100 Seconds to Beat the World: The David Rudisha Story

An illustrious group of men to contest this 800m.

It's packed full of young talent.

On your marks.

My father was an athlete.

He won silver medal in Mexico 1968.

I was being motivated by that medal that one day

I want to be like my father.

And they're sucked in to going with him down the back straight.

That's really, really quick.

Rudisha looked at me when I said 60. Is this guy correct?

This guy is expecting miracles.

David Rudisha striding away, how quick will it be?

That's a world record.

Unbelievable. All on his own gun to tape.

What a privilege to be here.

MUSIC PLAYS

Even in the whole country people know about St Patrick's in sports

and athletics and the person who is behind this is Brother Colm.

I knew if I ever get the opportunity to train with Brother Colm,

probably my dream will come true.

On the surface St Patrick's is a perfectly normal school that

enrols mostly local boys.

Under the surface there's something rather special about it.

Everything about a sprinter must point forward.

I do spend a lot of time with the athletes.

Both as a teacher now as a headmaster and then as a coach.

The athletes here at St Patrick's are all boarding

so we see them 24 hours a day.

I do get to see them in many situations

and in many ways with the result that I get to see them

not just as athletes, but as students as human beings,

as people with potential in many areas not just athletics.

This guy's new. David Rudisha. Born in 1988.

23 for 200 metres and 48.1 in 400.

This is what I was looking for and this is where I think my dream

was lying.

I was a little bit shy to be in the first place for the first time.

You don't know who I was going to meet

and the only one from the Masai community.

I was so far from this place.

They all come from rural, peasant farming backgrounds.

Many of their parents would be living at subsistence level.

Small farmers making a living off a few acres of land.

This particular programme is not just going to develop athletic talent,

but help their personality and character give them a better future for their sons and daughters.

Welcome to all of you. I'm very happy to be back.

I've been in Europe for four weeks, it's very cold in Europe, very cold.

So to come back to Kenya is very nice.

This is my home. So I'm very happy to be back.

APPLAUSE

That is the first time I saw Brother Colm.

I didn't get an opportunity to come close to him because I saw him from a distance but I asked

someone and they told me it's the coach who trains at St Patrick's.

So I would like to welcome all of you but especially all of those

who've joined our camp recently because you're special to us.

We take care of you in a special way and you mean something to us.

You are important to us, all of you.

And we try our best to help you to become a success.

But you also learn as a young athlete that success doesn't

come easily.

Athletics is tough to make it.

So we hope the training will go very well.

And we look forward to working with you. Thank you and welcome.

I came out to be a missionary in Kenya, to help young people.

When somebody sees a missionary coaching athletes

they might think that's not missionary work.

Somebody else can do that.

But you can say that about any missionary work.

It can always be left to somebody else.

You believe God has called you.

I believe God has called me to the lifestyle I live.

I wanted to do my best all the time.

If I don't do what I'm required to do I might be locked out next time.

For the first time everything was hard.

There was nothing easy.

Early in the morning at six and ten they start another programme

and in the evening exercises and drill and all this.

I found it very difficult.

There is no shortcut. Training, training, training.

You must train.

That's how you make athletes!

Practically all the athletes would come from a Christian background.

They would all be church going and we encourage them.

We talk to them during their time in camp about going to church.

Their faith is important for character building

even your ability to commit yourself to your work.

I make a special effort to make sure that any talented young person

coming through from primary school from my programme gets

a place in secondary school.

I looked at your report. I looked at your results.

-Were you happy yourself?

-Yeah.

-I see

Biology A, Chemistry A, even computer.

We are happy that you got a place and that you are doing well

and we will continue to support you.

OK? Good. We wish you success.

-Good.

-Thank you.

This is like opening up the gates of heaven!

Back at home I was running barefoot,

barefoot on the dirt track.

And that is when I knew that to do well, I knew I had to get the spike.

You'd better be born with the right-sized feet

when you come to Colm's camp.

Rudisha, we hope you'll be as good as your dad in 400!

What is his PB, for your father 44-something.

45, maybe even 44. You ask him.

I think it is 44.

When we came to Kamariny that was the first time I saw the dirt track.

I'd improved a lot.

I knew if my improvement can be seen then I'm going to be

closer and closer to Brother Colm.

Which athletes have you got your eye on?

A few of them. There's a guy here called David Rudisha,

he's a 400m potentially 800m.

Oh, see, this guy.

