Lessons that David Rudisha learnt from his father

David Rudisha [Courtesy]

King David who stands head and shoulders above all as the undisputed Greatest Of All Time in 800m, achieved exalted status by dominating the middle distance event.

Two Olympics, world and African titles, three world records and an astonishing 16 races completed under the 1:43 barrier, considered as a measure of a fine 800m runner, tell of an athlete who not only mastered his event but defied all logic in the process.

David Rudisha’s three predecessors as world record holders, Alberto Juantonera ‘Danger’ of Cuba, IAAF President Sebastian Coe of Britain and Kenyan-born Danish great, Wilson Kipketer, all combined cannot beat Rudisha’s record of going sub 1:42 for a jaw-dropping seven times.

No other athlete comes even remotely close to equalling the dumbfounding 67 races the imposing six foot four two-lap phenomenon has dipped under 1:45.

To make sense of these figures dear reader, try going to a tartan track and run at your maximum speed for two timed laps and see how close you can come to beating his poorest recorded ever mark of 1:57.0 posted on May 25, 2007 in a murram track in Kitale (offer open to ordinary folk, not pro athletes).

Then, he was still a precocious teenager who had gained some international fame when he won the IAAF World Under 20 (Junior) title at the 2006 edition in Beijing, China where he earned the nickname ‘Pride of Africa’ for his smooth running. Injury interrupted his 800m career and he misrfs the Beijing 2008 Olympics as well as the Moscow 2013 and London 2017 World Championships, even then, Rudisha is simply a living wonder.

But Rudisha is not even his name.

David Rudisha's late father Daniel Matasi. [Courtesy]

His baptismal identity was David Lekuta, with the most famous of his tags being handed down to him by another star athlete who came before him, Daniel Matasi Rudisha, his father, who passed away on May 6 having fought diabetes and high blood pressure for most of his later years. He was 73 and suffered a heart attack at the War Memorial Hospital in Nakuru.

Australian James Templeton, the agent who represented Rudisha for over a decade before he signed with Dutchman Michel Boeting was fond of telling this joke.

“One day we visited their home in Ol Tanki village, Trans Mara and I called Rudisha! His father who was sat soaking the sunshine quickly corrected me in a firm voice, saying the man you are calling is Lekuta, I’m Rudisha!

“The old man would have none of it, he insisted he was Rudisha and for a moment, I thought I had upset him before he burst out laughing so loudly and said, “I’m proud of my boy,” Templeton shared.

Having taken on and floored anything and everything thrown at him especially during his peak years of 2010 to 2012 when he was running not against seven fellow starters but against the clock in a race of one, Rudisha, who is 30, has been forced by the cruel hand of death to face two of his toughest challenges in his life in just a few months.

In December, he lost astep-sister, Harriet Namunyak Rudisha who died of cancer at the tender age of 24 on November 26, 2018 and on Monday, he will bid farewell to the patriarch who was a star of his time having won silver for Kenya at the Mexico Olympics in 1968.

It is said the apple never falls far from the tree. Not satisfied with inheriting strong-bodied genes, it was his father’s running pedigree that the more famous Rudisha, desired to emulate most amongst his siblings.

He ventured to make a name in athletics despite the father quitting the sport to become a teacher and coach, rising to be a District Education Officer in Trans Mara and right from the onset at Ol Tanki Primary School, Kilgoris.

“I realised I could run after finding out that my dad used to run and it gave me the morale that if he did it then maybe I could also run,” the younger Rudisha said when he returned home with the gold from Beijing World Juniors, rubber-stamping the notion his dad was not keen on any of his children venturing into athletics.

“Mzee was a role model to me. He is somebody who was always hardworking in everything he was doing.

“He was very humble, welcome and of course very respectful to everyone around him.

“Those are the greatest virtues I learned from Mzee. He lived a very simple and private life.

“He is not somebody who wanted to show off, he was somebody who loved his work and did it with all his heart.

“He was not there to wait anybody in a vacuum, to do anything or say what, he did his job with a good heart. Those are the things I also learned in my life that really helped me a lot my career and of course also shape my life,” David said.

He said that he just followed in his father’s footsteps. “Sometimes they say I’m his duplicate in many ways, I feel it is inborn.”

“He made me so proud because I knew he could do it,” said the elder Rudisha, who was overcome with emotion when his son, who had stepped up from to 800m at St. Francis High School, Kamuron, won his first global title to add to the 2007 Africa Junior 400m crown in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

When he minted the big one — Olympic gold — from London where he put together his most memorable race of all time, stopping the clock at 1:40.91 world record, the proud son posted on social media a photo of his father’s silver medal alongside his own with the caption, “Dad, I fulfilled your dream, the Olympic gold is finally home.”

It was a poignant moment for the Rudisha family. Disillusioned he was not making enough to support his family despite running for Kenya, the patriarch abandoned his desire of winning an Olympics title and left running to teach and become a part time coach at his prime.

The despondence was further inflamed when at the very next Olympics in Munich 1972, two of his Mexico 1968 teammates, Charles Asati and Munyoro Nyamau went on to win the 4X400m title alongside Robert Ouko and Julius Sang.

“It is with deep sorrow and profound grief to announce the death of my father who passed on in Nakuru after a short illness. He mentored me personally and many others. The gap left by him shall be felt and hard to fill. RIP dad,” the grieving David tweeted.