A gold medalist in the just-concluded World Athletics under 20 is back to his village, where he depends on menial jobs for survival.
Heristone Wanyonyi made history in Nairobi by clinching the first-ever gold in the race walk at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on Saturday, August 21.
But after all the hype, 18-year-old Wanyonyi is back at his Andalala Village in Kapenguria West Pokot County in his family's mud house, where he works as a farmhand and a casual labourer to earn a living.
More often, Wanyonyi and his mother till people's land in the area to earn a living, making as little as Ksh800 or less.
This lifestyle is what he has grown up to after finishing Highschool in 2020 at Ortum High School in West Pokot.
" I do these casual jobs to help my parents get some food for the family," Wanyonyi stated, during an interview with Citizen TV.
Wanyonyi is the second born in a family of eight and he grew up watching his parents work as casual labourers in the area to earn a living.
In his plea to the government, Wanyonyi says he hopes the State will honour him like gold medalists in the just concluded Olympics in Tokyo so that he can also help his family out of poverty.
"I would like to help my family because we live in a place where they cannot sustain themselves financially. We live in a rented house and we pay monthly, I would like the government to intervene so that we can buy our own land and I build a house for my parents," Wanyonyi pleaded.
According to his parents, Wanyonyi's talent became evident at a younger age.
"At his younger age, he was not a slow-paced individual. He was fast. If sent for an errand he could go and deliver faster, that is where he started," Susan Wasike, Wanyonyi's mother stated.
Wanyonyi resolved to race walk after his primary school teacher back at Sigirio Primary School, West Pokot, Edward Moti, lured him to the race from 10,000m track.
"My teacher told me that I should take walking race seriously as it is like any other athletics event. Since then I started practicing, he helped me and even gave me secrets on how to walk faster," Wanyonyi stated.
In High School, Wanyonyi won a silver medal in the race walk. His performance impressed and he was called for the national under 20 championships after winning the national title.
For the first time, he has also come out to claim that he was not expecting to clinch a gold in the World Athletics under 20.
"I was not expecting to win a gold in the competition because race walk has always been dominated by other countries like China, Australia, even Kenyans knew it wasn't easy," he stated.
He won the race walk in personal best of 42 minutes and 10.84 seconds. His family, which does not own a television set had to go to a neighbour's house to watch Wanyonyi make history.
He is currently being trained by Geoffrey Otwani at Ruaraka’s General Service Unit (GSU) camp.
