In Praise of Asbel Kiprop

It was Theodore Roosevelt Jnr who uttered this famous quote: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and blood; who strives valiantly: who ERRS, who comes SHORT again and again because there is no EFFORT without ERROR and SHORTCOMINGS...…."

The complete statement is profound, and I urge you to be curious and read the whole of it.

Asbel Kiprop broke into the athletics world when he won the 2007 Junior IAAF World Cross Country Championships and then later dominated the field to win the 1500m gold at the All-African Games. From then, Asbel became a feature of World athletics, his name mentioned among the potential athletes who would dominate world athletics for decades.

Asbel proved the pundits correct, coming second in the 1500 m race at the Beijing Olympics. After the Bahraini Rashid Ramzi was disqualified for doping, Asbel was promoted to Gold, fulfilling the dream of many Kenyan athletes who aspire to become Olympic champions. His win cemented his legendary status among Kenyan greats, becoming a world celebrity.