Weakened by a viral infection, the world’s greatest runner—Haile Gebrselassie—failed in his quest for a fifth consecutive 10,000m gold medal last summer in Edmonton, and announced afterwards that he was turning his attention to the marathon, marking the end of a significant chapter in distance running history. 

The little Ethiopian’s absence on the European track circuit paves the way for a successor to appear. Judging by how easily Richard Limo disposed of a world championship 5,000m field in Edmonton, the young Kenyan just might be the man to fill Gebrselassie’s shoes.

His times don’t threaten Gebrselassie’s world 5,000m and 10,000m records just yet, but he displayed an exceptional finishing kick in winning the gold medal in 13:00.77. And it should also be noted, Limo was just 20 years old when he beat the world’s best, and, like Gebrselassie, he is managed by Jos Hermens of the Dutch-based Global Sports Communications. Moreover, his tactical deployment at the World’s was worthy of comparison to any of the great athletes who dominated their particular eras.

A Tactical Triumph

It was Kenyan coach Mike Kosgei who devised the scheme that resulted in the victory. After he had spent a few weeks with Limo in the national team training camp, he recognized the young man’s potential as a world beater. Kosgei, who is responsible for some of Kenya’s more memorable championship victories, might also have been impressed with Limo’s enthusiasm. Nobody had to ask him twice to come home from Europe where he stood to make decent money, eat well and stay in first class hotels. Instead he bunked in a dormitory style camp with a dozen others. Kosgei was confident he had made the right choice.

To the casual observer on the evening of August 10, 2001, it wouldn’t have appeared that way—at least not when Limo charged into the lead on the first lap, then was swallowed up by the pack on the very next. Was this young man simply the latest in a long line of Kenyan sacrificial lambs who put country before individual glory? If you were to pick a champion, John Kibowen or Sammy Kipketer, with their superior credentials, would have been more likely. But, you see, this was all a marvelous ploy.

Limo fooled everyone. As his countrymen became the focus of attention near the front he "rested" in the middle of the pack waiting for the moment to strike. That moment came on the last bend where he unleashed his brilliant finishing kick to leave the reigning Olympic gold and silver medalists, Million Wolde of Ethiopia and Algeria’s Ali Saidi-Sief to fight for the scraps.

"We came here as a country, we didn’t come here as individuals," Limo explained to me in a whisper, a few days after the race, "Because if we come here as individuals everybody is looking for the gold and the gold is one and we are three. So we have to agree we do it this year for somebody and another time we do it for one person. Maybe one person can win three or four times consecutive when you do such things. You also know you are not perfect all the time so you have to change these things so that everybody can be happy."

Winning Without Drugs, and Alone

Later, when the news of Ali Saidi-Sief’s positive doping test for the steroid nandrolone was announced it put another perspective on Limo’s victory.

"Actually you know it was so fantastic to my fellow Kenyans when they heard that I beat someone who was using drugs," he said. "It means that when you use drugs it cannot help you. It was so incredible when I came back to Kenya and everyone wants to hear what happened...They need to know what tactics I used to win the race. They cannot imagine that I beat someone who was using drugs. So it was so great. We in Kenya we just train and we are going to do it even though we are using our own talent."

On August 17, 2001, at the Zurich Weltklasse meet, Limo proved that he is more than capable of winning alone, easily handling the strongest field of the season, sprinting to another victory in a personal best time of 12:56.72. That performance, a week after Edmonton, was the year’s fastest time, and fueled speculation that Limo, still only 21, is here to stay.

Young Success, and Sense

As a schoolboy, Limo was more adept on the soccer pitch; soccer is still the most popular sport in Kenya. His father died when he was young leaving his mother to raise Richard and his three brothers and four sisters alone. They farmed the land along with their neighbors but he seemed set on a career as an electrician after studying electrical installation at a nearby polytechnical college.

When, however, he saw some of the country’s top distance runners training at the Fila training camp in Kapsabet, near his home village of Cheptigit, he became fascinated with running. By 1998, he was good enough to represent Kenya at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in Marrakech, Morocco.

It was there that he met Jos Hermens. Hermens remembers the meeting. Another agent was exerting enormous pressure to sign the then 17-year-old.

"The guy was aggressively chasing him," Hermens remembers, laughing, "We met [Richard] in the hotel. It was all very secret service like, you know, ‘I can’t talk now, I will go to my room and when the corridor is free you can come to my room and we can speak.’ It was kind of special."

Rival agents had offered him money to sign a contract with them and promised shoe sponsorships and instant bonuses. Hermens didn’t offer a penny. He did promise the young Kenyan that he would receive all the support they could muster. The fact that he turned down $5,000 or $10,000 from the others to sign with Global Sports, at a time when Limo was living in a wooden hut, left an impression on Hermens.

Limo finished second in the junior men’s race that weekend in Marrakech behind Million Wolde. A year later he claimed the silver medal again, losing to Hailu Mekonnen. All three of these athletes are dominant forces on the world scene today, and all are represented by the Dutchman.

Good Choices, Good Management

How good is Hermens? In the unofficial medal tally in Edmonton, Global Sports athletes won 17 medals, including seven gold. That is more than any other agency and most countries!

In all there are about 125 elite athletes on Global Sports’ client list including champions such as Gebrselassie, Gabriela Szabo, Susan Chepkemei, and steeple chasers Bernard Barmasai and Reuben Kosgei. The latter two are among the handful of Kenyans who train with Limo in Eldoret, high up in the Rift Valley.

Hermens himself points to Limo as the future of distance running. "He is one we are going to focus on and bring him along carefully with not too many competitions," Hermens explains. "For me, Edmonton was a little bit ahead of schedule. I thought he needed more time. I think he can win the 10,000m in Athens, something like that. He has a great sprint finish and he is very strong. It’s just a matter of focusing and planning through the years and I think he can do something very special."

Another Type of Gold

Maintaining that focus is no small task. Along with the gold medal Limo returned home to Cheptigit with $60,000. Hermens had also negotiated an adidas shoe contract for Limo which, along with a monthly salary, included substantial bonuses—his world championship gold medal earned him approximately $40,000.

When you have grown up with nothing it can be awfully tempting to ease back and put the feet up, start a business, or buy farm implements and live off the land—to be content with the bank account. In Kenya they call such people "fat men." But Limo is more pragmatic than that, and much of this is due to Hermens.

While many track managers line their pockets by racing their clients at every opportunity, Hermens puts the athletes’ careers first. He believes there is less danger of premature burnout or losses against inferior competition when the number of competitions is limited. In this way the athlete should come out ahead financially in the long run. Hermens also recommends his clients stow away enough money to live for a year or two, in case of injuries or financial crises that can often occur in third world countries.

But Hermens says Limo made one major financial investment as soon as he had some money. Limo confirms this when asked: "Actually when I first started running [and making money] I got a house for my mother," he says, "because I said to myself perhaps it is better to give the house to my mother because she has taken care of me for a long time and she has to be the first priority."

Cosmopolitan, Controlling, Caring

Now with his success has come a certain amount of sophistication. He is one of a growing number of Kenyans who owns a cell phone, for instance.

Michel Boateng, an associate of Hermens, laughingly describes Limo as a "control freak" who will phone three or four times in a day to check on whether travel arrangements have been made.

In early January Boateng went with him to a race near Milan. "When we returned from Milan to Holland there was a mixup with the gates so he never got his passport stamped," Boateng recalls. "It made no difference—he was free to fly home to Kenya. But he went right up to the immigration people and said ‘look you have made a mistake.’ They just said ‘do you want to go home? You can go.’ He just wanted to point out that they had made a mistake."

There is another, gentle side to his character too. He is generous and eager to make new friends. During our first meeting, inside the athletes village in Edmonton, Edgar de Veer, another associate of Global Sports, suggested Limo give his race number to me as a souvenir.

The suggestion raised his eyebrows. "Would you like my race number?" he asked in disbelief, as if I couldn’t possibly be interested. When I replied that yes, that would be a wonderful souvenir for my son he asked me to wait. Ten minutes later he returned and presented the number, still attached to his race singlet, along with his shorts. "Now you can hang it up properly!"

He is remarkably well informed when it comes to the latest track and field news and says he reads The Athlete, published monthly by Moses Tanui and Paul Tergat. He is also avidly interested in the fortunes of other sportsmen. In Sydney where he finished a disappointing 10th in the 5,000m final, he had been so eager to support his countrymen that he attended everything from cycling to soccer without regard for his own preparation.

Today’s Work, Tomorrow’s Dreams

Reluctantly, he now admits he erred. Rest between his twice a day training sessions has become a staple of his lifestyle.

"Training is my job. I have to train in order to run. I have been given this talent to run. Also I feel that when you are world champion everybody knows you and now everybody wants to see you the next year. So I have to plan that. It is better to stay [at the top] for two or three years."

Limo laughs when told of Hermen’s prediction that he could win the Olympic 10,000m gold medal in Athens. He would just as soon continue running 5,000m with an eye to improving his fastest times. Without a major championship on this year’s calendar the Golden League meets will be the scene of several world record attempts, but Limo has more modest objectives.

"I have been told that when you want to get a world record you can’t too early in your career. At first I wanted to make a world championship team and I have been there for almost four years," he explains. "After that I try to look for a medal. I [was] there for almost two years looking for a medal. After that I have a world championship medal. Now I must run faster because I have seen that when you get a gold and you are confident of something you are going to make it."

Paul Gains is a Canadian freelance writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, GQ, Outside and many other publications. A former 29:19 10K runner and graduate of Colorado State University, his first love is running.