Rono - the superman with an impossible dream

By A. C De Silva

COMMONWEALTH GAMES: It's on again! The much troubled Commonwealth Games has got a kick-start in New Delhi after many troubled moments for the organisers and some fine performances are expected from around 6,700 participants.

Speaking about the Commonwealth Games, all those who have followed the Games down the years will not forget the memorable day in Edmonton when that powerful athlete Henry Rono won the 5,000 metres.

No sooner did that happen, the press crowded the new track superman. He smiled shyly, showing the gap in his lower teeth and sipped orange juice from a straw.

Rono shook his head. "Not after previous night", he said. "What happened?" inquired the press. "Too many beers," said Rono, "Too little sleep".

Very special

Rono had gone to a party on the eve of what many had regarded as the highlight of the Games... and it had been quite a party, too.

When an athlete can afford to be as casual as this on the big days, one has to be very special. Rono was.

By this, the high summer of 1978, he had virtually run out of opposition. Apart from Paavo Nurmi and Emil Zatopek, it is doubtful whether anyone had ever stood out so high above the crowd.

Brendon Foster, not so long ago a 10,000 metres supremo, spoke about Rono. "Trouble is" Rono says the others can't even give him a run. Foster picked up a bronze medal in Edmonton and somewhat felt guilty about it. How else can you feel when you haven't given the winner a race? It was exhibition stuff. He was out there on his own and we were just running for places." said Foster.

Despite his shy ways, Rono had no illusions about the question of his own supremacy. Rono spoke out. "To tell you the truth", he said, "I had not really begun to run yet. I have still so much to learn. But I think that before I go, I should be able to break the 27-minute barrier for 10,000 metres; and also run the 3,000 metres steeplechase in under 8 minutes. I will be disappointed if I don't."

Coming from anyone else, these wards would seem to wild, impossible dreams. Before the arrival of Rono, no one had beaten 27 minutes, 30.5 seconds for the 10,000 metres; and even he had thus far only lowered it to 27 minutes 22.5 seconds. In the steeplechase, he lowered the record by 2.6 seconds to 8 mins 5.4 seconds.

Rono's father used to grow tea and maize, but Rono had no intensions of following in the family business. He took up industrial psychology at Washington State University. He retired in 1986 after the Commonwealth Games.

At Washington State, Rono was coached by John Chaplin who had a high regard for Rono.

'If don't believe in athletics there was anyone who could be remotely compared to Rono. When he first came here in '76, he never had had any formal coaching. He just did what came naturally, and yet it was already clear that Rono was destined to be in a class of his own."

Rono trained in Washington State, alongside another Kenyan, Samson Kimombya, who was soon in the eye-catching position of being the second-fastest 10,000 metre runner of all times and yet not even in his own college record holder.

Golden year

For Rono, much of 1977 was low key. He was struck with influenza it was said, but his friends say that a death threat took away the pleasures of track running. And then came 1978, Rono's golden year.

* On April 8 at Berkeley, California, he set a new world record for the 5,000 metres of 13 minutes 8.4 seconds (which England's Dave Moorcraft beat).

* On May 13 in Seattle, he broke the 3,000 metres steeplechase record with a time of 8 minutes 5.4 seconds.

* And then in Vienna on June 11, he went for the 10,000 metres record in a strong international field.

Jos Hermens of the Netherlands set the pace for the first 3,000 metres, putting Rono on schedule for the record. They went through 5,000 metres in 13 minutes 49 seconds, which, although very fast, wasn't fast enough when one is planning to better 27 minutes 30.47 seconds.

Rono's response was as simple and straightforward as the man himself. He decided to do what he terms his own thing. He began to runaway from the field with 5,000 metres still remaining. It was the long, lonely run for home and not to be recommended for anyone other than a Rono.

Third World record

Even he began to relax a little between 7,000 and 8,000 metres. But then he produced a sustained acceleration over the last 2,000 metres to claim his third world record within the space of two months.

His time of 27 minutes 22.5 seconds clipped 8 seconds off the previous record ... and when one remembers that for half this time he had been running alone, one can get some measure of the man.

Then two weeks later, he set yet another world record in Oslo with a time of 7 minutes 32.01 seconds for 3,000 metres. So, it became clear to all followers of athletics that the confidence which led Rono to that eve-of-race party in Edmonton wasn't that surprising, after all.