Brother Colm told me you can do well in 800m.

But it was kind of like, OK, I admit, but not really.

I was like, "Me I'm a 400m guy."

I like 400m, my father was a 400m and I think 400m is good for me.

Have you all registered? Eh? Are we starting with 800 or 15?

I asked is there a 200, 400m, but they say there's no lanes.

800! 800!

Boys, boys, boys! You are how many, 12?

I didn't go

to register myself in that race because I didn't want to run 800m.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11...

Who is not here?

I had to tell the coach, "OK my name is not there."

David Rudisha, good.

So this is part of the intervals and it is a trial.

So you have to finish the race.

In my mind I was like,

"OK, I am going to run 400m and see how it goes."

I wasn't that confident, just started from behind.

At that time when we were crossing the bell I was in three.

Then position two.

Maybe I can defeat this guy.

I passed him in almost the last 100 metres.

It was a great time, 1.50.

Very good Rudisha.

BROTHER COLM SPITS

Even the flies are getting excited.

You could see that the performance was not very polished,

but at the same time it was the beginnings.

It was a sign.

Japheth Kimutai, a great 800m runner in his own right

was on the lookout for any emerging talent.

A special thing will come out of Rudisha.

We'd talked about finding a great Kenyan 800m runner.

The next Billy Konchellah or the next Wilson Kipketer.

Japheth's response was, "JT, you're going to be happy.

"We've found the guy.

"We've found the guy we've been looking for."

I'm going to make a special request to you

and give you a special piece of advice.

Decisions you make now about your life as an athlete may affect

how successful you're going to be.

Any decision you're going to make,

think about it carefully before you make it.

Many of our young athletes never make it to senior level.

We have 50 athletes here.

Only about ten of you might become successful seniors.

It is not how good your legs are, it is how good your head is.

Everyone will want you, everyone will try to look for your attention

when you're winning, a winner.

But the day you lose? Bye-bye, they don't want to see you any more.

They day you start losing they don't want to see you.

So be careful about that in athletics

because some days you're going to win, some days you're going to lose.

For many of you maybe 2008, 2012,

you might even be Olympians.

Where will you be in 2012?

That's a big question for you now to answer.

At the end of the camp now there was a lot of things

that was going in my mind.

Because one is I have to be doing this programme.

Otherwise, if I stop it, maybe next time when I come

I will even struggle more and more.

'I was used to the people here in the camp,

'the training was going well.

'And now I'm going back home, it was another difficult challenge.'

It was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be a world without end.

Amen.

Of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thank you.

Rudisha, we will see you when you're organised.

You come, and we are there.

Rome was not built in one day.

You cannot make an athlete in one day.

So we wish you success and a safe journey.

And you greet everybody. You are carrying our blessings with you.

Thank you very much. God bless.

APPLAUSE

When I came in 1976, there was no tarmac road,

there was no electricity, there was no telephone.

You know, it was a pretty isolated place.

Athletics happened to come along and be my medium of expressing

my passion in working with young people.

Anything I learned in the early stages was from the youngsters,

watching them training.

So my early coaching experience was very basic and very simple.

All the equipment here you can see here is used locally

and made locally.

Here, for example, we have one of our weights,

made out of a paint tin, filled with concrete.

Colm, I'm sure, he never ran a race in his life.

WHISTLE BLOWS

I would say he never even participated in...

in a sports day in his school.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Spread out around here.

But when I met him here first,

he was even then engrossed in athletics.

Six, seven, eight...

'I was really somebody

'coming into a situation where I had no experience.'

OK, 7.6.

HE BLOWS WHISTLE

'But I did come into a school

'and to an area which was living off the tradition

'and the role models that they all talked about from 1960s and 1972,

'like Kipchoge Keino or Daniel Rudisha.

'so I kind of came in in the shadow of that.'

CHEERING

We were retiring.

Our age profile is going up.

Colm is on his own now in terms of the school.

If Colm were to retire from what he's doing

and really cut all ties with the school...

..it would be the end of, um, athletics there.

That may be keeping him in what he's doing.

Dear Mr Rudisha, we thank you

for allowing David to be with us during the holidays.

He has been training here since April 4th.

We see that he has made good progress.

David can be successful

if he keeps his mind on his school work and training.

We will continue to support David

in his training and in his efforts to become a successful athlete.

And we are sure that you, too, are working hard for his success.

We also appreciate your own contribution to Kenyan athletics,

being an Olympic medallist yourself.

