Kip Keino pictured at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, South London
winning a one mile race from Peter Stewart (GBR).
Two golds at 1966 Commonwealths.
One individual, in particular, who could be said to have the led the
'revolution' of black African runners
that occurred from the end of the
1960s was Kipchoge (Kip) Keino of Kenya. During the period 1962 to
1973, he became renowned for both the range and number of events that he
competed in at international
championships. He began this career at
the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia where he
came 11th in
the three miles and set a Kenyan national record in his heat of the
mile. At the Tokyo
Olympic Games in 1964 he competed in two events,
producing four strong performances in as many days.
He finished 5th in
the final of the 5000m, and ran 3min 41.9sec in his semi-final of the
1500m, missing
the final by only one place. The year 1965 heralded a
rapid improvement in his performances culminating
in two World Records.
At Helsingborg, Sweden on 27 August, Keino lowered the 3000m World
Record by
over 6 seconds to 7min 39.6sec at his first attempt at the
distance!! Later in the year, on 30 November at
Auckland, he broke the
5000m World Record held by Ron Clarke (Australia) clocking 13min
24.2sec.
Three weeks later in Sydney, he ran the second fastest time in
history over two miles (8min 25.2sec).
With this record, it was no
surprise that he then started winning titles. At the 1966 Commonwealth
Games
in Kingston, Jamaica he won the mile in 3min 55.3sec - a Games
record, and defeated World Record holder
Ron Clarke in the three miles
in 12min 57.4sec for another Games record. Less than two weeks later,
at London on August 20, he won the memorial Emsley Carr mile [(see photo
above)] in 3min 53.4sec,
the second fastest mile ever run, behind only
Jim Ryun's World Record. (Ron Casey)
Gold and silver at 1968 Olympics.
During 1967, Kipchoge (Kip) Keino continued the consistent world-class form that had brought him two
Commonwealth Games gold medals the previous year. He ran the mile under four minutes on 6 occasions
during the year recording his fastest time of 3min 51.3sec at Kisumu, Kenya on 10 September. In the 5000m,
he repeated his Commonwealth Games victory the year before over Ron Clarke at Los Angeles on 9 July,
recording 13min 36.8sec. It was the ideal preparation he needed for the Olympic Games the following year.
Even for an athlete born and bred at high altitude, the herculean program of distance running events that
Keino undertook at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City seemed insanely over ambitious.
He contested the 10000m, 5000m and 1500m, which would involve six exhausting races in just eight days.
In the 10000m, he was with the leaders with less than three laps to go when he suddenly withdrew with
severe stomach cramp, which was diagnosed after the Games as a gallbladder infection. In the 5000m final
Keino won the silver medal, just failing to outlast the winner Mohamed Gammoudi (Tunisia) after a head-to-head
battle down the final straight. His last race was the 1500m final which can be arguably claimed as Keino's finest race.
Keino went out fast with a deliberate strategy to nullify the renowned devastating kick of World Record holder
Jim Ryun (USA). Keino passed the 800m mark in 1min 55.3sec, a pace considered impossible to sustain at altitude.
The field expected Keino to come back to them, but they waited in vain, as he maintained his pace to the finish,
hitting the tape in 3min 34.9sec with Ryun a distance second in 3min 37.8sec. Keino's time was the second
fastest 1500m run in history. (Ron Casey)
1500m Gold and 5000m bronze at 1970 Commonwealths.
After his 1968 Olympic Games victory Kip Keino went into virtual
semi-retirement in 1969, although he still recorded
a time of 3min
37.3sec over 1500m late in the year. However he was back to a full
schedule in 1970, and came to his
third Commonwealth Games held at
Edinburgh as the defending champion at both the 1500m and the 5000m
(although his title wins at Kingston in 1966 had actually been made over
the non-metric distances of one and three miles).
He was in good form,
having prepared with an 8min 29.0sec win over two miles less than two
weeks earlier.
The 5000m was expected to be a showdown between Keino
and 1966 silver medallist Ron Clarke (Australia).
Both men were over
thirty years old and had each set their personal bests over four years
before
but they were still amongstthe top bracket of international
athletes.
As it turned out, the final was won by a 21 year old Scot,
Ian Stewart (Ian's brother Peter is pictured above), who
outsprinted his older and more experienced opponents in
a European Record of 13min 22.8sec with Keino third and
Clarke fifth.
The 1500m however was another story, as Keino was still very much at the
top of the world rankings in 1970,
and there was no anticipated threat
to him retaining his Commonwealth title. As he had done all through his
international
career, Keino ran his heat hard, running much faster than
he needed to, with the next fastest qualifier over three seconds
slower. In the final, Keino won as he liked, in a time of 3min 36.6sec,
finishing well clear of Dick Quax (New Zealand) and
Brendan Foster
(Great Britain). Keino continued competing long after the Games,
winning a 2000m race on 26 September
in 5min 05.2 sec, the fastest time
of the year (Ron Casey)
|
Steeplechase gold at 1972 Olympics.
At an age when most athletes have retired from international competition or are no longer competitive, Kip Keino decided
in 1972, at the age of 32, that he would try his hand at a new event, the 3000m steeplechase. Although still very
inexperienced, Keino qualified for the Kenyan team to the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the steeplechase, as well as
in the 1500m, the event in which he was the defending Olympic champion. Keino had only run in four serious
steeplechases before he came to Munich, and had won only one of them, and twenty-three of the entrants at Munich
had faster personal bests than his 8min 30.4sec. Nevertheless he advanced to the 12-man final by finishing second in his
heat, lowering his personal best to 8min 27.6sec.
The final started at a slow pace, which no doubt suited the inexperienced
hurdler. At the water jump for the second last time, Keino surged to the lead, with his only competition coming from teammate
Ben Jipcho and Finland's Tapio Kantanen. Keino shook off the challenges easily to win in a new Olympic record time
of 8min 23.6sec, with Jipcho second and Kantanen third [(the photo above shows Kip at the end of the race)]. Keino was
more favoured to win the 1500m final held six days later, especially in the absence of his old foe and World Record holder,
Jim Ryun (USA) who had fallen in his heat and been eliminated. In a tactically run race, Keino looked in a good position to
defend his title, but he was outkicked by the sprint of Pekka Vasala from Finland, and Keino had to be content with a
silver medal. He finished second in the 1500m in the all Africa Games in Lagos in 1975, and shortly afterwards retired
from international athletics. (Ron Casey)