Nairobi Countdown
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Barnaba Korir is a former Kenyan athletics competitor born on 24th October, 1965. Between 1987 and 1988, he was a six-time Big Eight champion while a student at Iowa University, winning the 10,000m, 5,000m, One Mile, Cross Country, Distance Medley relay, and 4 x1,600m. Aside from that, he’s a three-time All-American in the 5,000m and cross country. During the 1988 Big Eight Indoor Championships, he won three titles and was named the most valuable athlete. Barnaba Korir and his training partner Peter Rono from Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland (USA) got to travel to Denmark in 1988 for an IAAF race in Aarhus while studying for a Masters degree at Iowa University.
As they trained for the 1988 Seoul Olympics trials, Korir lost a photo-finish in the 1,500m against Rono in one of the events. While Rono travelled to Eldoret to get some rest, Korir returned to Iowa and arrived in Kenya three days before the trials. Korir came in fifth place in the trials, with the weather having taken its toll on him. Rono won the race, and he went on to win gold in the 1,500m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Korir had another chance when he ran one of the fastest times in the world in the 5,000m, clocking 13:25.00 in Belgium. Korir had great expectations of competing in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. He arrived in Kenya early this time. Korir, however, suffered a hamstring injury while sprinting at the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret four days before the trials, and thus was unable to compete. That did not dampen his spirits, and he has no remorse about refusing to wear the national colors.
He maintained his enthusiasm for the sport and his desire to help others succeed in athletics. Barnaba Korir was inducted into the Iowa State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019, not just for his academic achievements but also for his contributions to the sport. Korir also served as the team manager for Team Kenya at the 2018 World Indoor Championships, the 2013 World Under-18 Championships, and the 2016 World Under-20 Championships.
Korir is also a member of Athletics Kenya’s executive committee and the chairman of AK’s Nairobi Region. Over 300 Kenyans have benefited from his efforts by obtaining scholarships to study and compete overseas, particularly in the United States. Among them are Betsy Saina, the 2018 Paris Marathon champion, Aliphine Chepkerker Tuliamuk, Larry Bor, and Edward Kemboi.
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Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, DBE, (born January 28, 1986) is a former British track and field athlete who specialized in multi-eventing disciplines and the 100-meter hurdles. She is the 2012 Olympic winner in the heptathlon, a three-time global champion (2009, 2011, 2015), and the 2010 European champion. She also won the global indoor pentathlon championship in 2010. She is a former British national record holder for the heptathlon and is a member of the City of Sheffield & Dearne athletic club. She holds the British records in the 100m hurdles, the high jump, and the indoor pentathlon. Jessica is a BBC commentator nowadays. Ennis competed in her first track and field event in 1996.
In 2005, she won her first big international heptathlon competition at the European junior championships. She placed ninth in the European championships and earned a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2006. Ennis’ chances of competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics were boosted with a fourth-place performance at the 2007 IAAF world championships, but she was forced to withdraw due to stress fractures in her right foot. Meanwhile, she finished her psychology degree at the University of Sheffield in 2007. Ennis shifted to a left-leg takeoff for the high jump and long jump after the injury.
The change assisted her in winning gold at the 2009 World Championships. Despite winning the European championships in 2010 with 6,823 points, Ennis lost the world title and top position to Russian competitor Tatyana Chernova in 2011. (However, after Chernova’s title was removed for doping after the 2011 season, Ennis was given the world championship in 2016.) The next year, at the London Olympics, Ennis bounced back. Ennis became the shortest woman to win a gold medal in the seven-event competition, standing 1.26 metres (5 feet 4 1 / 2 inches) and setting a world heptathlon record (12.54 seconds) in the 100-meter hurdles.
Ennis was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2013 and married Andy Hill the following year. Ennis-Hill was unable to compete in the 2014 track season due to the birth of her baby. She returned in 2015 to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she earned a silver medal in the heptathlon. Shortly after the Rio Olympics, Ennis-Hill announced her retirement from athletics. She was awarded a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire the following year (DBE).
