is a desire to escape a poverty

that is evident throughout Kenya.

From an early age,

the young runner is only too aware that success on the track

will help relieve their family's suffering.

And it is no coincidence that all of Kenya's success stories

come from poor rural areas and small farms.

When they grow up as young people,

they grow up in very difficult conditions.

Hardship is not new to them.

It's built into your system that you must be a disciplined person,

you must be a focused person

if you want to get out of this trap of poverty.

So they all have this ambition to succeed, to get on in life.

The distance between the home and the school

was about two kilometres,

so I used to run when I was going to school,

back home for lunch, then go back to school for evening lessons.

We used to train with Rudisha, because he's a sprinter, 800 metre,

and I'm also running 800.

What does it feel like when you're actually warming up

and training with him? How do you feel about that?

I feel very nice training with him.

I just admire to be like him, be a record holder like him,

and also to become a world champion.

Well, Silas, you're only 18 years of age right now.

Tell me how many times a week, how many times a day do you train?

During school days, I only train twice a day.

Now I am in holiday, I used to train three times -

in the morning, mid-morning and evening.

Wake up at five in the morning.

Five o'clock in the morning?

Do you know that most Irish boys your age

are only coming home at five o'clock in the morning?

-Tell me, do you learn a lot from Brother Colm?

-Yeah.

That you have to concentrate on your training,

follow the programme,

just to have enough time to relax.

It's made me believe in myself.

In a fiercely patriarchal society,

Brother Colm set up the first training programme for girls

within St Patrick's.

In 1997,

Sally Barsosio became Kenya's first female world champion.

Well, these are a sponsorship

by Adidas shoe company to our training camp.

We're going to give them out now to our junior athletes.

For many of them,

this might be the first time they've actually worn spikes.

Wearing spikes like these is a real novelty for them and, of course,

it boosts their morale and, you know, they feel real, actually.

It's now they're there with the best because they see, of course,

the more elite athletes who train in the area

wearing spikes when they're on the track,

and they now, kind of,

feel that they're part of the athletic community in the local area.

-This is like a graduation ceremony for them today, is it?

-Exactly.

They feel they're special now.

'They've been singled out and they have reached the stage where they can afford to be given

'a pair of spikes.'

When you wear spiked shoes, you have to get used to them,

so you have to use them.

Don't just keep them for competition.

Don't wait until you have a competition.

Because if you run or just put them on when they're new,

it will hurt your feet in places, your toe, here, here,

different places, they will hurt.

So it's better you use them also sometimes in training.

So when we go to track on Friday, you should be trying your spikes.

You don't have to wear them during the whole track session,

but at least during some of it.

Good, OK. In.

'Most of them get used to it fairly quickly.

'They'll wear them now for the next few weeks in training,

'and then they'll wear them in competition.

'You do get the odd individual who's not comfortable in spikes,

'and you'll often see them during local races

'stopping in the middle of a middle or long-distance race

'and just throwing off the spikes and just continuing barefooted.'

What's that, seven? Seven.

She wants an eight.

Have you eight here? There are eights here. You're lucky.

Everybody OK? Happy now?

These spikes, you mind them carefully, very carefully.

If you lose them, you run barefoot. No spikes. OK?

When I first got a pair of spikes, I couldn't believe my eyes, too,

that I was going to get a pair of spikes.

When I put the spikes on, I felt as if I was going to be able to fly across the track,

because I was wearing something lighter.

But more importantly, when I got these spikes the very first time,

I wore them to bed.

I couldn't wait until the next morning, to get out of the bed,

put my feet in the ground

and really fly along with these new spikes.

-COMMENTATOR:

-The 1,500m Olympic final underway.

And Keino will never be caught. The Kenyan...

I've been offered a chance to meet my childhood hero, Kip Keino.

I remember when I started running. I wanted to be like him.

I even changed my running style, to the dismay of my coach,

as I started to lean forward, just like Kip.

'I want to talk to him and get his take on why Kenya produces

'so many great athletes.'

What was life like for you

as a young boy in the '50s and in the '60s here?

In the 60s, I was going to school, running in the school,

representing my school,

in various activities -

cross-country, track and field... football, volleyball.

And, later on, I realised I'm a good runner.

But you did all this running from the time you were a young schoolboy,

-to and from school?

-Yes, I used to run to school,

run back home, run to school, and that was a lot of stamina.

And...when they had a school competition,

I was able to perform well.

