Former World Junior 800m record holder Japheth Kimutai is the epitome of Kenyans who have risen from the ashes of poverty to transform their lives through sports.
Were it not for his father Chering Seurei, who braved the cold nights to eke out a living as a watchman at Lelmokwo secondary school, the former Commonwealth Games 800m champion could have dropped out of school.
Kimutai, the second born in a family of seven, never dreamt he would one day steal the headlines as a world-beater in the two-lap race. He now says he is indeed a lucky man.
After his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in 1993 at Lelmokwo Primary, the 1994 world junior 800m silver medalist joined Lelmokwo secondary where his father worked.
“At some point, I could cry over the mere thought that my father was a watchman. I was not comfortable with the situation so I had to look for an alternative school. Every time I passed by, he opened the gates for me so I felt it wasn’t the right thing,” said Kimutai.
“I finally got a transfer to another school. I was approached by Bro Colm O’Connel and joined St Patrick’s Iten,” said Kimutai.
Kimutai said that he didn’t have any idea there was someone somewhere actually monitoring his progress in athletics.
“During my years in primary school, I could run very well up to the national level. I competed in both the sprints and long-distance races.”
Little did he know that Bro Colm O’Connel had been trailing him on the track all along to keep up with his progress. “He came looking for me in December 1993 at the national championships.”
Kimutai said he performed remarkably well in every sport he embraced.
“As a kid, I could participate in all sports including football, basketball and athletics. I was the teachers’ favourite pupil because I won points for the school,” explained the 1998 Commonwealth Games 800m champion.
Kimutai said that he went to Iten without a single item in his possession owing to his family’s financial constraints.
“I had to choose running away from Lelmokwo because I wanted my father to enjoy his life after earning his salary and do whatever he wanted to do with his measly income,” Kimutai said.
“I was admitted to Iten without any school fees. I didn’t even have a uniform. Colm kept on watching over a boy from the village, who could not sit with the white man for a talk,” said the 1999 All Africa Games 800m champion.
Surprisingly, Kimutai said that when he arrived in Iten, he found out that the school had already earmarked him as a potential athlete. “At Iten, my life changed completely after meeting good people, good teachers, mentors and runners within the school who encouraged me to overcome the hardship back home.”
He received all manner of gifts and there were even those who offered to clothe him. “I was given a trouser, a sweater and other needs.”
Back home, Kimutai’s father was a dejected man, weighed down by the nagging feeling that his son had quit school.
“As I was enjoying life in a new environment, my father back home was a disappointed man knowing that I had run away from school.
“He thought I would run into trouble and kept wondering who would help me out there. He only settled down when I asked him to relax because all I wanted was to mould my future.”
In a twist of fate, his father was fired after failing to report to work due to drunkenness. “Imagine if I had remained there, where would I be? Most likely I would have ended up staying at home with him,” he explained.
Kimutai successfully managed to brush the setback aside to storm to a silver medal at the World Youth championship.
“In my first year at Iten, I managed to represent the country at the World Youth Championship and won the silver in the 800m. His feat changed the view of the villagers and his father back in the rural home.
“The entire village came to celebrate with me and my father was so grateful. He asked me why he had to struggle to pay school fees while I knew what I wanted.
“That left a mark that will never be erased. I wanted to ease off the pressure my father had. Going to Iten allowed him to use his salary for other responsibilities.
“Imagine if I had stayed at Lelmokwo and ended up achieving nothing after all the school fees he had to pay. He would have felt disappointed.”
Kimutai said he managed to build his father a house four years after joining Iten.
“Everyone in our village wanted to emulate me after they saw what I had achieved in athletics.”
Kimutai says he was poor in mathematics but got good treatment and encouragement from the teacher Mr. Serem. At Iten, he was never ‘bullied’ given the kind of respect he earned on the track.
“Iten had bright students who could receive awards at the end of the term. Although I wasn’t as good, I promised that I could leave the place a better place than I found it.”
“During games, some top athletes like Charles Kwambai, Johanna Chemweno, and Peter Serem among others represented the country in the cross country winning medals and raising the bar so high.”
In 1995 while in Form Two, he would train at the Colm camp where they remained during the school holidays and that built his strength.
The same year, he was picked to fly the country's flag at the Africa junior championships where he had to double to increase his chances of qualifying.
He ran in both 800m and 1,500m and won the national titles in both races and went ahead to win two gold medals at Africa junior championships.
“In 1996, I was in super form, but guess what, it was the most disappointing year even after winning every race in Kenya I did not win anything at the world juniors in Sydney ahead of the Olympic Games.
“ I lost races on technicalities. I didn’t gauge the race properly. I ran too fast in the first lap with surety of gold but I burned out in the last 200m and it was a bad lesson well learned. After that I went out strongly to break the world junior record the following year while doing my last year in high school,” he explained.
With such success as a fledgling athlete, he managed to build a permanent bridge on a stream that had divided the two villages.
The politicians didn’t want him to do that because they thought he was undermining them and the facility was a bridge to a political milestone.
“If I had to go home, before the bridge, I would drive over 5km away but now, it is just a kilometre away. As he was planning to exit high school and graduate as a senior, he had to look for an exit route so he approached James to manage him and he accepted where he shared contacts with Colm as the contact and the link.
The manager took him and others to Europe in various races and he ran in class B at the Zurich Golden league where he set the world record.
“In that race, five records were set starting with me in juniors then Wilson Kipketer in the 800m, Wilson Boit Kipketer in the 3,000m steeplechase record among others. That was another change in my life,” he said.
“Before the world record race, they wanted me to sign a contract with the shoe company, which I didn’t understand but after the race, they tore the contract papers.
“When I saw the dollars, it was good for me but they said that whatever I was being given was little money but for me, it was a large amount of money. So they offered a proper contract and I came home a happy person. We were able to run and do anything in the world,” he remembered.
After graduating to the seniors, they set up a training camp in Iten and eyed the Commonwealth Games qualifying time. He said that they did extra work in the game preparations.
“Our manager asked me whether I was at the level expected and my answer was no because I felt I fell below expectations. It was a shock to him. Before the Commonwealth, there was a World Cup in South Africa. I did not do well because of the cold weather.
“But heading to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, I told my teammates and my manager that I was going to do something extraordinary, they all laughed because I had performed poorly in South Africa. I went ahead to win gold because I was mentally and psychologically prepared for gold. I almost ran the championship record but missed with a small margin,” he said.
Japheth Kimutai profile
1978- Born as second born in a family of 7 children (Chering and Jenifer Seurei- father and mother)
1993- KCPE at Lelmokwo Primary school
1994- joins Lelmokwo Secondary school (runs away in less than a month)
1994- Joins St Patrick’s Iten in Form One
1994- win silver at world junior championships in 800m
1995- Africa Junior 800m champion
1995 Africa Junior 1,500m champion
1996- world junior championships number 4
1997 World Junior 800m world record in Zurich at 1:43.64
1998- Africa Championships, gold in 800m
1998- Commonwealth Games 800m gold
1999- World championships-5
1999- All Africa games 800m gold
2000- Olympic Games semifinalist
20000 - got married to Naomi Misoi, who was also an athlete
2002- Commonwealth Games – 5
2003- World Cup- semifinals
2003- retires from active running
2011- sets up Complete Sports Training Camp
