T. NashipaeWhere is Catherine Ndereba?
Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 21.11.23. | 11:23
Ndereba currently heads the sports department at Kenya Prisons, where she also nurtures young talents.
Catherine Ndereba, the once-revered marathoner whose footsteps left an indelible mark on the global stage, has seemingly disappeared from the public eye.
Speaking to Citizen TV earlier on Monday morning, the former Boston Marathon winner assured her fans that she was okay. Ndereba currently heads the sports department at Kenya Prisons, where she also nurtures young talents.
"I have been working at the Kenya Prisons as the sports coordinator of the department. I also do talent nurturing," she said.
The legendary marathoner made her international debut in 1995 in the women's relay in Seoul, South Korea. In 1996, she entered 18 races and won 13 of them. The impressive performance led her to be named Road Racer of the Year by Runner's World and Running Times Magazine.
Her steady progress reached its crescendo in 2000 and 2001 when she set a world record time in Chicago.
From there, she achieved lots of firsts, becoming the first Kenyan woman to win in Boston in 2001 (2:23:53) and 2004 (2:24:27), as well as the first four-time Boston Marathon women's winner. She became Kenya's sportswoman of the years 2004 and 2005 and was awarded the Order of the Golden Warrior in 2005 as well. Ndereba took her tally of triumphs in the World Marathon Majors to six.
She continued to showcase her greatness until 2015 when she retired.
Ndereba was also concerned with the recent surge of doping cases in the country, with marathoners like Krabi half marathon champion James Gikunga Karanja, who was suspended for the presence or use of a prohibited substance (norandrosterone), and Michael Njenga Kunyuga, who was also recently banned for eight years for the use of nandrolone.
The 2004-2005 Order of the Golden Warrior (OGW) called on young athletes to practice patience and trust the process.
"It is quite a challenge, and when I watch our country and young athletes suffering today, I pray to God to give our young athletes the wisdom and knowledge to understand that they need to take time. Patience always pays. The majority of young athletes want to be rich overnight. They do not want to take that time. They want to break world records but do not want to invest in training. That is why you find them trapped in taking performance-enhancing substances," Ndereba averred.
She further welcomed athletes for the inaugural Lake Ol Bolossat Half Marathon penciled for Nyandarua.
