Sammy Wanjiru RIP November 1986 – May 2011

Usually, when an athlete who has so utterly changed the face of the game dies, it creates tidal waves of shock among the sporting world. When Sammy Wanjiru, the Olympic Champion at the marathon, died two days ago, amidst all the stories out of Kenya of domestic violence, weapons, multiple women claiming to be his wives, etc., it takes a on a bit more of a "well, we should have seen this coming" tone. And, sadly, that is what may be remembered over the long haul.

But the long haul, for Sammy, wasn't as long as it was for everyone else. The 26 mile, 385 yard slog over pavement was a sprint for him, more so than anyone else in the history of the event, never mind that a few men have actually run faster than he did. Here was an athlete who changed the mindset of the event in such a way that it was very close to universally acknowledged that, given the right conditions, he would one day hold the world record. Sammy died at the tender age of 24, so, no, there is no long haul either in his racing or his life.

Wanjiru was an athlete without fear, utterly and completely without fear of the distance that he would have to run, and it showed most importantly in Beijing, in an unshaded Olympic course that simply baked the athletes in a most even and unrelenting form. Sammy, unafraid and clearly lacking the Olympic handbook that said all championship races are won in the later stages, too off from the opening, running a 4:41 mile and not letting up. For anyone else, this would have been suicide, but Sammy had thrown down the gauntlet and, fortunately for him, some others picked it up. Martin Lel, Kibet and Merga were all willing to not only go with him but would actually take turns pushing each other in as macho a contest as has ever been seen. Like boxing, there was almost no let up to the desire to inflict pain on one another, even in short bursts, as if to say, "Yes, I'm still here."

Lel, the former best marathoner on the planet for the last two years was not at his best after a bout with malaria, and Kibet had only been added to the team given his strength on running the heat. Neither would be the toughest runners that Wanjiru would go against. Merga, the Ethiopian, was the one who wouldn't back down an inch until his body dictated that he had to, because he ran with the same sort of abandon as Wanjiru. Merga, in the final 400 meters would pay the price for his agression by losing the bronze to teammate Kebede, himself running a very fast but slightly more controlled race.

And it was Kebede who would run with Wanjiru at this last fall's 2010 Chicago Marathon to a thrilling race that many are calling Wanjiru's best. Arriving at 85% fitness ( his coach would estimate), Sammy would be dropped three time in the final miles by Kebede, only to come back time and again before finally out sprinting the Ethiopian in the final KM. Find the clip on YouTube. The announcers have stepped out of their professional roles and are simply going bonkers. (Its a shame that no one else in the United States has seen this, since it was a brilliant run but then marathons, even in the greatest media capital of the country, don't have the attraction to get shown nationally live. And what a shame.)

Now in the saddest of all possible scenarios, we'll never have the chance to see what Sammy could have done at the race on a perfect day. I was worried that we would lose Sammy to booze, the way we lost Henry Rono for years, or to getting fat or simply to lack of motivation. But instead we lost Sammy to fame and money and youth and a complete and utter lack of guidance and common sense. There is no other way to see this than as a complete waste. There should have been so much more. So much less partying and so much more training and so many more victories.

Sammy, you will always remind me of Bikila, an athlete who died far too young and with many more races in you. Your Olympic victory will be on my mind as much as Bikila's was so an entire generation of runners before me. It was inspirational in every sense of the word, and that is such an overused word. Some would say godspeed, but, then, you already had that.