Due to the physically demanding nature of sports, it is rare to find able-bodied athletes competing at the very top for 20 straight years.
Even multiple Olympics and world champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica, who is considered the greatest sprinter of all time, competed in three editions of the Olympic Games - in 2008 (Beijing), 2012 (London), and in 2016 (Rio de Janeiro), winning 100 metres and 200m titles on each occassion before retiring.
For an athlete living with disability to compete in five editions of the Paralympic Games is to stretch the limits of human capability beyond imaginable levels.
Multiple Paralympic Games medallist, Samuel Mushai of Kenya is out to do just that.
The multiple Paralympics medallist, who became blind at the age of nine after falling sick, is on the cusp of becoming only the second Kenyan to compete in five consecutive editions of the Paralympic Games.
He will compete in men’s 5,000m race for the visually impared athletes (5,000m T11) at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris from August 28 to September 8.
“It’s such a good feeling to represent this great country again,” Mushai, who lost his sight at the age of nine after an illness, said.
“I want to regain my Paralympics 5,000m title.”
Mushai, who is among five Kenyan athletes who will compete in para athletics at the Paris Games, is seeking to equal multiple field medallist Mary Nakhumicha’s records of five appearances at the Paralympic Games.
Kenya will send a 14-member contingent of para athletes and seven guides to the Paralympics to compete in five disciplines - athletics (eight), cycling (two), taekwondo (two), rowing (one), and powerlifting (one).
Para cyclist Bedan Ireri Maina (road racing C3) and powerlifter Hellen Wawira (women’s upto 41kg) are among the last Kenyans to qualify for the Paris Games.
The others in Team Kenya are Samuel Mushai (5,000m T11), John Lokedi (5,000m T13), and Priscah Jepkemei (1,500m T11), who performed well to seal their places in the team during the Kenyan trials held on July 12 in Eldoret.
Others are Samson Ojuka (Long Jump T37) and Sheila Wanyonyi (Javelin F12), who qualified through world ranking.
Mushai claimed silver in 1,500m T11 on his Paralympics debut in 2008 in Beijing, and won gold in 1,500m T11 in 2012 London Paralympics before claiming two gold medals - in 5,000m T11 and 1,500m T11 - at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) granted Kenya three open slots for athletes who performed highly at the World Para-Athletics Championships held June this year in Kobe, Japan. IPC later gave Ojuka and Wanyonyi direct slots.
“We thought we were through but we are glad that the IPC gave us two more direct slots through world ranking to Ojuka and Wanyonyi,” Kenya National Paralympic Committee (KNPC) President Ronald Milare said.
At the Kenyan trials held in Eldoret, Mushai won the 5,000m T11 in 15 minutes and 51.4 seconds, while Lokedi claimed the men's 5.000m T13 event in 15:35.8.
Jepkemei’s efforts were enough to see her qualify for the Paralympics despite finishing third in women's 1,500m T11 in 5:10.9 behind Nancy Chelangat (5:02.0) and Mary Waithera (5:05.4)
Chelangat, the only medallist from 2020 Paralympic Games (bronze) and Waithera had already qualified for the Paris Summer Games from the 2023 World Para Athletics Championship in Paris.
Ojuka scaled to personal best 5.73m to finish sixth in long jump at the world championships in Kobe, where Wanyonyi registered 30.52m for eighth place.
Team Kenya athletes and the technical officials will leave the country on August 7 for the pre-Paralympic camp in Compiegne, some 79.3km north east of the French capital.
KNPC settled on the Compiegne pre-Paralympic camp because due to better accessibility and technical support in para sports. Team Mexico and Team India will also camp in Compiegne.
The 2024 Paralympics will feature 22 sports. They are archery, athletics, badminton, boccia, cycling, equestrian, football 5-a-side, goalball, judo, paracanoe, paratriathlon, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby, and wheelchair tennis.
