Rono: Legendary athlete who inspired the world with four records in 81 days

After spending 33 years away in the United States of America, legendary distance runner Henry Rono, who died on Thursday, touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on November 19, 2019 and found a completely new environment.

The distance runner had left Kenya in 1986 when Daniel Arap Moi was Kenya’s president, and Ronald Reagan was president of the United States of America.

Upon his arrival at JKIA, Rono could barely recognise people, including his son Calvin, who was four when the runner left Kenya in 1986, and his brother David Meli, who was 10 at the time.

Rono, who was born on February 12, 1952, died on Thursday, only three days after celebrating his 72nd birthday. He passed on in a Nairobi hospital, where he has been receiving treatment for the last 10 days. He died after fulfilling one of his most cherished wishes - reuniting with his loved ones.

“I feel fresh, like a new born baby. It has not been easy staying away for three decades in a foreign country, but, nevertheless, I was mentally and physically prepared for this moment,” Rono said at JKIA when he returned home. He died exactly four years and three months after returning from the USA.

Rono made history by breaking four world records in less than three months in 1978. Rono won the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games 5,000 metres and 3,000 metres steeplechase titles, plus a gold medal in the 3,000m steeplechase and 10,000m races at the 1978 All Africa Games (renamed African Games) in Algiers.

In only 81 days, Rono broke four world records in 10,000m (27 minutes,22.5 seconds), 5,000m (13:08.4), 3,000m (8:05.4), and 3,000m (7:32.1).

“Rono is remembered as the former record holder for 3,000 metres steeplechase for over a decade. He also set the world record in 5,000m twice; once in 1978 and again in 1981,” Athletics Kenya said in a statement yesterday. AK led the sporting fraternity in paying tribute to the legendary runner.

Rono died just five days after the marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum died in a road accident alongside his coach Gervias Hakizimana along Eldoret- Eldama Ravine Road.

“On behalf of Athletics Kenya Executive Committee and the athletics fraternity, we wish to convey our sincere heartfelt condolence to his family, friends and the entire athletics fraternity during this trying moment,” AK said in a statement.

Despite his prowess on the track that saw him earn millions of dollars, mismanagement and alcoholism that cut across three decades ate into his resources, leaving him broke.

Rono’s move back to the USA in 1986 to resuscitate his career worsened things, and his poor form, corrupt agents and alcoholism added to his woes.

Since 1986, Rono has been in and out of alcoholism rehabilitation centres. He only got a reprieve in 2015, when he quit drinking while efforts were on to help him return home.

Rono blamed the poor set-up of sports management locally and abroad, racism in athletics and rogue managers for his woes and frustrations that saw him seek solace in alcohol. But why did he leave Kenya?

“The sports situation when I left was worse. Sports management in Kenya and abroad was poor, with no structures to support athletes, especially Africans. As a young man with a lot of money, I wasn’t getting the support I needed or advice from anyone.

“No one wanted to manage me because of the racism and early discrimination in first-world countries. When I came home, no one wanted to help me, people who came through wanted money.

“Sports structures globally never supported athletes, especially Africans. As a young man with a lot of money, I wasn’t getting the support I needed or advice from anyone, not even Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA),” Rono said when he returned home in 2019. “No one wanted to manage me openly because of the racism and early discrimination in the first world countries.”

Rono said that most of the agents who managed him conned him off his hard-earned cash, with most taking advantage of his romance with the tipple to grab his assets, rendering him almost destitute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he stayed.

Rono said the abuse from his agents was so high that efforts to have his wife and children join him in the USA before he returned to Kenya in 1983 failed.

“If I had a good manager and agent, even my businesses would not have suffered. They never wanted to hear talks about my family since it sounded like an insult to them. I was like a slave...they told me to make money first,” said Rono, adding that keeping quiet over his woes also contributed to his sorry state.

At one time, Rono said one of his agents gave him a bill running into millions of shillings for calls he had made home.

Rono returned to Kenya in 1983, where he got a job, but it failed to meet his needs, forcing him to return to the USA.

“I wanted to start all over when I returned to the USA in 1986 after three years in the country but things didn’t improve since I had no friends or relatives. I wasn’t in good shape and I moved from agent to agent.”

Rono said despite the frustrations, he never stopped communicating with his family even though he never got to visit the country.

Rono's bio

Born: February 12, 1952

Honours and Achievements:

1978 African Games:

- Gold-3000m Steeplechase

-Gold- 10,000m

1978 Commonwealth Games:

- Gold-3000m Steeplechase

-Gold- 10,000m

World Records:

- 3000m Steeplechase (8:05.4) May 13, 1978 in Seattle, USA.

- 10,000m (27:22.47) June 11, 1978 in Vienna

- 3,000m (7:32.1) June 27, 1978 in Oslo

- 5,000m (13:08.4) April 8, 1978 in Berkeley, California, USA

- 5,000m (13:06.20) September 13, in 1981 Knarvik, Norway

Personal Best:

2,000m steeplechase-5:28.8 (1976)

2,000m -5:06.8 (1977)

One mile – 3:59.2 indoors (1977)

Two miles-8:14.66 (1978)

3,000m – 7:32.1 (1978)

5,000m – 13:06.20 (1981)

10,000m – 27:22.47 (1978)

3,000m steeplechase – 8:05.4 (1978)

Half Marathon-1:04:46 (1978)