Faith Kipyegon has narrated how attending a homecoming party of the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 1500m got her motivated to be a great athlete and follow in her footsteps.
Kipyegon and the 2008 Olympic champion Nancy Lagat hailed from the same village and on the day the latter was coming back home from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a huge celebration was planned in her honour.
At the time, the two-time Olympic 1500m champion was still in school and her teacher at the time requested all the athletes in her class to attend the event and perhaps get inspired. Many may not have gotten inspired but Kipyegon was moved by that and promised herself to work hard and make it to the top, just like Lagat.
“In 2008, Nancy Chebet Lagat won a gold medal in Beijing and she is from my village called Keringet. She was welcomed home with her friends, Pamela Chelimo with many other athletes so my teacher told us to join the celebration and go and see what was happening there. I was also there but at the time, no one knew me,” Kipyegon said.
Speaking at the same time, Lagat was keen to note that she never thought Kipyegon was among the dozens of people who flooded her home.
However, she was sure about one thing, that her success on the Olympic stage inspired Kipyegon to chase history.
“It is a surprise that she came to my celebration and I think that motivated her to work hard and know that she can make it. I know Faith is a great athlete and during the Paris Olympics, she is equal to the task,” she said.
Kipyegon and Lagat are the only Kenyan women who have won the 1500m title on the Olympic stage. This year, the three-time world 1500m champion wants to make history by winning her third successive title.
She claimed her first Olympic title at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games before defending her title at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Kipyegon opened her season at the Kenyan Olympic trials, where she claimed the win in the 1500m and 5000m.
The 30-year-old is just fresh from lowering her 1500m world record time at the Paris Diamond League Meeting. She stopped the clock at a blistering 3:49.04 to impress and as she heads to the Olympic, her track record will certainly be warning shots to her opponents.