One day, David may also be one,

but the decision he makes now will affect his future.

Thank you and best wishes.

There was a lot of things that was going in my mind,

because, when I went back home,

I just knew that it's going to be very difficult back there.

The school at that time,

they really don't understand much about athletics and sport,

because we don't have coaches and all this stuff.

I decided, you know, to try to find a way.

When I talked to Brother Colm, of course, I told him,

"You know, I don't think it's the best thing

"to continue staying back in Kilgoris.

"So I wish to join the side."

-TEACHER:

-The matrix of transformation...

-INTERVIEWER:

-Do you miss your family?

Yeah, I miss. But, you know, sometimes we communicate.

My dream is to make the Olympic but it is not guaranteed.

It is a must,

so it is just a matter of praying God and working hard

and to see that we achieve the best.

-Do you have a passport?

-A birth certificate.

-Oh.

Before Friday.

HE WHISTLES

Ayah!

But he will make it.

-Will you make it?

-Yeah.

That was the first time aboard a plane.

We flew from Nairobi to Qatar,

from Qatar to Beijing.

I'd say, "OK, this is another opportunity."

STARTING PISTOL

'Those guys really scared me.

This was going to be suicide! HE CHUCKLES

I didn't believe I've won it.

I didn't believe. It was just like...

No, I didn't believe it.

I had a lot of athletes previously

who had gone through my youth programme

and then gone on later

to become very successful senior professional athletes.

But I was never part of the story.

"Where do I go from here now? He's World Junior Champion."

Normally when people win a world youth or world title,

they move away from my programme.

I'm not sure what David's going to do -

does he feel that he's comfortable where he is?

Or does he have bigger ideas? Or should he be somewhere else?

You know, Brother Colm, I was happy to join him.

And that was my dream when I was young.

And now that I'm with him, why shall I change to go to somebody else?

I have that belief in him.

He's the one who is going to make me become a great athlete.

From a mission, religious point of view...

..in a sense I was being asked to step out a little bit,

out of my environment of being... dealing with youth

and helping young people and all the other aspects you might consider

from my role as a missionary.

I was now going to place emphasis

on the more worldly aspects of a person's life,

which is make money, make a career.

So, in that sense, I was moving out to the margins,

out to the fringes of my missionary work.

THEY LAUGH

Rudisha, I think he's growing. He looks...

DAVID LAUGHS

I think it's the water, is it?

Or the forest or something that's making you grow.

'I think I felt,'

"Let's go for it, let's take it on."

BROTHER COLM CHUCKLES

I don't know what to do.

I have to get a bigger car!

The Stadium Of Light!

HE CHUCKLES

'The toughest journey that any coach will embark upon with an athlete

'is in their late teen years. It's that transition'

from being a junior athlete into a senior athlete.

Very few make it. Very, very few make it.

The trials are the first weekend of July.

That would be his first senior representation of Kenya.

Of course, Beijing has been a happy city for him,

he's already won the World Juniors in Beijing. So it's not...

You know, it may be a happy hunting ground.

Hopefully. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Moving up from being a great junior into the senior ranks

can often be a jump that people don't make very well.

So the danger is you either push people too fast

or we hold them back too much.

I'm just watching your movement,

your relaxation, just nice and easy.

But we are still looking at about, er...um...

two minutes, let's say. 60, 60.

Not too slow, just a nice pace.

Because unless I push you a little bit,

I'll not see how you are under pressure.

So you should be passing here in about 60 or so.

60?

60, 61, 62...

That'll be very hard!

Too high?

Maybe 6...

-64?

-A bit longer than that, maybe.

-66?

-64.

It's OK, I'm not pushing you. But, at the same time,

I just want to see you moving nicely, just to see how you do move.

Well, yeah. 64, 66.

Maybe 60 is a bit too ambitious for the first stage.

But don't worry too much. It's not a panic if you don't...

I'm not worried.

It's more just watching more how you actually run.

HE BLOWS WHISTLE

Maybe he's right... 60 was a bit too ambitious.

60 for a first run is a bit cracking.

But it should be well within his capability

but not, maybe, at this stage.

Maybe I frightened him a bit when I said 60.

He was wondering, "Has this guy cracked?

"This guy is expecting miracles."

Ah, yeah, 64. So he's OK.

I didn't even call it to him so I don't worry him.

Hey! Go easy! It's not a competition!

Be tranquil!

It's not a competition! It's not a competition!

