The great Henry Rono ,without doubt my all time favourite Kenyan runner!
Here, in the Ivo Van Damme meeting in Brussels ,1981,he continues an astonishing comeback.
With Kenya pulling out of the 1980 Olympic Games he'd started the 1981 season overweight and out of form (15.40 for a 5K!) His main problem had always been the booze,but somehow he quite literally ran himself fit over the following months, culminating in a late season 5000m.WR of 13.06. This 10000m race came towards the end of August,just 2 days after running a 13.12 5K. No pacemakers or funny lights,just a running legend doing his thing. Sadly,after a reasonable start in '82 Rono's light again faded, as his battle with the bottle appeared to take over his life...