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oh wow, i felt a lot after reading an article posted by a friend, on fb- on running. i was between touched and torn. and i dont even know how to describe the article! and if i start.. it'll give me back-pain ni.. so wait, i'll have my cheese-chocolate-oreo-cake first. kehkehkeh (and then i know how it goes, i'll lose whatever i felt hence resulting a slight failure in my description later. wait and see. haha)
so... the article is about this amazing world-record runner, Daniel Komen. He was a kenyan, the only man who have ever run under 8 mins for two miles (broke many other world records). Komen achieved so much, peak at this sport in only a very short span of time. but declining afterwards... and so, kind of disappeared from the sport- a world record runner who afterwards didnt even make it to some olympics... dot dot..
this article actually focuses on why this actually happened? why such an amazing racer lost his fire suddenly?
Komen grew up in poor-rural kenya area.. who had to run six miles in the morning and another six miles going back from school. skalinya dotdotdot ia pun joined the sport in europe, aaah i think i am doing this wrong.. indaku tau eh, indaku pndai kn describe.. so i am going to copy-paste part of the article sajalah.. karang mun ada yg menGoogle, kna samanku :p
(the beginning of his career) -
I don’t think he saw any limits,” Tanser says. “He knew he had a tough life and knew what he had to do to elevate himself out of that situation.”
In those days, a retired Kenyan miler named Joseph Cheshire worked informally as a talent scout for English agent Kim McDonald in Kenya. After Komen started destroying his young compatriots in training and races, Cheshire contacted McDonald and advised him to bring Komen to Europe.
(at some points in his career)
By this time Komen had discovered, as many Kenyan runners do, that the more he raced, and the better he performed, the more money he took home, and he began pressing his managers for more payday opportunities.Komen kicked off his season with a two-mile race in Sweden on July 14, smashing Haile Gebrselassie’s world record with a time of 8:03.54. Less than a month later, on Aug. 10, Komen nearly took down another record, running 7:25.16 for 3,000m in Monaco, a scant 0.05 second shy of Noureddine Morceli’s mark.
Afterward Komen admitted he had not even known what the existing world record time was going into the race. Indeed, according to those who then surrounded him, Komen had little general understanding of records and paces and distances.
(interesting fact, i think!) -
“He didn’t really comprehend what he was doing,” Ratcliffe says. “He just ran as hard as he could. There was no barrier there.”
Alongside his hunger to escape poverty, Komen’s innocence as a runner might have been one of the most important psychological ingredients to his success.
Gaskell recalls an incident that perfectly captures Komen’s mindset toward competition. At a running club appearance in London, Komen was asked how he dealt with pre-race nervousness.
“Daniel did not understand the question,” Gaskell recalls. “It wasn’t that he didn’t understand English. He didn’t understand what it was to be nervous before a race.”
In a press conference the day before the race, Komen was typically laconic and inscrutable. Only one question got an answer of more than a few words.“What are your tactics for the record attempt?” a reporter asked.
“A soldier does not discuss his tactics before he goes to battle,” Komen said. Truth was, he had no tactics. Never did. (Months later, when McDonald gave Komen a plan of split times for an indoor 3,000m world record attempt, Komen rejected it. “Just tell me faster or slower as [I go],” he said.(his downfall)-
Then the slide began—almost imperceptibly at first. The first warning signs were reports from Kenya that Komen was neglecting his fall training in favor of partying and spending his money.
“Daniel, after the first year of success, was much more single-minded, and rebelled a bit against others’ advice,” Gaskell says. “He knew best.”
One day Komen casually told one of Tom Ratcliffe’s assistants, “I don’t have to train as hard anymore. I’m already here.” As if the hard work required to become the best runner in the world was like a one-and-done vaccination.
I think he became a little overconfident, maybe even arrogant,” Gaskell says. “He just found it too easy. He thought he could walk on water—that he could do great performances without having to flog himself in training.”By 1998, Komen was the Kenyan equivalent of an American billionaire, and with that kind of money to fall back on he just couldn’t bring himself to suffer as he once had.
(in comparison with the other racer- a good and long careered one) -“Moses Kiptanui really loved to run, loved to compete,” says Ratcliffe. “He wanted to be a great athlete. And he had a long career because of that. But I don’t know if Daniel ever had that. He enjoyed winning, he enjoyed the fame, and he enjoyed the financial success, but he didn’t love what he was doing.”
(after-effect/his current life..)
Almost four years later, nothing has changed. During a recent visit to Kenya, Tober Tanser listened politely as Komen excitedly told him that he was going to run the New York City Marathon this coming November. Asked if Komen was doing much running at the time, Tanser replied, “Not much. He needs to lose 5 kg [11 pounds], in my opinion.”
(comments-overall of his current life) -
It is natural to interpret Daniel Komen’s story as a sad tale of wasted potential—of what might have been. Unless you’re Daniel Komen.
“I’d say we’re imposing that on him,” says Bob Kennedy. “Certainly if he was an American or Western athlete you’d say his story was tragic, but he may have done something for his life back in Kenya that he never otherwise would have had the opportunity to do, and that may be more than okay with him.”
Indeed he did. Despite profligate spending at the height of his career, Komen is still a rich man by Kenyan standards. He now serves as chairman of the Keiyo North Rift Athletics Association, and as co-director of a private school with his wife, Joyce. And he remains a hero in his home country, feted everywhere he goes.
“I don’t know that he has any regrets about never going to the Olympics, or anything else,” Ratcliffe says. “I think he’s happy enough.”
my conclusion?
-i think, there are advantages and certain beauty of doing things "innocently"- not having to know the micro details of things we are doing and calculate every possibilities and list every opportunities and mistakes that might be there.. and not having to study every little things of what we are doing (not giving/thinking too much.. i mean, how about.. just do it? and something that equals to.. having faith in what we are doing.. just.. faith and no fears).. the beauty of mindset, i say?
-motivations.. we have motivations, we go far.. we have goals, we go far..
-gotta love what we do.. gotta love pursuing excellence..
-never the arrogance, no matter how good we are.. we can never walk on the water.. advices and trainings and improvements are necessary elements..
maybe you dont get it, why am i touched and torn? haha. i think.. its just kind of heart-breaking on whatever happened to this great athlete.. he could have gone much farther and successful.. and what i like most is the fact that he was a "natural" on what he was doing..you know, not having to be nervous, not having to study what he was doing.. he just did it.. he didnt think much.. im actually really impressed by naturals. always have been. but then, its his choice. he is happy now. and that, i think, would be enough.. for him. maybe. :)
-oh and more thing, i like the fact on how "naturals" are made? its the work of life.. the way we live, the way we had to face such difficult (or any other) circumstances that somehow forces us to be who we are, that make us the way who we are..
i hope no one google this and arrive here! haha.
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