Now that he’s got his steeplechase gold, Ezekiel Kemboi is setting his sights on the marathon. © www.photorun.net
Ezekiel Kemboi is not your typical world-class Kenyan runner. Compared to most Kenyan children, didn’t have to run to school. In fact, he didn’t even compete in running while in school—opting instead to play midfield on the soccer team and devote his time as a music DJ at school dances.
It wasn’t until after he graduated school that he discovered running. Several of the world steeple greats came from his district, Marakwet—runners such as three-time world champion Moses Kiptanui and former world-record holder, William Mutwol who placed third in the 1992 Olympics. He wanted to be like them.
Two years after graduating from high school, he won a local race in Kenya in 8:56 minutes. “I had no rivals to push me,” recalls Kemboi. Paul Ereng, coaching in Kenya on behalf of the International Athletics Federation (IAAF), spotted his potential and invited him to a new training camp in Eldoret. After Kemboi won another local race, Ereng wrote to various European managers, asking them to race Kemboi in Europe. In 2001, Enrico Dionisi accepted, and took Kemboi to Europe in 2001 where he improved his personal best to 8:23.66.
A world championship gold medal had long been an elusive object for Kemboi. He was second in last three world championships, which made him hungry to stand at the top of the podium in Berlin. It turns out he needed a great deal of patience to reach that position.
He couldn’t have turned to a better coach to help him get there: Moses Kiptanui. Kiptanui is the only man to have won three steeplechase gold medals at the World Championships and was a perfect match for the determined Kemboi.
“I said to him [Kiptanui] in January that I was tired of getting silver. I then trained really hard to be a winner. And now, here in Berlin, I’m at last able to say that I am the champion,” explained a smiling Kiptanui in the post-race press conference.
He is not only a world champion, but also became on Tuesday evening the World Championship record holder in the steeplechase. His coach, Moses Kiptanui, set the championship record of 8:04.16 in 1995. Kemboi bettered it by over four seconds, when he ran 8:00.43 in Berlin—the fastest ever performance in any championship race including the Olympic finals! Despite his newfound passion for running, Kemboi has never shed his soccer roots. When he won the steeplechase final in Berlin, he tore off his singlet like a professional soccer player who had just scored the winning goal in the World Cup final.
Having won a World Championship as well as an Olympic gold, Kemboi says he is looking for a new challenge: the marathon. “I’ve run the steeplechase for eight years. My coach told me to take first place and then we can decide,” he said.
However, Kemboi won’t start his marathon transition just yet. He will first compete in the steeplechase at the AF Golden League in Zurich on Friday next week.