Go tranquil!

Now it's 40.5

Try to understand what is training! OK?

Between 49 and 40 - in the middle!

Just from watching the others there,

you probably can't help avoiding different coaching methods!

HE CHUCKLES

You know? And, of course, every coach has their own approach.

STOPWATCH BEEPS

A little bit too fast, Rudisha. Take it easier.

I'm hoping for the Olympic Games.

I'm really focused.

I just want to be there, even if I don't win, you know?

Just to feel the championships, you know?

Good evening, it's nine o'clock. The headlines here on BBC News 24.

More than 120 people have been killed in clashes in Kenya.

Police have warned people to stay in their homes or risk being shot.

GUNSHOTS

A tense standoff as police try to separate rival gangs.

Brandishing machetes and clubs Kikuyus, the president's tribe,

try to provoke rivals from other ethnic groups.

These gangs are roaming around. Nobody knows where they originate from.

They seem to gather momentum as they go along and they're really hurting

a lot of people indiscriminately as far as I can see.

When there is any violence anywhere it affects almost everybody.

I was here with Brother Colm in the camp and it was a very

difficult time. Even food was becoming a problem

because no cars moving around and violence was going on and on.

Political tensions have now spilt over into tribal rivalries.

Seeing houses burnt, churches, schools being burnt, people hacked to death.

Now if that's not ethnic cleansing I don't know what is.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Nobody knew who was going to be targeted next.

On the 1st and 2nd was when we knew he was also murdered,

in the violence.

A few weeks later we went to his burial at his home.

He was a great friend.

And he used to encourage me

because he was more like an 800m and we all have the same connection.

'Having taught here and worked here for so long it kind of made me

'stop and think. All the time and effort that has been invested'

in education and in trying to

get people to reason and be accepting and all these qualities

you try to instil in, particularly the younger generations.

It kind of flashes in front of your mind, you question it,

did you really get through to all these youths?

A lot of things going on were unreasonable.

They didn't make sense to me.

Kenya has been set back a generation or

two in terms of where we thought we'd reached.

When it comes to dominance of a particular sport on the

international stage, few nations can match the recent success of Kenya.

After a period of unprecedented political unrest

and bloodshed, that quest for Olympic gold carries added meaning.

I think even the very fact that members of different tribes

would form the national team

and I'm sure even if you have a cross section of ethnic groups

going to Beijing, to the world they will show that we can work together.

When it comes to a common cause we can all unite.

David Rudisha began his athletics career

following in his father's footsteps.

The Olympic silver was a strong goal.

Rudisha wanted to go to the Olympics and win a medal for himself.

Over a couple of years his name started to crop up.

A majestic run by David Rudisha.

People like Seb Coe

and I we always tease each other about who is going to come along

and we were both saying this guy could make running 1.41 look easy.

Even as good as he was and as talented as he was,

he was only going to get better.

You're dealing with power, presence, size.

HE LAUGHS

GASPING

Ah, this young man.

Now I have...

I got an injury a few weeks ago.

In the calf muscle in my left leg.

I just ran the first 200 and then the muscle tore.

Do you still hope to make the Olympics?

We are just praying for the, you know, the Olympic, it is

tough, but we are just praying, but we will do our best to be there.

STARTING GUN FIRES

BELL DINGS

Thank you, if you've just joined us,

this was the first day of the 2008 National Olympic Trials...

Injury is not just physically debilitating,

it can sow the seeds of all sorts of mental doubts.

Am I going to be one of those athletes that is going to be

consistently getting injured at the wrong moment?

Am I going to be falling short of my potential simply

because I don't have the physicality to deal with the training load?

Rudisha is still young.

The doctor advised that if he continues running in that

situation he may injure himself or damage his tendon completely.

It's better we keep him off the Olympics.

He didn't expect that to happen.

He didn't run again that season when he probably could have,

two or three weeks after the trials, picked up his training.

But that was it, he was devastated.

It was a big blow to him.

He'd sit and brood for a long time because he thought,

"This is the only chance I'm ever going to get to run an Olympics."

He had his own deep, deep questions.

Is this going to be the story of my life,

is this how things are going to be or is it worth it?

It's easy to be a coach when things are going well.

But I think if somebody's there for them when they're very low.

When it's hard to see a way forward.

That's really when somebody needs you.

Everything has to develop slowly.

So we have to take things slowly, pole, pole.

