Perhaps nobody noticed the 14-year-old girl in school uniform that day in 2008 when Nancy Jebet Langat was received by her neighbours, relatives and friends for a celebration.

Nancy had just won gold in the 1500 metres race at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing at the Olympics.

When she came home, she was surrounded by the stars that had been in Team Kenya at the Olympics that year.

The girl in the school uniform was Faith Kipyegon. She was in a group from her primary school in Keringet, Nakuru, that had been informed about the celebration by one of the teachers. All he had said was, “I want these small girls, small athletes, to go and see what is happening there.”

Perhaps the seed was planted there. We may never know.

A few years later, Beatrice Chepkemoi Mutai’s attention was drawn to her younger sister’s persistence in getting into athletics. Faith had moved in with her to help babysit after school.

“One day, when primary school athletics competitions were being held, she came and told me that she had the urge and motivation to run,” Beatrice recalls.

Their father had done a bit of running back in the day and had mentioned it, but Beatrice had not taken it seriously. She also did not initially think her sister was serious.

“She told me to let her go and run, and I told her to stop joking. But she was stubborn about her dream. She went, and she was selected to represent her school,” said Beatrice.

Faith would regularly make it to the teams to represent the district and then province, at the national inter-school games. She recalls her first breakthrough coming at the Ndalaat Gaa Cross-Country, an annual event that takes place in a village in Nandi County. With regular sponsors, the event is more than a competition as it gives young athletes an opportunity to mingle with star athletes as they watch races and get a dose of culture with entertainment by traditional singers and dancers.

The 2012 edition was part of the Safaricom Athletics Series and Faith won the 6km junior women’s race. It is there that one of the iconic photos of the future star was taken.

“I think the first prize I got was from Safaricom in Ndalaat Cross Country,” Faith recalls. I will not forget that because, you know, with what they normally say, a journey begins with one step. So, I think that was the first step.”

It was around that time that Faith met Vivian Cheruiyot, who was already on the path that would take her to winning the 5000 metres Olympics gold in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

“When I was young, I used to see Vivian running, and I was like, one day, one time, I want to be like Vivian,” said Faith.

From her journalistic career covering athletics, now for the BBC, Celestine Karoney has seen Faith go through the phases, from the youngster at Ndalaat Gaa running cross-country and into the youth category and onto the track.

“She has youth gold; she has a junior gold. And not just on track and cross-country. This is something we don’t often see a lot because a lot of athletes will maybe try the cross-country – it’s very intense, very difficult – and then quickly move to the track and then move on. But Faith stuck to both surfaces, and she excelled in both surfaces,” she observes.

In athletics, as in much else in life, says Celestine, you cannot be what you cannot see, and that is why having a mentor in Vivian is good for Faith.

“When you have an athlete that you aspire to be like, not only does it motivate you to do well, but it also pushes you to try and better them,” says Celestine.

Like Faith, Vivian has Olympic gold and World Championship gold, but unlike Faith, she doesn’t have a world record to her name.

“But (Faith) sees the motivations and the aspirations she wanted. She got to that level, and she thought, ‘Oh, wait, I have a bit more. I can give a bit more,” Celestine observes.

Like Vivian, Faith took a break from athletics to start a family with her husband Timothy Kitum, the 2012 Olympic 800 m bronze medallist. Their combined athletics genes brought forth Alyn, who was born in June 2018.

“For me, it has given me extra energy. Since 2019, I normally say I have been flying because of Alyn. I’ve been doing everything, not thinking of other things, but thinking of what her future would be,” says Faith.

As she was coming out of her maternity break, Faith sought to work with Patrick Sang, who is more famously known as Eliud Kipchoge’s coach but is also an Olympic and World medallist, having represented Kenya in the early 1990s.

Sang had noticed Faith at the World Cross Country Championships in 2010 in Poland, where the young girl was running barefoot in the snow.

“The bravery is what really attracted me,” Sang recalls.

For Sang, working with an athlete requires pure trust. This means understanding everything about the athlete so that he can give his best and help them technically as they work to attain their goals.

“It’s been a wonderful journey because, when you have a personality like Faith, by the time you finish training, you go home, you feel re-energized,” he says.

“I don’t know, you know what kind of radiation she radiates. But in our relationship, it’s been a positive. Every time I come from training, I feel, like, re-energized,” he adds.

Faith’s 2023 was great, as she set new records in the 1500 metres and 5000 metres and was unbeaten in all finals during the track season. She was also World Athlete of the Year.

She set a new world record in the 1500 metres on July 7 at the Diamond League in Paris.

As she approaches the Olympics, Faith is confident she will succeed in her quest to win a third Olympic gold in the 1500 metres and attempt a double in the 5000 metres.

Her strategy?

“I focus on myself. I don’t focus on other people. I normally focus on myself and believe the training I’ve done and just go to the track believing in myself and show my fans what I’m capable of doing,” she says.

“For me, I normally get nervous, you know, especially going to the championship whereby you have 40 million people watching you back at home and praying that you bring a gold medal back home. So, for me, it’s a little bit of pressure, but sometimes pressure gives you energy to represent your country well,” she concludes.

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