Saturday July 28, 2012 - Samuel Kamau Wanjiru was a super talent, an Olympic Champion and a two time winner of World Marathon Majors.Between 2008 and 2010, Wanjiru cashed marathon jackpots than any other Kenyan athlete.Wanjiru was a world class sportsman alongside Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Yohane Blake.
Despite his sporting achievements, everything fell apart on May 15, 2011 when he died in mysterious circumstances that shook the global sports fraternity.
Running on Empty: the Life and Triumphs of Samuel Kamau Wanjiru brings you the tragic story of a world class sport star felled by fame, money, women and alcohol.
Here are some excerpts from the book….
Wanjiru had secured a Sh 2.1 million loan from his manager Federico Rosa and he was heading to Nyahururu to bribe the police to drop the gun charges he was facing so that he could fly out to the US and Italy, the book states.
“Despite the prohibition by his coach, Wanjiru decided to go to Nyahururu on Sunday May 15,”
The athlete’s journey was not driven by the health of his wife.
“He was nervous, the lawsuit in connection with illegal possession of fire arms was approaching and he wanted the police to withdraw the indictment so that he could free again,” writes Dutch journalist Frits Conijn who is the author of the book Running on Empty.Three weeks earlier his manager, coach, lawyer had taken him to a camp in Eldoret to rescue his floundering career following claims that he was spending more time in bars than on track or at home.
The writer says Wanjiru was so anxious about the case that he wanted to physically confirm the amount was credited to his account.
“If that had been done, the case in court could be completed speedily. He wished and longed for his freedom. With enough money, he could conclude this itchy issue with the police and have it withdrawn from the court,”
As a precaution, his coach Claudio Bardalelli and Mr Rosa had organised for Wanjiru to drive in a convoy to ensure the star would head home straight from Eldoret.
“Wanjiru himself would use the trainer’s car, while Daniel Gatheru drove Triza’s car. In this way he was trying to build a return guarantee because as a car enthusiast, the athlete would appreciate the honour and return the car by himself,” Conijn writes.
However this precaution would only last for ten minutes. No sooner had they left the vicinity of the broader Uashin Gishu County than Wanjiru, stopped at roadside pub to buy some beer.
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After 150 Kilometers Wanjiru decided to visit one of his many girlfriends in Nakuru town.
Conijn says Wanjiru was a talented sports icon with a wealth estimated to be over half a billion shillings. Despite this, he still behaved like most of his fellow villagers who had nothing to spend.
His investments were not returning any profit, and the animosity between his wife and mother was suffocating him.
“The worst of all was the spiky relationship between his relationship between his more or less official wife, Triza and his mother Hannah. Daughter-in-law and mother-in-law always disagreed and scrambled over him, each constantly pulling him to their camp,” the writer says.
Wanjiru was on the verge of becoming an alcoholic. Although his liver was still intact, says Conijn, recent medical reports revealed evidence of his drinking habits in his blood.
Winning Olympics medal turned Wanjiru into a prisoner of his own success.
“Wanjiru became a celebrity and he found it difficult dealing with his new status. He received invitations to expensive parties, attended interviews and even appeared on televisions commercial for a Kenyan Insurance Company” Wanjiru became a household name.
“He did not feel at ease in a world that until then had remained to be a mystery. Some of the conversations he was engaged in were complex and he lacked flair to hide that in a flexible way. Wanjiru was increasingly becoming a prisoner of his own success,”
With fame came a train of sycophants whose biggest agenda was to make quick money by stoking his fragile ego.
Like many young men, he liked partying but unlike them he had no financial constrains. And this was his biggest undoing.
Tomorrow we will have a comprehensive serialisation on how Wanjiru’ got his millions and how he became a prisoner of his own success….only on the DAILY POST.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
