By Mutwiri Mutuota from the Kenyan Standard for mzungo.orgHailed as the father figure of the most successful Kenyan Olympics team, Wilfred Bungei is engaged in a Herculean battle of his illustrious career.
Bungei, who added the gloss on his appointment as captain of last year Beijing squad by winning men’s 800m gold, is faced with a top athletes’ worst nightmare — the frantic race against time to recover from injury that could lock him out of Berlin World Championships.
Last week, he returned from Germany where he went to see the doctor who tends the German national football team as he seeks to heal in time for the July 25 National Trials in his pursuit for a slice of history.
"I returned from Italy when I got injured in training. I’m praying to be in competitive shape at the Trials since it is my desire to run for Kenya," Bungei said last week at the New KCC/AK National Championships.
While recovery will take much longer than the 1:44.65 he ran to win gold in Beijing, Bungei has not given up his mission to become the first simultaneous holder of Olympic and World 800m titles.
That honour has amazingly eluded all famed two-lap athletes including world record holder and three-time world champion Wilson Kipketer of Denmark and two-time gold medallist, Billy Konchellah.
In May, when international journalists visited his rural residence nicknamed ‘Bungeishire’ in Kabirirsang, Nandi Central during IAAF’s Day in Life programme, Bungei explained the decision to compete for his country again after previously stating he would hang his jersey after the Olympics.
"I felt it was enough. The pressure for me through my career was to win Kenya gold at a major championship. When I won in Beijing, I thought this is it at that time. "But after announcing I was done, I met many people who asked me why I wanted to hang my spikes. ‘Why can’t you run?’ ‘Why can’t you go out there?’ they wanted to know and after consideration, I decided to try the World Championships."
He began the year by skipping the indoor season as he worked to get back to shape after exertions that followed the crowning moment of his career when he paraded along his teammates as the country celebrated their Olympic stars who brought home five gold, five silver and four bronze medals from Beijing.
Bungei retreated to his Nandi Bears training base and then travelled to Italy where he spends half his year for more training until he injured his right foot forcing him to return home in May to seek treatment.
"There is pressure to prove myself to the world in Berlin after last year. That is my biggest motivating factor but everything depends on how fast I can heal but I have not lost hope," said Bungei, who is yet to compete this season. "No one has ever held Olympics and world titles and I want to remain focused on my programme. Luck has been on my side so far in my career and to be on top, one has to concentrate," he added. On leading the Olympics team, Bungei disclosed, "It was a huge honour for me but we had problems but thankfully, I will be remembered as the captain who led a very successful team. The most endearing thing about the team is just like Obama did for US; it brought the country together after post-election bloodshed. When Samuel Wanjiru won men marathon gold, everyone from Nyeri to Mombasa celebrated, it made me very emotional."
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