In a sense I was a parent because David came to this side

and left family and friends

so there probably weren't too many adults he could turn to.

Brother Colm isn't just a coach. He's more than a coach.

He's also a mentor and he is also a counsellor.

Even when you're disappointed, when you feel you're down,

he knows how to approach.

And he really encouraged me and told me this is not the end.

It's not only just a physical fitness

and injury free, it's also a mental focus you have to think about.

You're still young, you're still somebody who has plenty time

and really next year is what we're looking at.

Good. Don't stand up too quick! I'm OK, you're not.

So much anticipation and excitement.

1,800 athletes from over 200 nations.

Going to the World Championship, of course.

Wow, it was my first big, major competition.

This young man, I think, is a huge talent.

David Rudisha is, I think, a brilliant 800m runner.

He was ready.

To finally get to a major championship was a great

opportunity for him.

STARTING GUN FIRES

Pace was pretty good through that first 400, set by Pecanha

then he's got Laalou and the tall striding Rudisha on the outside.

You can't go in underprepared for an 800m

because it is also the most unforgiving distance.

Events unfold so quickly.

And you are running effectively 80% of the distance

without the ability to absorb enough oxygen.

I have likened it to the "Killing Zone".

Rudisha trying to come up on the outside,

Lopez trying to get there, Reed trying to get there.

Rudisha is struggling, it's only the top two. Laalou has stolen this.

Rudisha's faltering at the end and Lopez gets the second spot.

1.45.28 and I think that is

going to mean that only the top two will go through and that's it.

It was a shock to us for him to not go to the final.

It was a shock for him. A big shock.

Everybody was asking what is wrong with Rudisha now?

When it comes to championships he gets injured.

He's not a championship athlete.

When you get a big setback like that then you always question

yourself as a coach.

You certainly rack your own brains.

Am I doing something wrong,

is my athlete losing confidence in me? Is he suddenly realising

I made a mistake?

I should have gone elsewhere to another coach at senior level?

God sometimes puts you to the sword and tests you.

To see are you going to stay with it when things are not going well.

I think you have to have belief that

there's light at the end of the tunnel.

I think he just turned over a new leaf and said, "This is it,

"I'm never going to be caught like this again."

I had to change my tactics.

I knew I had the speed, as well.

I thought, "Let me try this and run from the front and see how it goes."

Sometimes you have to risk.

The amount of times you see people out there in the arena change

their plans at the last minute because all of a sudden it seems

a little bit too daunting to go and take that on and the reason why

people are fearful of it is because they've seen so many people fail.

STARTING GUN FIRES

You can't front run and go too hard because you're just throwing

yourself to the field.

You have to have incredible confidence

and belief in yourself and the risks involved are huge.

He's gone to the front here, Mulaudzi in second, Som in third.

Symmonds trying to put the pressure on there. Look how he reacts.

I was hungry, I need to do something.

It's like when you go hunting

don't lose hope. I was like a fighter.

The last 100 I always tried to attack.

Rudisha having to work hard this time.

Reed is finishing quickly but he's not going to catch Rudisha.

This man finishes the season as the world's best.

He wins the World Athletics Final. 1.44.86.

He kicked away at the end. Nobody could live with him.

He came out in Zurich and destroyed everyone. Brussels, same thing.

That's the way he ran his races from then on.

He grew into realising that was his best way of operating.

Stretched away here. There is Rudisha.

Rudisha set two world records in a week for 800m.

Rudisha's village became the talk of the town.

As fans came to welcome the most celebrated athlete of the moment.

Rudisha's wife Lizzy Naanyu was here too clad in Maasai regalia.

The highlight of the day was the blessing of Rudisha as a Maasai warrior.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

The question many are asking is can

he sustain this performance as we look to the Worlds and Olympics?

My main target was the 2012 Olympics.

Preparing for that year, everything was just Olympic, Olympic, Olympic.

When I was young I saw the silver medal from Olympic 1968 and I

was admiring one time and wondering maybe one day I can get mine.

I was being motivated by the medal that one day

I want to be like my father.

I want to run.

I started running when I was very young.

When I was going to school always running.

No time for work, I just run everywhere.

So there was an enormous amount of pressure on you, really?

Tremendous. Country, family, Rudisha's community.

Even the world of athletics.

Would people have been satisfied with a silver or bronze?

There were all these things going through my head.

Glory be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

When you see somebody running on a track,

'somewhere in the back

'of your mind you see this person expressing a God-given talent.'

