Rio 2016: Boniface Mucheru’s Silver Proves Kenyans Can Win in Sprint

He didn’t get gold, but he was darn close!

Yesterday, Boniface Mucheru became the first Kenyan to win an Olympic medal in the 400-meter hurdles.

Despite Kenya’s dominance in long distance running, their sprint presence on the Olympic stage has been mostly lacking. This was the nation’s first Olympic sprint medal since the men’s 4×400 meter relay class of the 1972 Munich games.

Mucheru finished with a personal best 47.78, a mere 0.5 seconds later than the gold medal winner, Americas’ Kerron Clement.

Mucheru credited his increased time to a change in technique.

“I went and checked on mistake from the semi-finals yesterday (Wednesday). I saw where I went wrong, and I had to accept it. So I composed myself and relaxed. ”

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“If I had not accepted the mistake I would not have made it today. I had an issue with the eighth hurdle, and I believe I would go for a gold medal because that is what I had targeted. “[/perfectpullquote]

“Although I missed the gold medal narrowly. I’m very happy with the silver medal. I would like to thank Kenyans and my family for being there for me and supporting me, you have really motivated me, and that is why I was able to reach this far,” he said after the race.

He went on to dedicate his medal to his newborn daughter.

The Kenyan runner has come a long way since the 2012 London games where he finished 35^th in the 400-meter hurdles.

Photo Courtesy: Paul Gilham/Getty Images