How Lagat beat all the odds

• In Athens, she went out in the semis and in Helsinki fared even worse by failing to progress beyond the heats.
• She won gold at the World Junior Championships in Chile two years after she had settled for silver in France
• World champion Maryam Jusuf Jamal (Bahrain) had no response to Lagat’s searing attack

In the Athens Games, she went out in the semis and in Helsinki fared even worse by failing to progress beyond the heats. So in Beijing, Lagat had no hope when the ratings were done before the event. And even her was not ready for the surprise.

“ I am completely surprised,” she said. “I was not expecting to perform to the level that I have.”

Coming into the Olympic Games, Lagat had a personal best of 4:02.31 with a slightly slower season’s best of 4:03.02, not the kind of clockings that made anyone think she would become Olympic champion.

In a interview she gave to IAAF Langat noted that it was only when Kenyan women came away empty handed from the 5000m that she finally got a mention.

But it never piled pressure on her. She was christened as “the lone wolf” left in the competition.

Well, the wolf had some bite in her and bite she did. World champion Maryam Jusuf Jamal (Bahrain) had no response to Lagat’s searing attack down the back straight.

Lagat even thought there were so many strong runners in the field, including Jamal, that her chances were minimal.

She attributes her victory to the good coaching work and two month training camp she had in Eldoret and Nairobi prior to the games.

“This year we changed the way we approached the Olympics. Instead of going to training camp after the national championships, we went one month earlier.

"That allowed us to harmonise our training. We were together for two months instead of one. It changed our performance, building team-work.”

Born and raised in Eldoret, Lagat now lives in Nairobi where she is a member of the armed forces. She is coached by Italian Claudio Berelli.