Kenya loses a new athletics star.
Four days after the tragic death of Kelvin Kiptum, marathon record holder in 2 hours and 35 seconds, the country must say goodbye to Henry Rono, one of the best long-distance runners of the 1970s. The former Kenyan athletics star died on Thursday, February 15, in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
In 1978, he achieved the feat of breaking four world records in four different events in the space of 81 days.
On April 8, 1978, while a student in the United States, he broke the 5,000 meter record in 13 minutes, 8 seconds and 4 hundredths in Berkeley.
In Seattle on May 13, he set the world record in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 8 minutes, 5 seconds and 4 hundredths.
A record that would hold until 1989. Then, on June 11 and 27, he broke the 10,000 and 3,000 meter records.
That year, he won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and two more at the African Games.
A track record which allows him to be the athlete of the year for the American magazine Track and Field News.
Kenya's former multiple world record holder Henry Rono has died aged 72.
The athlete succumbed to a short illness earlier today at a hospital in Nairobi, Athletics Kenya announced.
He made history by breaking four world records in just 81 days in 1978.https://t.co/VxQROOdZaZ pic.twitter.com/miHwdmFg2z
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) February 15, 2024
He beat his own record in 1981 over 5,000 meters in Norway.
A special performance due to his alcoholism since he had drunk the day before the race.
And after an hour of warming up to get rid of the alcohol, on the day of the test, he managed to surpass himself.
Deprived of the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 and in Moscow in 1980 due to the boycott of African countries, he considered this absence as a personal tragedy in his career.
Athletics Kenya is saddened to announce and notify the public of the resignation of former Athlete Mr. Henry Rono which occurred this morning.
#RIPRono pic.twitter.com/YTqnmcq74H
— Athletics Kenya (@athletics_kenya) February 15, 2024
Consumed by alcoholism, he took on odd jobs before becoming an employee at the Albuquerque airport, in the south of the United States.
In 2019, he will appeal for help so he can return to Kenya.
In the Kenyan media Nation, he asked the government of his country to pay for a plane ticket for him to return home.
A wish granted for the one who was able to live these last days in his native Kenya.