Exclusive: Sarah Gearhart opens up on experience working with Kenyan legend Patrick Sang

It was another successful Olympic year for Kenyan athletes in 2024 after they clinched not less than 11 medals at the Paris Games. As the nation continues to grow in athletics, the foundation of its success was led by Patrick Sang, who won a silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics in the 3000m steeplechase. The Kenyan great was recently back in the headlines when US sports writer Sarah Gearhart opened up about Sang’s life in her book 'We Share The Sun'.

WION exclusively spoke to Sarah about her experience working with Sang, who mentors some of the game's greats. Currently, Sang is working with Eliud Kipchoge, the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon champion who broke the marathon world record in 2018 and 2022.

Question: What inspired you to choose Patrick Sang?

Answer: There are so many coaches that I could have chosen to pursue a story like this, but as I said before, he was just really mysterious to me and I just wanted to know more. I think intuitively, as a writer, you kind of get this sense that there's something more here. I don't quite know what it is, but I know that I need to figure it out and understand

Question: You have been to Kenya watching a different country, how was the experience and how do people pursue sports there?

Answer: It was just drastically different from the way that the Western world lives. I mean you're kind of stripped down from all what we consider the comforts of our lives. And while I was based in Eaton and there were issues, I know the local runners had issues with water and sometimes they didn't have enough to eat and that is the reality and it's hard to see but they find a way to keep going and I found that really inspiring.

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Question: A nation struggling with facilities, how Kenya has been different for international athletes?

Answer: I was surprised by the amount of elite European athletes that came to train. I didn't really encounter many Americans during my four trips to Kenya but I will say that Eaton continues to evolve and develop as a training base for international athletes which I was actually quite surprised by. There's something that athletes really gravitate toward. It's a purity that you can't really replicate anywhere else in the world from what I've experienced. And I think that's what makes it really unique.

Gearhart’s book ‘We Share The Sun’ on the legendary Kenyan will be featured at the Ekamra Sports Literature Festival. The sixth edition is being held at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on Saturday (Nov 23) from 10:00 am local time.