By: Bella Liu

Henry Rono was the most talented runner of his time, but due to alcohol addiction and being too careless with money, the athlete had to abandon his running career. Rono is known for being a spectacular runner and for setting world records. However, the proudest period of Rono’s life was when he went to community college in New Mexico and finally achieved a mastery of English.

During Rono’s early childhood, he suffered a bicycle accident that left the boy unable to walk until he was six years old. His father also died when Henry was young; this left the family in financial difficulties. His mother struggled to make a living; meanwhile, Rono was never consistently enrolled in school. He finally finished seventh grade at age 19. Around that time, Rono developed a love for running, inspired by Kipchoge Keino, a famous Kenyan runner.

Rono developed his athletic skills further while he was training for the military. Rono was originally going to represent Kenya in the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. However, Kenya’s government withdrew from the Games (along with many other African nations’ teams) in protest of the inclusion of New Zealand. (New Zealand’s rugby team had refused to boycott apartheid South Africa.) Rono moved to Washington state in the United States where he trained at a state university, won his meets with very little effort, and set many world records.

Unfortunately, Rono began drinking with increasing regularity because athletics officials dissuaded the runner from going into alcohol addiction rehab. It didn’t help that Rono was irresponsible with money; he made bad investments and misplaced cash on airplanes. After quitting his running career, Rono stayed in the U.S. and did a variety of jobs. He worked as a physical education teacher and trained college athletes. Rono eventually decided to go back to school in New Mexico because he wanted to build up his self-confidence by working on his English skills. He did well, improving his grammar and even writing poetry. Later he wrote an autobiography.

As Rono grew older, his money struggles grew worse. Finally, he was forced to move back to Kenya to live in his brother’s home. Today he is back in Kenya, and is finally sober. At 70 years old, he is at peace with himself and the ups and downs of his life.