Charles Nyende
12 July 2008
column
I may be going against the sensibilities of the nation here, but my money on the Beijing Olympics 1,500m and 5,000m gold is on a Kenyan err, American called Bernard Lagat.
Okay, let me get it right. Lagat is a Kenyan emigrant in America, or an American immigrant from Kenya, or Kenyan-turned-American, or is it Kenyan American.
Whatever. All we know is that he was born Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat in December 1974 in Kaptel Village, Kapsabet to Kenyan parents, which automatically made him a Kenyan.
Dual citizenship
He went to the land of opportunity in 1996 to pursue higher education. At some point in 2004 he became an American citizen. Since Kenya does not allow for dual citizenship, it effectively meant Lagat had renounced his Kenyan nationality.
But how many people change citizenship around the world?
It is as common as changing a pair of socks. What is troubling, though, from the Kenyan point of view, is the way Lagat appears destined to extract vengeance on his original home nation for the way we gave him so much trouble when he switched nationality, needlessly so.
He has relations and commitments here that he cannot simply abandon. Some of the dollars he is making in the US trickle down to Kaptel, Eldoret, Nakuru, Nairobi. He will make his economic gains, and so will his country of origin.
However, that is another matter.
Lagat competed for Kenya in the 2004 Olympic Games, where he won a silver in the 1,500m. But unknown to many, he had earlier taken on US citizenship.
Kenyan sports authorities, understandably distressed with what they felt was a betrayal - a feeling many Kenyans shared with them - refused to fast track his application to run for his new country.
The talented Lagat, bronze medallist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, silver medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, winner of the 2002 African Championship, silver at the 2001 World Championship - all in 1,500m and winner of the 2004 World Indoor 3,000m, had to sit out in the cold for two years before he was eligible to compete internationally for his new homeland.
He thus missed out on 2005 World Championship, where he had an excellent chance to pick his fast really big title. His perennial conqueror, Hisham El Goruouj, was not in the competition, giving Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi an easy canter to the line in a slow winning time of 3:37.88.
Perhaps, watching that race on TV in a room in the US, Lagat, with a brilliant personal best of 3:26.34, must have been gritting his teeth in frustration.
Lagat tribulations go further. He received a lot of flack for opting not to run in the 2002 Commonwealth Games for his nation, instead heading for the lucrative European Grand Prix. Greedy, they called him.
The following year, he pulled out of the 2003 World Championships after testing positive to Erythropoietin while competing in Germany. He was suspended from the competition, his career seemingly headed for a disgraceful conclusion.
But his 'B' sample tested negative and a great talent was allowed to continue breathing.
It breathed a raging fire at the 2007 World Championship in Osaka with double gold in the 1,500 and 5,000. He was then competing for the US.
But a world champion title is just that. The pinnacle of athletic achievement is at the Olympics.
Lagat recently qualified to represent the US in at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Live his American dream
"The Olympics are the biggest. Being on Team USA is wonderful. This is a dream came true," Lagat said after becoming an American Olympiad.
Lagat now wants to live his American dream. He may be 33 years, but he is still the best 1,500m runner in the world currently and I am not sure Kenya's representative at that distance Augustine Choge, Asbel Kiprop and Nicholas Kemboi will take him.
We should look at all these with levity. The Americans will claim him and his anticipated glory but we can also celebrate his achievements. After all, he is every inch a Kenyan product. Good luck Lagat.
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