Nyandika had dropped out of school to run, and so with it had missed the chance to learn English. So when he turned up at the Indian Ocean Games in Madagascar in 1953, he only understood Kiswahili and Kisii. That meant he needed his handler, a colonial administrator, to translate instructions for him.
But a few minutes before the race was called, the handler had to dash off for a bathroom break. He came back to find the race had started, but he couldn’t see Nyandika among the runners. Nyandika was a strong runner, most comfortable in the lead. But he simply wasn’t there. So the handler got frantic and started calling out Nyandika’s name. When he did find him he screamt: “Nyandika, mbona haukimbii? Hizi ndizo mbio zako!
Nyandika, realizing what had just happened, ran to the start line and started off. Here is the crazy part; everyone else had already done the first turn. Nyandika was starting 100 meters behind his opponents. Anyone else would have considered the race already lost, but Nyandika wasn’t just anyone. He simply sped off after the pack, caught up and won. No, you didn’t read that wrong. A man who started a race almost half a minute after everyone else, and with 100 meters to catch up, caught up and left everyone behind. If that’s not badass, I am not sure what is.
Other than this absolute badassery, Nyandika holds the record as the first Kenyan to compete in an Olympic final when he qualified for the 5,000m final in Melbourne in 1956. He was also the captain of the Kenyan team.
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