Amputees in military told to join Paralympics

Three-time Paralympics world record holder Henry Kirwa believes military officers with physical challenges can boost Kenya’s medals tally at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, France.

He has since called for their participation at the Paralympics as a way of also keeping boredom and loneliness at bay.

Kirwa said officers from the National Police Service and other para-military officers who suffered injuries can equally join the sporting world.

“Last year, I met some military guys and I told them about the Paralympics. I urged them to join us because we are a family and there are a lot of disciplines that they can compete in, starting from track to field events,” said Kirwa.

“I want to urge guys in the military to join us and participate in sports, which is welcoming and with good rewards. Military guys can be very critical is boosting the country’s medal standing at the Paris games.”

Ironically, Kirwa regrets that his world records are “just flowers of fame” since he has never benefitted from them.

The Nandi County-based Paralympian, who specialises in the T12 and T13 categories, holds the three world records in 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m set during the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

“My life changed a lot because of sports and I am enjoying the fruits. However, the records that I hold are only for fame but nothing comes with them. If I was running under the World Athletics, I could be receiving a lot of money. The International Paralympics Committee (IPC) gives money but an athlete is rewarded by the respective governments. If you break a world record with the World Athletics, you earn like Sh40 million but for the Paralympics, you only receive rewards from your governments,” Kirwa lamented.

He says he has earned from winning gold in competition but not breaking records. He noted that for every gold, he earned Sh 800,000.

“I earned my cash through the gold medals, not the world records, which were never recognised by the government unlike now. Also, I must congratulate the government that has started paying the guides. If an athlete wins gold, the guide will also win gold unlike in the past when you could split the reward,” explains Kirwa.

His journey began in early 2000 when he used to compete with the likes of double Olympics marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge before breaking through in 2007 when he represented the country at the Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria.

“I come from a running family. My mother and my brothers run too. When we used to train, I could not see far and I was left behind. I was visually impaired. I could not see more than 20 metres ahead so I was left behind and catching up was a challenge,” says Kirwa.

He signed a contract with Gianni Demadona then coach Renato Canova discovered his eyesight challenge and advised him to join the Paralympics.

He later met a lady friend Christine Chepkirui in Cheptiret who explained to him more about the Paralympics.

“I was frank with her and she told me to go for some trials in Kapsabet where I was classified under T12. From there, I was handed three races (1,500m, 5,000m, and 10,000m) and I won all of them, earning a ticket for national trials. I won and joined the Kenya team to the All Africa Games in Algeria in 2007 where I won two gold medals in the 1,500m and 5,000m. I was so fast because I used to train with able people,” remembered Kirwa.

After Algeria, he did not even report back home as he was redirected to compete at the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as the only Kenyan athlete after the government failed to send a team, managing to win three gold medals in the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m.

“From Rio, I managed to qualify for the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. This is where I broke the three world records with three gold medals where I was rewarded handsomely by the late president Mwai Kibaki. The record stands until now,” he said.

After hanging spikes, he went into coaching, producing top athletes.

“What I see in Paralympics, there are no professional coaches and I have experience on what needs to be done to win a race. The majority of our athletes lack skills and I came to help,” he said.

He says that he has focused on training athletes in the events that he dominated like the 1,500m and 5,000m.

“I am giving them tips on how to break records the way I did. Right now, Wesley Sang is using my programme races. I also train Nancy Chelangat and Mary Waithera, all of whom have qualified for the 2024 Paris Paralympics,” he said.