What has made them who they are and this is their way of expressing

if you look at it gratitude or recognition of God in their life.

ALL: We ask this of our Lord Jesus Christ

your son. Who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God

for ever and ever. Amen.

You cannot begin to understand the mental and physical pressures,

the enormity of the games.

It's always been the one you have to win, the measure of your career.

What gets talked about more than anything else.

In those moments did you feel God's presence?

I don't think I had much time to think about God.

God got about 100 seconds off there.

I had a dream of the gold medal.

I was on a mission.

The biggest pressure any athlete has to withstand is the internal

pressure and it's the internal

pressure of knowing you're going to an Olympic Games,

genuinely with a chance of winning the biggest thing in sport.

SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

The only thing you can do is prepare yourself to be ready for the day

and pray to God all is going to be well for you.

On your marks.

STARTING GUN FIRES

CHEERING

HEARTBEAT

BELL DINGS

And they're sucked into going with him down the back straight.

Can they hang on? They're starting to fade. This is really quick.

Through 600 in 74.3. Amos moves into second place.

Kitum moves into third.

Osagie trying to fight with Symmonds at the back.

But it's all about Rudisha.

Already the world record holder.

Already the world champion.

Striding away to become the Olympic champion.

How quick will it be?

Watch the clock. That's a world record.

Unbelievable.

Simply unbelievable.

The greatest ever 800m race anyone...

..has ever run,

that I've ever seen, obviously. What a privilege to be here.

All on his own, gun to tape.

What a race. Incredible.

It's the best 800m race of all time.

It's arguably the best race ever seen in an Olympic stadium.

Finally I could see the David I'd hoped for.

This finally is the man who suddenly appeared.

Somebody who can step up to challenges.

Who has been through the disappointments.

Who has gone through everything.

Suddenly he has become a new man.

He's the person who has jumped out of the little boy.

To win the Olympics, it was something special for me.

And it was something special for my family, as well.

To add another Olympic medal into our family is very special.

From father to the son is fantastic.

I was very, very happy.

And I felt like at least I have achieved one of the greatest things in my life.

Not only my career, but in my life.

CHEERING

SHE SCREAMS

This is now...another important medal.

It's small but it's what inspired me to become an athlete.

This is a silver medal.

From the Olympics in 1968.

We now have in the family two Olympic medals.

One from Mexico 1968 from my father.

4x400m relay.

Kenya won silver medal. It's something fantastic. I keep them together.

Yes. Another medal.

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Wow, wow, wow!

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

The Lord works in strange ways and he sends people to strange places.

There is a saying we often have in our religious life, you bloom where you're planted.

Wherever you are put, that's where you bloom.

When I started there were just basically two schools.

St Patrick's and Senghore who were the main centres

and the only people you were seeing training were school kids

running around the roads.

So the impression people would have is

athletics and running is for schoolboys, schoolgirls.

Iten has become an important centre of athletic training.

It has now become almost an industry.

Because we now have athletes who are now professional.

Athletes not just from Kenya but from overseas.

People like agents, managers representatives of shoe companies,

media and all that has become part of life in Iten.

I could never believe that the programme we are

putting in place, the tradition we are building up,

the success story that's coming out of Iten would become

a worldwide phenomenon in the world of athletics.

Some of my younger media colleagues or not

so well versed in the history of this sport say, "Who is this guy?

"What does he do? Is he this great guru, this great coach?"

I said, "He's just a lovely guy."

A lovely man with passion for his sport.

With lots of knowledge and he imparts to these

great, talented youngsters. That's what you get.

"There must be more to that. What's his secret?"

Go and ask him.

And many have and they come back scratching their heads.

Everyone's after the secret.

Pardon? There is no secret. There is none.

Anyone can come here and watch, watch Edna Kiplagat in training.

The secret is in the head, it's not in the legs.

You won't see anything.

It's the determination, the interest, the passion,

the commitment, the focus, the dream.

But these are not secrets.

It's the same for any successful person in life who

rises above the ordinary.

It's not a secret, people would like to think maybe there's secret.

It creates a bit of mystery that there's a secret.

But, I don't see any Kenyan athlete doing secret training.

Off to ground zero.

'You never retire as a missionary, you never retire as a religious.

'You don't say once I have achieved this I'm finished.

'That's the ultimate. Everything is over.

'You still have a role to play,'

you still have a life to live,

you still must get on with life.

There is life after Olympic gold.