Henry Rono has been in the U.S for three decades. He has enrolled in community college and broken various world records. And now, he has returned to the place of his birth.
“Running to me was second nature,” Mr. Rono said. “Education was my weakness.”
The early days of Mr. Rono’s life were tough. Until age 6, he couldn’t walk due to a bike accident. After he recovered, his dad died after being involved in a tractor accident. All of this trouble made his family poor. Mr. Rono’s mom worked as a single mom, trying as hard as possible to pay the bills. To save money, Mr. Rono’s mom often had to pull Mr. Rono out of school.
When Mr. Rono was 19, he had just finished 7th grade and was inspired to start running for the first time after Kipchoge Keino had just one the 1,500-meter dash in the 1968 Olympics.
Mr. Rono’s talent for running started to show after he joined the army as the Kenyan military primarily focused on training their soldiers. Before the 1976 summer Olympics, Mr. Rono was qualified to enter track and field. He imposed a significant threat in the 5,000-meter dash on many countries. However, right before the Olympics started, Kenya and 27 other African nations boycotted the Olympics after letting New Zealand in. Because of this, Mr. Rono never got to compete in the Olympics.
“I thought this man would come home with two golds,” said Mr. Keino.
Luckily, a coach in Pullman, Washington, John Chaplin, was recruiting African runners, primarily Kenyans. When Mr. Rono was training under the guidance of Mr. Chaplin, he destroyed the other runners with little to no effort.
“I could tell him exactly what to run, exactly how to do it, and he would do it,” Mr. Chaplin said.
In the 1990s, Mr. Rono decided to go back to school and took classes on advanced grammar, poetry, and created writing. There, he published his first book, “Olympic Dream.” However, in that book, only 1 out of the 29 chapters talked about his success as a runner.
Sadly, aging took its part in Mr. Rono’s life. As he started to age, money was hard to come by for him. So in 2019, after three decades of being in the U.S., he returned to his home country, Kenya. In Kenya, he lives with his brother in the house he grew up.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/sports/henry-rono-world-records.html
“Running to me was second nature,” Mr. Rono said. “Education was my weakness.”
The early days of Mr. Rono’s life were tough. Until age 6, he couldn’t walk due to a bike accident. After he recovered, his dad died after being involved in a tractor accident. All of this trouble made his family poor. Mr. Rono’s mom worked as a single mom, trying as hard as possible to pay the bills. To save money, Mr. Rono’s mom often had to pull Mr. Rono out of school.
When Mr. Rono was 19, he had just finished 7th grade and was inspired to start running for the first time after Kipchoge Keino had just one the 1,500-meter dash in the 1968 Olympics.
Mr. Rono’s talent for running started to show after he joined the army as the Kenyan military primarily focused on training their soldiers. Before the 1976 summer Olympics, Mr. Rono was qualified to enter track and field. He imposed a significant threat in the 5,000-meter dash on many countries. However, right before the Olympics started, Kenya and 27 other African nations boycotted the Olympics after letting New Zealand in. Because of this, Mr. Rono never got to compete in the Olympics.
“I thought this man would come home with two golds,” said Mr. Keino.
Luckily, a coach in Pullman, Washington, John Chaplin, was recruiting African runners, primarily Kenyans. When Mr. Rono was training under the guidance of Mr. Chaplin, he destroyed the other runners with little to no effort.
“I could tell him exactly what to run, exactly how to do it, and he would do it,” Mr. Chaplin said.
In the 1990s, Mr. Rono decided to go back to school and took classes on advanced grammar, poetry, and created writing. There, he published his first book, “Olympic Dream.” However, in that book, only 1 out of the 29 chapters talked about his success as a runner.
Sadly, aging took its part in Mr. Rono’s life. As he started to age, money was hard to come by for him. So in 2019, after three decades of being in the U.S., he returned to his home country, Kenya. In Kenya, he lives with his brother in the house he grew up.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/sports/henry-rono-world-records.html
