‘I regret being an athlete... I sold my medals!’

When you mention his name to the younger generation, they may not easily grasp who Stanley Kagora Ongiri is.

But a sports enthusiast will easily remember him as a man who made the news headlines as one of the best athletes who, in a span of four years, visited several countries after winning a breakthrough cross-country race in Nyanza.

This can be confirmed by the fact that not until reporters arrived at his work station in the heart of Kisii town where he now mends motorbikes and runs a Mpesa shop, so little was known about Kagora.

He leads a silent life hoping that no one will ever go through the experienced he had when he was a youth with every opportunity to change his life in his hands, through sport.

When asked who Kagora is, bodaboda riders at his small work station just refer to him as a “fundi.”

Those who run various businesses around him also used the same name to refer to him. Fundi. Period!

But Kagora is a man who carried home several medals and won awards because of his exploits as a successful distance runner.

Wallowing in poverty

Kagora’s life story echoes that of many sportspersons across the disciplines who shone but later faded away, unnoticed, some wallowing in poverty.

“I rarely want to share my story on how I one day I won a cross-country race here in Nyanza only for Europeans to hold my hand with the aim of changing my life,” he reflects.

“But this was derailed by problems back at home coupled with challenges in the management of the sport in Kenya,” Kagora says as he goes about his business of repairing one of the motorbikes at his mini-garage during our interview.

He confesses that those who saw him during his peak running period (2000-2004) casually make jokes that are outright funny, but others hit him below the belt so hard that he regrets why he decided to quit alcohol and take up competitive sports.

Kagora had in the late 90s struggled with alcoholism and his life was on the verge of collapsing. He was not there for his wife, a mother of three.

“The day I realised that my life was almost hitting the wall and it is only me who would collapse, is when I had differences with my wife and it turned physical. At the time, I used to repair tyres in Kisii town,” he said.

He went on narrating how one day he arrived home heavily drunk. His wife informed him she needed some money to run a few errands.

But then things turned for the worse. He narrates that after some physical exchanges, he decided to retire to bed but when he woke up the next day, he realised his folly and apologised to his wife for assaulting her. It is then that he made a decision to quit alcohol and take up jogging and running within the village, merely to pass time.

“However, this came at a cost. I lost most of my friends and some people even thought that I was pretending and would eventually join them in gobbling up glasses of alcohol at our drinking joints, but this was never to happen again,” he said.

Asked whether he had a role model when he started running around the village and in Kisii town, Kagora shook his head in the negative, and stared at the ground. He recalled how one day a friend informed him that some European agents were in Kisii, scouting for talented distance runners whom they wanted to feature on the cross-country circuit.

Kagora then decided to show up for the race hoping that he would impress the organisers and agents and at least get some money to start a better business in Kisii town. This was in 2000. Kagora led from gun to tape and was crowned winner. The organisers awarded him and also invited him for more races abroad.

This was the beginning of a journey that would take him from rags to riches and back to rags again.

A week after the groundbreaking race, Kagora was invited for a series of races in the Netherlands.

“I did not believe it and did not even know what was needed for one to leave the country. However, the organisers assisted me and I was handed a passport,” he recalled.

On the day he was to leave for the Netherlands, due to the rains in Kisii, he couldn’t wait for his travel outfit to dry and simply dressed up in clothes that had not fully dried up, and headed to Nairobi.

In the city, he met his contacts and headed to the airport. For the first time he boarded a plane and left Kenya. 

“I competed in three kinds of races, 10 kilometres, 21 kilometres and five kilometres. In all the races I took second position and was given a number of medals and Sh300,000 in cash,”  says Kagora who also won the 2002 Kisumu Marathon in 2:15:35.

All African Games

He performed well and in 2003, he was picked in Kenya’s marathon team to the All African Games that were held in Abuja, Nigeria, where he failed to finish.

Johannes Kekana of South Africa won the race in two hours, 25 minutes and one second with Ethiopians Gashaw Melese (2:26:08) and Gudisa Shentema (2:27.39) completing the podium places.

This was the last time the marathon featured at the African Games as it was subsequently replaced by the half marathon.

Kagora was later picked for yet another race in Hong Kong, using the prize money he earned from his 10th place finish (in 2:18:47) at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon to purchase a piece of land on the outskirts of Kisii town.

Kagora, who is now a church elder at a local Seventh Day Adventist church in Kitutu Chache South, said that he later sold the land to ensure that his three children — two sons and a daughter — were educated.

“I also sold the medals to some Angolans and used the money to educate my children. At some point things were so difficult and I lacked an option,” he said, adding that he did not want his children to drop out of school as it happened to him.

Kagora said that it is so hard for talent to be identified because people no longer organise serious cross-country races.

However, he said if given a chance he can make a good coach and ensure that the people he trains succeed as professional athletes and don’t go on a free-fall like he did.