Tell me this, though.

We always hear stories about what makes the Kenyans great champions.

What is it, in your mind, that allows Kenya to produce

so, so, so many athletes?

I think, um... To me, there's no secret. It's hard work.

You have to work very hard, to be able to be among the best.

And three-quarters of it is mental. Mental preparation is the key thing.

You prepare an athlete mentally, physically, and you tune him

towards the competition.

And, first and foremost, you build him up

by making him compete in cross-country.

Then, from there, you move to the track and field.

And you build it up.

And you can be able to advise the athletes,

"This is the way forward." "You're improving." "You're not improving."

"You need to adjust on this." And that's all.

Nothing, no secret. A coach is doing the guidance.

Giving him, "This is what you need to do."

People like Brother Colm, he come from Ireland.

He has...

When he came to this place, he didn't know anything about running,

but when you sit with athletes and those things and so forth,

and you see, by doing that you are able to be able to adjust

and mould an athlete to be a good athlete,

and he has done a lot for us.

Is there any one...one thing in your mind that sticks out

that makes the Kenyan athlete superior?

I don't think I have.

The only thing is advice. First and foremost, self-esteem.

Respect yourself, to be respected.

If you have self-esteem,

you can be able to guide yourself for a better resolve.

Always, you respect others and you respect yourself

and you can be able to ask the questions,

"Where am I going wrong? Where am I doing right?"

Early one morning, I came across Samuel,

a young man from the area

who still carries ambitions to be a professional athlete.

He was on his way to meet other runners around the back roads of Iten.

We followed him down these magnificent pathways.

The terrain is actually perfect for running on.

Nice and soft, nice and compact.

And, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I see two athletes coming,

then three athletes, then four, then ten, then 20.

And all of a sudden we meet them all congregating at a point

where there were approximately 50 or 60 athletes, who grew out of one.

I asked them what they were doing this morning. They said they were doing a fartlek session.

The fartlek session is going to consist of 17 times two minutes,

with one-minute rest in between each of those two minutes.

A gruelling workout, here in 8,000 feet, in altitude.

They all hope and dream that some day they're going to become

elite successful athletes, but it's not for all.

I mean, the sport nowadays is so competitive that so few of them

actually make it to the top, with the result that a lot of the ones you see are there,

as they say here, trying their luck,

hoping that they'll get a breakthrough,

that some foreign agent will see them training and will pick them out

or even some coach will identify them as having great potential.

Even the lifestyle of getting out, doing exercise,

living a healthy life, you know, there are pluses to it, as well.

It's better than just maybe hanging around a village or a town

or a city, hoping you'll get a job.

And what's the main, I guess, source of income for these people?

-Well, agriculture.

-Agriculture?

-There's really no industry in Iten. The only industry's athletics!

THEY LAUGH

Many, many of Kenya's success stories,

be it on track or in marathon, cross-country...

..a high percentage of them have a connection with Iten -

either they're from the area or they have settled and trained in the area.

The pathways around here could be described as runs of fame,

because many of the recently-successful athletes,

all over the world,

involved in road running and in track, live in this area.

Down this road here, about a kilometre or so,

we have Mary Keitany, who recently won the London Marathon.

A little bit up the road, on the other side, is Lornah Kiplagat,

one of the great road runners.

We also have people in this area, like Emmanuel Mutai,

who recently won the London Marathon.

Closer to Iten, we have Linet Masai

who won the world title, the 10,000 metres in Berlin.

In this direction, we have Ibrahim Hussein,

who won the Boston Marathon three times -

first African to win the New York Marathon.

And, of course, we have various training camps in the area, as well, which houses

quite a significant number of world beaters.

So, that's just a sample of the people who just live within a very...

..small area.

What is becoming more obvious about these athletes is their connection with the soil.

Even here, at the supposed Centre of Excellence,

the Cameron Stadium, the track surface is essentially

no different to the back roads and dirt trails around their homes.

Most runners from around the world, if they came here, they'd say,

"Oh, my God!"

The facilities around here are quite appalling.

Though it's dirt - hard, compact dirt -

it's this quality of track which has produced more world champions,

more Olympic champions, than any other track in the world.

After having coached Wilson Kipketer a young person,

and, of course he went on to achievements,

and then following that, the man to break his record, Rudisha,

I'm probably being looked upon a bit now as some kind of guru in 800 metre coaching,

which I would consider myself very far from.

