Elijah Lagat: From a heart problem to athletics glory and politics

You wake up one morning with discomfort and you visit a doctor. But the medic bluntly sends a tough warning – “you have a heart condition which is resulting from your overweight.”

That patient was legendary athlete Elijah Lagat who passed away in Eldoret on Tuesday aged 59.

Extraordinarily, the visit to a doctor in the 1980s would later propel him to stardom in athletics.

What was the doctor’s prescription to his heart condition and obesity? Lagat answered that question when he retired from long distance running in the early 2000s.

He said the doctor said in his warning that he (Lagat) risked dying prematurely unless he started rigorous physical exercises that would reduce his weight.

And that did not only become the cure to his overweight and heart problem but pushed him into athletics.

The prescription became his springboard into many races which were athletics, politics and public service as well as business.

After running to regain his health it became a norm, he discovered that he would make a superb road racer and when he attempted to compete professionally in the early 1990s, the results were exciting.

He shot to international fame when he won the 1997 Berlin Marathon, the same year he chalked up victory at Prague 42km.

Lagat confirmed his dominance in marathon racing when he stormed to victory at the 2000 Boston Marathon stunning bigger names such as two-time champion Moses Tanui and Ethiopia’s Gezahenge Abera in the final yards to win the 104th edition of the American race.

It was never his ambition to be a professional given the battle with obesity and the risk of a heart condition that rocked his childhood.

“In the 1980s, I was not an athlete. I was overweight. My doctor said you need to lose weight or you will die. I went from 72 kilograms to 57 kilograms,” said the late Lagat in an interview in the 2000s.

Before he switched to athletics around 1994, Lagat had worked briefly as an education administrator. He was 27-years-old when he made the decision.

“I never had any intention of being a professional athlete. I was only rescuing myself from a life-threatening condition,” he said.

On Tuesday the late Lagat’s family said the former athlete and Member of Parliament died of high blood pressure.

Friends said he was full of life and was a towering figure while in athletics and later when serving as MP for Emgwen and Chesumei constituencies in Nandi County from 2007 and 2017.

He joined the Nandi governorship race in the 2022 general elections but failed.

Until his demise on Tuesday, Lagat was a director at the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse.

Lagat went on to win the Berlin and Prague marathons in 1997 and 1998. He also has a sixth-place finish in New York (1999) and a 10th-place finish in Chicago (1998) on his docket. His best time was 2:07:41 in Berlin.

The late Lagat’s brother Abraham Lagat said the family was yet to set a burial date.

“We are consulting with the government and church leaders before announcing the date. We are currently receiving condolence messages,” Abraham said.

On Wednesday, the country continued mourning the loss of a man who conquered athletics, politics and public service.

Two-time Boston Marathon winner Moses Tanui who competed alongside Lagat as they defended the 1999 title won by the late Joseph Chebet said he was elated after Lagat helped Kenya defend the Boston Marathon title in the 2000 edition.

“He was a good man. He was my training mate in Kaptagat and he was a very disciplined athlete. He never missed training,” Tanui, who is the director of Eldoret City Marathon, said.

Tanui went on to say: “I was happy for him when he won Boston and I finished third. An athlete from Ethiopia was second and Kenya managed to retain the title through Lagat.”

“However, I initially discouraged him from joining politics and he insisted that he wanted to serve his people. He used kind words to defend his decision to join elective leadership and I agreed with him. Eventually, he served his people well.”

Athletics Kenya President Jackson Tuwei said: “So sad to learn of the news about the loss of a great leader and athlete.”