Heritage

Isaiah Kiplagat: Father of Kenya’s athletics runs final race

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It was the end of a bittersweet two weeks as Kenya athletics’ “Mr Fixer” Isaiah Kiplagat died days after the country had logged its best record at the Olympics in Rio.

Kiplagat has been credited as the father of the golden era of Kenya’s athletics, lifting the sport from the doldrums in the early 90s to a respectable position in global sport today.

Described as a man who ruled with an iron fist, the 72-year- old— with a small circle of trusted lieutenants— had a firm grip on Athletics Kenya (AK) for 23 years and ran it with corporate efficiency.

His former lieutenant and treasurer at AK Joseph Kinyua said that at the time Kiplagat took over, the association was Sh2 million in debt but at the time they left, it had Sh130 million in the bank and assets worth over Sh1 billion.

“This achievement was as a result of his prudent financial stewardship and astute negotiation skills,” Mr Kinyua said.

Ironically, the man who had turned the sport into a multi-million venture would see out his last days in ignominy having been blacklisted by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) for alleged siphoning of funds sent to AK by athletics giant Nike.

The death of Kiplagat and a shambolic handling of the Team Kenya at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics have cast a shadow on athletics-— arguably Kenya’s biggest brand globally— plunging it to perhaps the lowest point since 1992 when he took over.

Back then, AK was referred to as Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA) and like its name suggests, was run in a sloppy, unprofessional manner that did not match the emerging status of Kenya in global athletics.

“Back then we neither had offices, money nor equipment to operate the association activities,” Kiplagat is quoted as saying in 2012.

“Yet we had already gained recognition across the globe, and quick action needed to be taken urgently.”

Kiplagat appreciated that to polish Kenya’s talent, money was needed and global sponsors were key in ensuring Kenya got some equipment and gear. This would see Kenya enter into sponsorship deals chiefly with Nike with a 2003 agreement with the US sportswear firm ultimately proving to be his final undoing.

The deal- amended in 2005 and 2010- reportedly allowed Mr Kiplagat together with his right-hand men, former AK vice-president David Okeyo and Treasurer Joseph Kinyua to be paid an honorarium fee.

This fee was not declared in AK’s audited financial statements. The whole saga unravelled in November 2015 with detectives stepping in to investigate the matter and drove Mr Kiplagat and his two colleagues into the murk.

The case was given to former Kenya Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharad Rao before the end of the year but Kiplagat lost to colon cancer before he could face his integrity race.

Kiplagat was born in Ndalat, Nandi County in 1944 and later joined Kapsabet High School.

After secondary school he enrolled in a police training programme and was employed as a cadet officer of the Kenya PrisonS back in 1965. In 1969 he left for the United Kingdom for a management course.

It was perhaps these two courses— the police and management training- that informed his disciplined approach to heading the AK and his famed ruthlessness when dealing with foes.

Upon returning to Kenya, he had a brief stint as a Nairobi City Council officer before he joined KAAA in 1975 and was appointed vice-chairman.

The following year, he was elected the KAAA secretary-general, a post he held up to 1988 when he joined Postbank as the managing director.

At the end of the four-year tenure at the bank, he would outfox his opponent Robert Ouko and finally became the KAAA chairman, a post he held until May 2015. (KAAA was renamed AK in 2002).

His biggest victory was in 1999 when he joined the IAAF as a Council Member after Charles Mukora, a former top official of AK was forced to resign over a bribery scandal over awarding of the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City.

Mr Kiplagat oversaw an era when Kenyan athletes have perfected the domination of the middle and long-distance races, inspiring awe and terror in equal measure among their compatriots from around the world.

This is best exemplified by the dominance shown in nearly all the major marathons in the world for the last 30 years.

Despite an illustrious career, Kiplagat did not seemingly groom a fit successor as was illustrated in 2010 when he was first diagnosed with colon cancer.

The infighting to succeed him that threatened to tear AK apart forced him to come back to the association after treatment in India.

His death and the shabby handling of the Olympic team have handed AK the chance to cement his legacy with a renewal of athletics administration, building on the foundation he set.