How Lagat beat all the odds

Twice before, she had high hopes of clinching gold for Kenya at the biggest stage, but was disappointed for not even making the finals.

Yet when all expected the repeat of her experience, Nancy Jebet Lagat thrived at her underdog status to stun the world in her hunt for an Olympic gold in Beijing, the biggest victory for her ever since.

Lagat triumphed where many had not bet on her. The odds were all stuck against her, but the 27 year old, showed the world, what class she is made up of as she sprinted to the gold courageously.

Lagat who failed to qualify past the preliminary stages in both the 2005 World Championship in Helsinki and Athens 2004 games, can now look back at her progress to the podium with pride.

Married to marathon runner Kenneth Cheruiyot, the couple oldest son turned six on the same day when she won Olympic Gold.

She is recruited by Kenya Air Force and is based at the Moi Air Base in Nairobi. Cheruiyot won the 2001 Rotterdam marathon. Now his wife is an Olympic champion.

Born on August 22, 1981, Lagat has set her focus on the four lap race. She won the 1500m final in Beijing in a personal best time of 4:00.23.

She also competed in 800m race during her younger days where she was successful as a junior.

She won gold at the World Junior Championships in Santiago Chile two years after she had settled for silver in Annecy, France while in 2004 she was crowned African Champion in Brazzaville, Congo.

She then moved up to the 1,500 after a frustrating attempt at the two lap race at the world stage. Her triumphant performance in Beijing made her the second Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold.

The first one was Pamela Jelimo, who won 800 metres at the same Olympics

The display in Beijing confirms that Kenyan women are on the march. First it was Jelimo and Janeth Jepkosgei who entertained the huge crowd at the awesome Bird’s Nest stadium winning gold and silver and then Lagat who dismantled a classy 1,500m field to capture Olympic gold.

“There is a change in mentality in Kenyan athletics,” explained captain Wilfred Bungei who won gold in men 800m.

“Women no longer have to be housewives and stay at home. There is a change in the way women approach sports and work. Now it is a career for them. They can be a housewife and have children later.”

Lagat said it is not difficult for women to take on athletics. She got the best start and drew her inspiration from her father Joseph Langat who ran the 5000m at international level.

But she pointed out that it was not her father that got her into running but the Kenyan teachers in her school at Eldoret High.

“I started running in school because I liked it, not because anyone encouraged me and in 1995 I made the Kenyan junior team, but I could not represent my country because I was under-age.”

She got her chance in a year later when she won bronze in Sydney, Australia World Junior Championship, improved it to silver in Annecy (1998) and gold two years later in Santiago at the 800m race.

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.