The Irish priest who made running a religion in Kenya
The rise of Kenya as an athletics powerhouse can be traced to one village – and one man
Brother Colm O'Connell is an Irish missionary and athletics coach, known as "the Godfather of Kenyan running". Wikipedia
O’Connell has already coached numerous world and Olympic champions but it is arguable whether any have been more exceptional than Rudisha. His time on Thursday 1mins 40.91 secs was surely the outstanding individual track and field performance of these Olympics. Jeremy Wilson
Brother O'Connell arrived in Iten, 2,400 metres above sea level in the Rift Valley, in 1976, to teach geography on a three-year contract. Thirty-five years later he is still there. In that time he has mentored 25 world champions and four Olympic gold medallists, acquiring what he calls a "sixth sense" for the sport. An estimated 800 to 1,000 runners live and train in the Iten area. The facilities are basic and diet Spartan but runners from all over the world come to the village. Last winter Mo Farah went to train at Iten. Three days ago he won gold.
The Kenyan squad was so fond of its high-altitude training that Athletics Kenya refused to send their runners to the team's training camp in Bristol ahead of the Games. "The whole world is coming to Kenya to train in long and middle-distance races," Athletics Kenya's chairman Isaiah Kiplagat said. "Why would we take our team to Bristol?"
In the Rift Valley, running is a way of life and years of training at high altitude hugely increase the blood's efficiency in carrying oxygen. To be a runner is a ticket out of poverty for some and those growing up in the Rift Valley are not short of role models.
The team's former Olympic captain and 800m gold medallist in Beijing, Wilfred Bungei, has retired, but tips his countrymen for success in London. Bungei believes Kenya's domination in long distances came by accident. "Sprinting talents scouts went to Jamaica and West Africa so Kenyans were forced to try long distances and it worked," he says. "Children have been emulating the older athletes. Children say, 'I can be a great like athlete like Bungei' and they start training."
"I've always concentrated on the development of young athletes," Brother O'Connell said when The Independent met him in Iten earlier this year. "That's where the Kenyan supply line comes from. I've not really moved up the line and ignored the youngsters."
The formula appears to be working. Kenya was the most successful African nation in Beijing f our years ago, winning six gold, four silver and four bronze medals – all in distance running events. In London, Ezekiel Kemboi has already taken gold in the 3,000m steeplechase and the total medal haul is expected to grow.
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