By Peter Thatiah

Few Kenyans can claim not to have seen Kipchoge Keino’s face either on the sports pages of a newspaper or on TV.

He is a well-known athlete, locally and internationally.

Kipchoge Keino with athletes in training. He is the Nock chairman.

And for someone who had only seen the icon in the media, his simple demeanour and easy attitude did more than calm my nerves during a recent interview.

Dressed in a dark suit, the legend has just arrived from his Kazi Mingi Farm in Eldoret when I encounter him at the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock).

I expected something befitting the enthralling stories told about the man to aspiring athletes growing up in the 1980s. We were told he could run faster than a Peugeot 404 on gear one.

He sets himself behind a dark-topped desk and answers a phone call while I take a look at the walls, scanning for any medals.

LEGEND IN ACTION: Kipchoge Keino wins one of his many races in 1968.

But I only see photos of the Nock chairman in his heydays, mostly with dignitaries such as the late founding father Jomo Kenyatta, Milton Obote, Haile Selassie and former President Moi, receiving one award or the other.

But one thing for sure, you will not sit with the man for long before realising you are in the presence of a great man, despite his easy-going nature.

His life’s journey began with all vicissitudes peculiar to those destined for greatness.

"I was born in Nandi Hills on January 17, 1940, where my father was a farm worker in a white settler’s tea estate. My mother died when I was three years. My father never re-married and brought me up single-handedly," he says.

At Kaptumwa Intermediate School, the future world track king could only get to

The late President Jomo Kenyatta hands Kipchoge Keino the Kenyan flag for the 1968 Olympics Games in Mexico. Photo: File/Standard

district level during his primary school days and provincial level in secondary school competitions.

"After joining the police force in 1958, I finally represented Kenya in the East African Championships in the 1,500m and 5,000m races, which were then called the one-mile and three-mile distance races," he reveals.

Then Kipchoge went through experiences that ultimately shaped not only his future, but also that of thousands of young men and women who came after him.

Contrary to popular perceptions, his philanthropy work started long before the famous win in the Mexico Olympics in 1968.

While on duty in the Northern Frontier, he had met two abandoned Somali children and adopted them (the boy later became a police officer and the girl married). That was the beginning of a cherished venture that still occupies his time.

Like many who meet him, I am anxious to talk about his haul of medals. Surprisingly, he does not know how many they are off head.

When he starts counting, he runs out of fingers midway. In fact, he speaks about them as if they were an insignificant sideshow.

He is more into children and is passionate about helping them achieve their potential.

At the peak of his running career, Kipchoge won 10 gold medals in international meets, including the Olympics Games. It is a feat yet to be equalled.

From the Olympics Games, alone, he has two gold medals and two silver. The most sensational win was his first Olympic gold in 1968 in the 1,500m race.

In one of the greatest upsets in Olympics history, he won against the hot-favourite, American Jim Ryans, and it took 16 years to break his record of 3.34.9.

He then became the first African to break a world record, a feat he repeated twice.

He says: "In fact, I was entitled to two gold medals in Mexico because the man who beat me to the tape in my quest for a second gold in the 5000m was on dope. In 1972 Munich Olympics, I won another gold medal in 3,000m steeplechase and a silver medal in 1,500m distance."

Would he have added more medals had Kenya not boycotted the 1976 Montreal Olympics over British trade with apartheid South Africa and the 1980 Moscow Olympics?

Many are in the affirmative. For Kipchoge, however, his retirement from competitive athletics had already begun and he ventured into training younger athletes before becoming a sports administrator.

So how many children do you have? I ask. He says: "I married Phyllis in 1964, just after the Tokyo Olympics and we have more than 500 kids."

Of course, most of them are adopted and he has brought them up in his Eldoret farm, which even has a school.

However, Kipchoge will not reveal the number of his biological children, saying he treats all of them equally.

After scouring around the Nock offices, I find a record indicating he has 12 biological children with his wife.