Paul Ruto: Why I still drive my world championships car

Former world 800m champion Paul Kimutai Ruto still drives and maintains his Mercedes Benz, the car he won as a prize 29 years ago.

Ruto, who lives in Uasin Gishu county won the 1993 World championships title in 1:44.71 beating then race favourite Billy Konchella, who managed bronze in 1:44.89 with Italian Giuseppe D’Urso in between the Kenyans with silver after clocking 1:44.86 in Stuttgart, Germany.

“When I won the race, my prize was a Mercedes Benz C180 and I still use it now. I still drive that vehicle because it is my pride and I have to show my children and grandchildren to know that I got it through too much sweat by running and I was blessed with it,” said Ruto.

He said that he has been maintaining the vehicle and acts as a museum for his children.

“They always ask me how I got it and I reply that ‘I earned through running’, which is a motivation to them, knowing that one day they will also run and get such great prizes,” he said.

The retired Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) man based in Lanet, ran apart from Konchella, he raced against William Tanui who finished in the 7th position at 1:45.80.

After retiring from active athletics, he became a coach, working with 81 battalions as his legs had problems.

“I would like to tell our leaders to help some of the former athletes currently languishing in poverty. Some former athletes are so drunk that they cannot be recognized as former champions. Also, young runners should invest well in their youthful stage,” he said.

“By then, we used to run with a notion of winning but the current generation is lucky because one can earn money easily. At the same time many athletes don’t practice a lot on roads but do gym work unlike us,” he said.

He also emphasized on education, saying that it has good tidings at the end of the career.

“Education can help many athletes and some even earn scholarships to study abroad, which is good to build their future,” he said.