Chebet leads Kenya’s quest for first Olympics 10,000m gold

World 10,000 metres record holder, Beatrice Chebet of Kenya, is determined to win the first Olympics gold medal for Kenya in the discipline at the 2024 Paris Games, some 36 years since the introduction of the 24-lap race in the Olympics at the 1988 edition in Seoul.

On Friday at exactly 9:55pm (Kenyan time), Chebet will represent Kenya in the race alongside her compatriots Lilian Rengeruk Kasait, and Margaret Chelimo in Paris.

But before she attempts to win Kenya’s first medal over the distance, the 24-year-old Chebet will first do battle Monday in the 5,000m race, which she considers her favourite.

The other two Team Kenya athletes, who will compete in two different races in Paris, are two-time 1,500m Olympics champion Faith Kipyegon, (women’s 1,500m and 5,000m races) and Margaret Chelimo (women’s 5,000m and the 10,000m races).

Chebet is banking on teamwork to deliver the title. 

In an interview with Nation Sport in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County before leaving for Paris, Chebet admitted that all eyes will be in her in the race as she holds the world record over 10,000m of 28 minutes, and 54.14 seconds which she  registered in victory at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League in Oregon, USA on May 25.

On that occasion, she became the first woman to run the 24-lap race in under 29 minutes. Chebet broke the record of 29:01.03 which had been set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey at the FBK Games in Hengelo, the Netherlands, in 2021.

The enormity of the task at hand is not lost in her.

“We have finalised our preparations, and we are just fine-tuning things ahead of the race at the Olympics. I will compete at the Olympics for the first time, and I shall compete in two races,  which calls for a lot of focus. I know I am a marked person because I broke the world record.

“Anything is possible, and my target is to win gold in the 10,000m race, which isn’t easy.  I am determined to be the first Kenyan woman  to win gold medal over the distance,” she said.

She has seen first-hand the difference that team work can make in a championship. 

At this year’s World Cross Country Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia, on March 30, Chebet led her fellow Kenyan athletes in taking the first five positions in the senior category, in the process retaining the title she won in the previous edition. She attributes the results to team work.

“At the World Cross Country Championships held in March, we came up with a game plan, which we executed to perfection. Despite the stiff competition, we did well, staging a  clean sweep for Kenya. That is what team work can do. We should also apply the same tactic at the forthcoming assignment to win medals for our country,” she added.

Chebet, Kasait and Chelimo will come up against a well-oiled Ethiopian opposition of Tsigie Gebreselama, Aynadis Menbratu and Biniam Mehary. Chebet and Mehary will again cross paths in the 5,000m race.

Sally Kipyego won the first Olympics medal for Kenya over 10,000m  at the 2012 London Olympics, the lanky athlete  claiming silver ahead of former world champion Vivian Cheruiyot who took bronze medal in a race won by Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba.

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Kenya claimed  a silver medal through Vivian Cheruiyot in a race won by Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, while another Ethiopian, Tirunesh Dibaba, finished third.

Kenya didn’t win a medal at the delayed 2020 Olympic Games which were held in 2021 after Dutch runner Sifan Hassan claimed gold medal ahead of silver medalist Kalkidan Gezahegne of Bahrain, and Letesenbet Gidey from Ethiopia who took bronze.

In the 5,000m race, Chebet will most likely come up against her mentor and compatriot Kipyegon, who is a former world record over the distance. Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay holds the current record.

At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Kipyegon won gold in women’s 5,000m race ahead of silver medallist Chebet.

“Kipyegon has always inspired me and competing against her brings a good sense of team work, but the most important thing is that the one who is stronger on the day will win. I ask our  fans and Kenyans at large to pray for us because we are going to war, and we  must win,” she said.