Hellen Obiri

The two-time Olympic 5000m silver medallist and world champion Hellen Obiri has urged Kenyan athletes to exhibit  high level of discipline in an effort to maintain the sterling performance at both continental and international fronts.

The Kenyan distance runner who is moving up to the marathon distance from her most competitive event at 5000m was speaking during the team building of the Elite Youth Camp that has gone  along way in  motivating different athletes from diverse background.

"Discipline will take you places beyond what your talent can and remember if you dope all the hard work you put in is in vain so be protective of your athlete life by ensuring you are aware of what you take in even when you're sick" she remarked

The 33 year-old  has proven herself to be competitive over a range of distances and disciplines, including winning at the World Cross Country Championships, World Athletics Championships and the two silver medals from the Olympic Games.

Obiri who was cited as one of the 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2017  revealed four years later how  many male athletes are falling prey to 'gold diggers' who mislead them into wasting away their hard-earned cash.

She said most of these athletes choose to keep quiet in their tribulations unlike their female counterparts who are more likely to speak up and seek help in such instances.

"The boy child is also suffering; not just the girl child. There are some type of women who entrap male athletes in the name of love, trick them into spending all their money and afterwards take flight, leaving our brothers heartbroken. So we also need to talk about this issue and help them out," noted mother of one.

She owns the current 5000m national record at 14:18.37, from her performance in Rome in 2017 and has the one-mile and 3000m national records having run as fast as 4:16:15 and 8:20.68 over the two distances, respectively.

Obiri is one of the most decorated female track and field athletes of the past decade, having won 10 global medals in the 1500 meters, 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters, and cross-country since 2011.

She’s a two-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist at 5,000 meters and, based on her success at 10,000 meters and her initial forays to the half marathon, has considerable upside for the marathon.