Running into Glory

Uganda’s golden boy shatters world records and puts his country firmly on the athletics map

- Godfrey Olukya

He’s a running phenomenon, smash-ing the 15-year-old world 10,000-meter record by a breathtaking 6.53 seconds in Valencia, Spain, on October 7. The athletic milestone is even more impressive when seen in the context of his world record victory in the 5,000meter run on August 14 in Monaco.

He is now the 10th man in history to hold the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter world records concurrently, according to worldathletics.org.

But things were not always so glorious for 24-year-old Joshua Cheptegei. At the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, Ugandans were shocked when their star runner in the 10,000-meter race, who had been leading from the start, succumbed to fatigue.

He dropped out of contention less than 1 km from the finish line, painfully walking the last part of the race as all the other competitors passed by, eventually coming in at 30th position.

“What has happened to our runner? Has he been bewitched? He had less than 1 km to win the race but he looks wasted,” shouted one of the race commentators.

But it seemed while his spirit was willing, his body had given up and all he could do was to walk to the line in agony. Many Ugandan spectators were so disappointed that they labeled Cheptegai a fake and said he had brought shame to their country.

One of the country’s veteran athletics trainers John Oramu said there was total disbelief at what people were seeing as Cheptegei stopped running and started walking with his chest bent backward. “Some people shed tears because it was too much for them seeing a Ugandan who was about to win a gold medal [at home] and big cash prize, collapsing not far from the finishing line,” Oramu said.