World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge is no doubt the oldest athlete in the track and field team heading to Tokyo Games next month.
Kipchoge, the only man in the world to have run a marathon in under two hours at the Ineos 1:159 Challenge in Vienna, Austria, in 2019 as well as the reigning Olympic champion leads Kenyan onslaught in the Japanese capital. This will be his fourth appearance at the Olympics.
He was born on November 5, 1984 and will marshal forces with Chicago Marathon winner Lawrence Cherono (born August 7, 1988) and 29-year-old world marathon bronze medallist Amos Kipruto.
It’s a relatively young age in the women’s squad as world marathon record holder in mixed race Brigid Kosgei leads world marathon champion Ruth Chepng’etich (born August 8, 1994) and world half marathon women-only champion Peres Jepchirchir in the race to succeed Jemimah Sumgong, who struck gold but later failed dope test.
Mary Moraa, who made the Olympic qualification in 800m in 59.25 in Sweden last week, would be the youngest star in the team. Born June 15, 2000 seems to match Vivian Cheruiyot –who made the Olympic squad in Sydney 2000 — while still a primary school pupil.
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Moraa was born three years before Kipchoge won the world 5000m title in Paris in 2003.
In 2016, Team Kenya presented a relatively old age. Ezekiel Kemboi was no doubt the oldest in Kenya’s Olympic squad to the Games in Rio, Brazil.
At then 34, Kemboi was nick-named Baba Yao (their father). He received the baton from the golden generation of former world marathon record holder Paul Tergat and three-time world 3,000m steeplechase champion Moses Kiptanui in the late 1990’s.
Kemboi won gold in 2004 (Athens), finished ninth in Beijing (2008) and won gold in London.
And Kemboi, Kenya’s steeplechase maestro, always appreciates his unrivalled consistency. “When I was at the IOC Camp in Eldoret in 2002, you were still in school. In fact I visited some of them while they were in high school,” Kemboi told athletes in Moscow at the World Championships.
When he won silver medal in 3,000m steeplechase at the world championships in 2003 in Paris, Conseslus Kipruto who won silver behind him in Moscow (2013) and Beijing (2015) was just nine years old.
The team then looked an older team, with an average age of 28 years, and comprised athletes like David Rudisha who were in the 2006 World Junior Championships in Beijing, China
Mike Kosgei, who has guided Kenya’s team to various championships in the past, said an older team is instrumental.
“A big championship needs older and experienced athletes with at least 28 years,” said Kosgei.
