Ezekiel Kemboi continued Kenya’s dominance of the 3000m steeplechase, claiming the gold medal as he led a Kenyan clean sweep of the race, leading Brimin Kipruto and Paul Kipsiele Koech to silver and bronze respectively. This was Kenya’s first ever clean sweep of the steeplechase at the Olympics.
Paul Tergat and Ethiopian Haile Gebreselasie’s rivalry continued at the Olympics. The duo served up an epic finale to the men’s 10000m. Gebreselasie just pipping Tergat for the gold medal in one of the most memorable races in Olympic history.
Pauline Konga won a massive silver medal in the women’s 5000m. It was and remains massive in the sense that she became the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic medal of any kind.
The class of Seoul 1988 had raised the bar with Kenya’s greatest ever showing at the Olympics. The team heading to the 1992 games in Barcelona, Spain certainly had their work cut out for them.
It was an Olympiad of firsts. Robert Wangila “Napunyi” became the first Kenyan boxer to reach an Olympic final since Philip Waruinge in 1972. “Napunyi” bettered Waruinge’s silver medal performance from Munich by knocking out Frenchman Laurent Boudani to claim gold in the welterweight category, the first ever boxing gold medal by a Kenyan or African boxer.
Emerging talent such as Mike Boit a bronze medalist in Munich and Henry Rono would be unlucky to miss out on both games, especially when you realize that they were in the prime of their careers at this point in time.
Kipchoge Keino came into the games in Munich as the defending champion over 1500m. He was unable to defend this title, settling for silver in a time of 3 minutes 36.8 seconds as Finland’s PekkaVasala claimed gold in 3 minutes 36.3 seconds.
Naftali Temu claimed Kenya’s first ever Gold medal at an Olympic Games, beating a strong field to win the 10000m. He also won a bronze medal in the 5000m.
Kenya was making its first appearance as an independent state, having obtained independence from Great Britain in 1963. It had previously competed as a British colony at the 1956 games in Melbourne, Australia and 1960 in Rome, Italy.