'My father kept greyhounds, so I knew about training.

'I knew about regimental work, how to handle success and failure.'

Who's doing the timing here?

'I knew all the ups and downs of sport.'

Time? 400?

67? 67-68, don't go below 67.

'Kids who come to the school before ever you coach them

'have already put in place'

certain fundamentals regarding running,

for example, they run to school, they run to market,

they run for water, they run for firewood, they play a lot outdoor

because the climate is conducive to outdoor activity.

'So all I'm doing is, as a coach,

'is taking what's already in the athlete and developing it

'from within, rather than I come in with any fixed formula or format

'and saying, "Now, this is what you have to do to become an athlete."

'Not necessary. You have to be careful to always keep in mind

'what the athlete is bringing to you first.'

Keep an even pace.

I have come to Nairobi

to meet an old friend

and great competitor, Mike Boit,

who is now Professor of physiology in Kenyatta University.

What results have emerged from these studies?

Eamonn, I think first of all,

we have to look at our biological heritage

as hunters and gatherers.

And I think we're all the same.

I don't think there is anything that is specifically typical for Kenyans.

I think also from the genetic studies that we have seen,

some of the Kenyans are more related to the Europeans

than some of the Europeans being related to each other,

so you can see the genetic aspect has been ruled out.

We can look at it from the same point of view that

why are the Brazilians so good in soccer?

It is the tradition of excellence.

Why are the Canadians so good in ice hockey?

It is the tradition of excellence.

Why are the Irish so competitive?

It is also the tradition of excellence.

And I think the mental aspect is also very important.

The public expectation for Kenya's is so high that as a Kenyan,

when you don't win a gold medal, then you haven't done much.

And you cannot be good enough just to make it to the finals.

If you make it to the final as a Kenyan,

the public expectation is that you have done really nothing.

You are in the final, but you didn't do much.

So nobody would pay attention.

So there is a lot of research also that has been done on high expectations.

When you have high expectations, the performance tends to increase.

All three of you, Michael, the great 800 metre champions, have gone to St Patrick's.

What is it in Brother Colm that makes him a great mentor?

Well, I think what Brother Colm is doing is a culmination

of what the Patrician brothers have done since the beginning,

since 50 years ago,

St Patrick's, when it was established. It is consistency.

It is also taking time and not pushing too hard,

and building their confidence.

That will bring the results.

Even Rudisha now, the last couple of days, he's been a bit chesty.

-He comes from a warmer part of Kenya, from Maasailand...

-Yeah.

..so he does find the...

the conditions up here...

the conditions up here a little bit...tough.

'Having been in the country for so long,

'I understand the temperament of a Kenyan,

'how it takes some time to warm up. That's not a problem for me.

'During that time of warming up, and all that,

'an athlete is not only doing physical warm-up,

'but also just preparing himself mentally for what he's going to do,

'so you have to give them a minute, some people take longer than others.

'You just have to make sure to give them enough time and space to...

'to do what it takes THEM to do.

'Because I basically learned my early coaching from the athletes,'

I didn't have any experience, I hadn't coached before,

I hadn't done any courses in coaching,

I hadn't any... I had some books, a few books here and there to read,

but I always learned, because of that, to listen to the athlete

and to learn to very often trial and error from the athlete what works and what doesn't work.

Now, to me, to this day,

that's a very important lesson that I learnt as a coach.

And even to this day,

'I still practice and take that approach to my coaching.

'I am still very observant of athletes.

'I still know a lot by watching them.'

Good. Nice and relaxed, but pushing a little bit.

You should be moving in that direction now.

To run well under 1:30. In the sixes and the 400s, 55.

Colm is a very serene type of individual.

Nice and relaxed, nice and mellow. He's not in-your-face by any means.

There's a lot of coaches around the world who get uptight,

put their athletes under pressure, screaming at them,

shouting at them to hit the times.

There's none of that in Colm.

You can see by the bond, the connection that he has

with the athletes that they believe 100% in every single word he says.

And, more importantly, they also believe in every single word

he doesn't say, because he doesn't have to communicate verbally.

He just communicates by his very, very presence.

Depending on how you feel, or how things are going at the end

of the four, you do, maybe, two threes or two twos.

Just for speed.

Time yourself.

-Rudisha, a little bit sluggish.

-Yes.

He says he has his chest and his muscles.

But I'll tell you, he is running really controlled.

And I can see he's running for form. His rhythm is beautiful.

