World record holder in the 5000 and 10000 meters, Joshua Cheptegei, has revealed that he was forced to take up running while still in high school. This was in 2012 after Stephen Kiprotich won gold at the 2012 London Olympics in the men’s marathon.
Speaking at a welcome dinner organized by the Uganda Police Force at Protea Hotel for Team Uganda, which participated in the Paris Olympics, Cheptegei, who won gold at the Paris Olympics in the men’s 10,000m, said that while he was a Senior Five student at MM College Wairaka in Jinja, his head teacher, Lyadda Apollo, challenged him to take up running as he could end up winning gold like Kiprotich, who is also from Sebei.
“I was the only Sebei at the school, and then the teacher told me, ‘Your brother won a gold medal in the Olympics, and you’re just here, why don’t you run?’” Cheptegei remembered. “They forced me, and the rest is history.”
Cheptegei credits the teacher for pushing him to discover his potential. “I am yet to go back to that head teacher and thank him,” he said. “He pushed me to discover the potential that I had.”
Cheptegei urged the government to prioritize investing in sports as the country has so much untapped potential. He also requested the Uganda Police to recruit more young people from the Sebei region to fill his void in track athletics.
Cheptegei, who plans to transition to the marathon after the Paris Olympics, is the greatest Ugandan athlete and one of the greatest in the world. He has cemented his legacy as a trailblazer in the world of athletics.
