During the 2012 London Summer Olympic 4x400m relay semifinal heat, an overly ambitious Kenyan athlete cut in front of South Africa's Ofentse Mogawane and both runners tumbled down to the ground.
Mogawane dislocated his shoulder and was unable to complete the race. The South African team lodged an appeal, and the Kenyan team was disqualified when the IAAF ruled that the Kenyan had obstructed Mogawane.
In a show of unmatched patriotism that unfortunately went south, the incident put a dent in the athlete's career as he sought to secure honour and pride for a country he so much loves.
Eight years down the line, Vincent Mumo has put behind him the agonising experience and shifted his focus to nurturing budding athletes after several years of flexing muscles indefatigably on the track.
Born on August 3, 1982, Mumo attended Nduluku Primary School where he sat for his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams before proceeding to Kwanthanze High School in Machakos for his secondary education.
He fermented his love for athletics while still in primary school. Mumo says he would always dash to school early in the morning and trot back home again in the evening.
"I actually used to time myself. I would set a target and time myself while running to school. The daily runs made me the best athlete in our school especially in the sprints," says Mumo.
"By the time I was in Class Seven, I used to beat everyone in school in both the 100m and 200m. In Class Eight, I participated in the national championship and became number three."
Mumo was exceptionally good at what he set his hands on. The fact that he was passionate about it made the situation even better.
So determined was he that as a Form Three student at Kwanthanze, he secured a slot in the national team to represent the country in the World Junior Athletics in Poland where he clinched a bronze.
The four-time East Africa Secondary Schools volleyball title holders, Kwanthanze, have always had a rich culture in sports and have been the main chain of supply for the national women's volleyball team, Malkia Strikers.
The school has always boasted of some top notch talent to have ever graced the game, dominating the field for almost a decade now, their volleyball team scooping back to back titles at the annual national secondary school ball games.
Mumo points out that during their time, Kwanthanze was not only a household name in volleyball but also in athletics.
Being an alumnus, his success on the track speaks volumes about the good foundation inculcated in him at the school, which propelled him to the national stage and eventually set up a platform for his remarkable exploits in the international arena.
After completing high school he was enlisted in the army where his narrative in athletics blossomed even further. He stepped on the track as a soldier and won medals at the 2003 Military World Games and the 2002 Africa Military Games.
"I joined the Kenya Defence Forces in 1991 after completing my studies in high school. Immediately I graduated from military training, I participated in the African Military Games held at Kasarani where I won a gold medal," says Mumo.
Mumo has competed in the 2008 and the 2012 Olympic Games. He has twice competed at the Commonwealth Games (2006 and 2010), winning a relay silver medal on his second appearance.
He was selected to represent the country at the World Championships in Athletics in 2003 and 2011.
In 2003, he donned the national colours while featuring for Kenya in the 400m race and the 400 by 4 relay during the 9th World Athletics Championships held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.
It was also in the same year that he flew the Kenyan flag at the 8th All Africa Games held between 5 and 17 October 2003 in the newly constructed Abuja Stadium, Nigeria where 53 countries participated in 23 sports.
Then in 2004, he represented the country in the Olympic Games held in Athens that took place between August 13 and 29. Mumo took a break for a while in 2005 after sustaining an injury that kept him out of competition until in 2006 when he made a grand return to help the Kenya Team bag a gold medal in the 400by4 relays in Mauritius.
It was also in the same year that he participated in the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne Australia.He was part of the Kenyan team that competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to 24.
Kenya won a total of 14 medals, 6 of them gold, its best ever performance at the Olympics. Kenya sent a total of 46 athletes, 28 men and 18 women, to the event.
"I was the only athlete selected to represent Kenya in the short races in Beijing," recalls Mumo.Mumo's life in coaching began coincidentally. He had traveled to South Africa where his manager believed he could get the best training in sprints and hurdles. After living there and competing for a while, old age creeped in and gradually shoved him aside.
He then decided to help nurture emerging talent at the request of his manager.
"I turned to coaching in 2016. I used to go to South Africa where I got an opportunity to train . In 2015 I tried to help some athletes including the late Nicholas Bett and Boniface Mucheru."
Mumo later decided to up his game in coaching through formal training and eventually obtained a coaching certificate in sprints and hurdles after successfully completing two courses he did at Moi Sports Complex, Kasarani and Kenyatta University.
His achievements as a coach cannot be ignored. He played a big role in the life of the late Nicholas Bett,who bagged a gold medal in the 400-metre hurdles at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing as well as a bronze at the 2015 African Championships in Athletics with a personal best of 47.79 Bett died aged 28 in a car crash in Nandi County, Kenya, just a day after he had returned from the Continental Championships in Nigeria.
Mumo has, however, elected to focus more on moulding budding athletes and says he derives more pleasure seeing them grow in status right from the scratch.Says Mumo:
"As an athlete I like juniors because they are the future champions.It is good to start with the juniors because the older athletes know a lot which makes it difficult to work with them. It's far much easier to guide the upcoming athletes."
When we met him at the Nyayo National Stadium taking his charges through a session, among them Alphas Leken Kishoyian who won a silver medal in the 400 metres at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics and another silver at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games.
Also with him was a promising young athlete, Steven Masindet who at 19 has already the country by storm while exhibiting the qualities of a world champion.Masindet trained at Keringet for several months, patiently waiting for an opportunity to prove his mettle on the national stage.
The chance finally came in 2019 when athletes drawn from all corners of the country assembled at the Nyayo Stadium to try out for the national team ahead of the All Africa Games.
“I finished fourth but I didn’t give up.I returned to the camp and when I raced next in Machakos, I performed very well in the relays while preparing for the World U20 Athletics Championships 2020.”
During the Machakos meeting, Masindet caught Mumo’s eyes, who invited him to train with the national team.
“Mumo spotted me in Machakos and told me that I have all that is needed to become a world champion. He invited me to the national team’s camp at Nyayo Stadium where we are preparing for the forthcoming Continental Tour,” observes Masindet.
Mumo has some nice words for his wife, a fellow soldier and athlete Georgina Mbinya, who has given him a lot of support now and in the past. "She has been supportive because we usually run together.
We represented the country in the Africa Military Games in 2003. She has been helping me to train, when I'm training she's also there. Mumo urges upcoming athletes to keep their eyes firmly fixed on the prize and discourages them to keep their hands completely off drugs.
"Discipline as an athlete is about how you handle yourself, how you conduct work out, your relationship with coach.Be focused, listen to coaches and the mentors and to keep off from the drugs and run free from the drugs," says Mumo.
Despite the several feathers already in his cap, Mumo is not resting on his laurels just yet as he trains his eyes on bigger things ahead.
"My future goal is to mould world champions and establish my own camp as soon as I can mobilize enough resources.""I spend my free time reading about athletics and guiding young athletes," concludes Mumo.
BIO
Vincent Mumo Kiilu
Date of Birth: 03/08/1982
Education: Nduluku Primary School, Kwanthanze High School
Career: Officer at Kenya Defence Forces
Personal Bests
200m 20.65
300m indoors 33.43
400m 45.31
400m indoors 48.67
600m 1:15.86
800m 1:47.50
400m/H (0.84) 51.50
4x100m 40.27
4x400m 3:00.97
Honours
1 x finalist at World Championships
1 x African champion
1 x Commonwealth Games Silver medallist
1 x African Championships Bronze medallist
1 x World Military Games champion
1 x World U18 Championships Bronze medallist
1 x All-African Games finalist
2 x African Championships finalist
7 x National champion