-I'm still also hoping that he'll race himself into fitness.

-Yes.

Well, put it like this, Colm.

A guy who can run 1:41 like he can, should be doing those,

what, 1:29, 1:28 for the two 600s

with about two and a half minute rest?

-Yeah.

-Like...that's...

that's just jogging for a guy like that, you know?

-Yet, he's breathing heavy.

-Yeah.

He's not in the shape he was this time last year, unfortunately.

-Just a little bit flat. I like to see him up on his toes.

-Running light.

-You're always comparing him to the last August.

-You want him running light on the feet,

but to be quite honest with you, me looking at him,

he's beautifully controlled there now.

How is it? Feeling OK?

Second one a bit tough?

How is the...

OK, no problem here.

Are you OK?

That's David's mother.

-You a long way from Kilgoris.

-Yeah!

-Yeah.

-She came to check if her son's OK?

-He came home to see us.

-He came home to see mamma?

-Yeah.

Very nice.

I bet you he'll pick it up now that his mam's here.

I see Tanguil fading now.

-He's picking it up nicely now.

-Yeah. They're running now.

You know it's hidden somewhere in there.

-38.

-Exactly.

With Rudisha, you see...

how he ran his fantastic times last year

just by, you know, seeing his controlled running.

And...and...and his...

ability in a couple of the intervals to just go back

and click into that mode and pick it up,

but I'm just a little bit worried about his overall conditioning.

And concerned that we have to go back a little bit

to the drawing board.

A bit tough on the chest?

But you also had a slight chest problem anyway, so maybe it's...

That could be part of your problem. But the injury OK? No problem?

We only have really next...

maybe one track session, whenever it is, Tuesday, Wednesday,

track session Saturday,

and then another track sessions maybe the following Tuesday,

and I still need a little bit of endurance building, you know.

So, even tomorrow, if you get a chance even in the morning, long run. Monday, long run.

Maybe he's... Maybe my expectations are too high.

You know? You're seeing somebody who's...

I'm thinking of last August when he was just smashing world records.

You know, maybe that's where my mind is.

You know, and I see him now, kind of, as I said,

just struggling a little bit on the track. Maybe I say, "Oh, God."

We'll see you Monday morning at ten.

'You're going to be judged at the end of the year

'by how you performed in the World Championships.'

On my visit to Kenya, I have learned that the simple approach

to training is central to their success.

Brother Colm has been able to tap into a sense of inner calm

and courage at the heart of the Kenyan athlete.

There is no ONE reason that makes them the greatest in the world.

But it's a perfect storm of conditions

that come together from hard work,

poverty, diet, altitude,

and self belief that make Kenyans supreme at their sport.

But it's Brother Colm's approach to training

that I come away thinking of how hard it is

sometimes to achieve simplicity.

'There is the world-record holder, David Rudisha,

'world athlete of the year last year.

'He was unbeaten right the way through 2010.

'Twice broke the world record.'

'The man is 6'4", he's done 45.5 for the 400...'

STARTING GUN

We had kind of talked the race through in our heads

together before he even left. This is how you're going to run the race.

This is how you win the championship. This is not about time.

This is about medals.

'The big man in lane six is going to do it from the front...'

Less than 200 metres into the race and Rudisha's taken the lead.

'...running from the front.'

'You strongly suspect that's going to be the case.

'Kaki is tracking him...'

Rudisha has kind of devised a winning formula.

As soon as they break in the back straight,

he goes right into lane one.

And, almost submissively,

the other athletes just file in behind him.

You know? As if saying, "We know that's what you do.

"And the hope is that we just hang in there with you

"and maybe you'll falter in the last 100-150 metres."

'The Russian might have the speed in his legs.

'Can Rudisha kick again from the front?

'Kaki is desperately trying to stay strong in third.

'But here comes Rudisha

'kicking off the bend and Borzakovskiy cannot go with him!

'It's going to be gold for Kenya

'and a gold for David Rudisha!'

'Borzakovskiy weakening but Rudisha drops at the line in 1:43.9...'

-Yes!

-'..and he has that major championship...'

It's as if a weight was lifted off our shoulders. You know,

all these expectations and all the pressure that was there.

He has justified his faith in me. And my faith in him.

Now he's world champion and world record holder.

And, really, there are only three things at the global level

you can achieve in athletics.

He has two of them. There's one missing.

Winning the Olympics he knows will give him immortality.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd