NAIROBI, Kenya, July 24 – Other than chasing medals or prize monies, international competitions are also an opportunity for athletes to make friends with people from other countries.
For Kenyan sprinter Zablon Ekwam, this is part of his to-do list when he docks in city of love — Paris — for the summer Olympics.
He is currently training in Kenya’s pre-Olympics camp of Miramas where the beautiful damsels of the southern city have caught his eye.
The sprinter admits the ‘angels’ have stoked a desire in his heart to know them at a personal level but for the language barrier that has made any communication impossible.
“The language barrier is really affecting me but we are also trying to catch up with this language (French). You know…it is frustrating because it’s difficult to talk to the girls here. I’d really love to have a chat with them and get to know them but now the language is a problem,” the sprinter says.
Ekwam will be debuting at the games, representing the country in the men’s 400m after he clocked a personal best of 44.69 to finish third at the Kip Keino Classic in April this year.
Featuring at the grandest sporting event on the globe is enough to make him teary-eyed as he reflects on his roots back home in Todonyang’.
A few years ago, if you had told him that he would one day don the Team Kenya singlet at the Olympics, he would have thought you were pulling his leg.
The road to Paris was paved with thorns and stones in the form of poor training facilities and gear.
“When I reflect back to the past, I just want to thank God. It has just been a journey of ups and down…just like a child who is growing. I’ve just been doing the best I can in sprints. The 400m is a hard discipline and growing up in tough conditions in Turkana has really encouraged me that you can achieve whatever you want if only you put your mind to it,” Ekwam testifies.
Friends in need
Thank God for friends in athletics who have gone down the same path and reach the promised land.
Ekwam reveals that he received lots of inspiration from Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala and Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Bonface Mweresa who urged him to relentlessly pursue his passion.
“I have been motivated by these two guys. I knew Omanyala when I was still in high school and he would send me training programmes to try and follow. He used to encourage me not to give up on my dream of becoming a sprinter. How I wish I had my phone here…I would have shown you the conversations we used to have from way back then,” he says.
Ekwam adds: “Mweresa has always been my role model considering I have always wanted to compete in the 400m. I was chatting with him in 2018 and 2020 because I had seen him at the London Olympics in 2012. At that time, I had not started running; they motivated me and now here I am running with them.”
This friendship has borne fruits, stuck to date as the trio prepare to compete in the Olympics.
It speaks volumes of the respect he commands among his older peers for them to compare him to Botswana sprinter Zibane Ngozi.
Ekwam says it is a name that inspires him to aim higher.
“Most guys say that I resemble him and Mweresa and the others gave me that nickname. I appreciate because Ngozi is one of the fastest sprinters in the world as far as the 400m is concerned. That nickname really motivates me a lot. I met him at the World Championships as well as the World Relays and he was really happy to hear people calling me Ngozi,” Ekwam explains.
Even as he undergoes optical nutrition in Miramas, Ekwam has not forgotten his roots in the motherland.
He is conscious that hundreds of thousands of eyes that are fixed on him as he makes history as the first from Todonyang’ to feature in the Olympics.
Over a thousand miles away from home — and about to embark on the most pivotal point in his life — Ekwam reveals that encouraging words from family and friends have kept him going in training.
“I just want to say thank you to all those who have said a word of encouragement. Your words have been quite motivating for me in training and my chase for a great performance in Paris,” Ekwam says.
Having set out to pave the way for many more like him from his community, Ekwam’s message to his kinfolk is for them to embrace hardwork and discipline in their craft.
“Where you come from does not matter but where you are headed to. This is 2024 and back when I was in the villages, I could never have imagined representing my country at the Olympics. Be a man or woman of principles and keep working hard and at the end of the day, you will get what you want,” he says.
Good to go
It is all systems go for Ekwam who exudes confidence that he will not be overawed by the magnality of the Olympics.
With the assistance of his coach, the sprinter is currently polishing up on different facets of his running.
“The training has been awesome…we are just trying to polish our starts. We were doing 60s and 30s and the body is responding well. Going to Belgium (for a competition) has really helped me and fine-tuned my mind to believe that I can face off with everyone be it in the heats, semis or even the finals,” he says.
Ekwam is the latest in a long line of sprinters to emerge from Kenya in recent times, proving that the country is more than just a cradle of long distance running talents.
The seismic effect of a virtuoso performance by the sprinter will surely be felt in the interiors of his Todonyang’ hometown and go a long way in inspiring many of village mates to tread the same path.
At a personal level, Ekwam will have written a wonderful story of a boy who rose from obscurity to worldwide fame.
Who knows? Maybe this story could also include a beautiful damsel from France — in addition to an Olympics medal.
