Hail Kiplagat, the village celebrity

By ANIL BAKARI

It was interesting to learn that Edna Kiplagat, the world marathon champion and first gold medallist for Kenya at 14th IAAF World Championships in Moscow, enjoys cooking for herself and plants her own food. In short, I am vindicated to say Kiplagat is no different from the average village girl. This is despite the fact that she has conquered the world.

Kiplagat, who comes from Iten, plants a variety of traditional vegetables, which she harvests and cooks with ordinary milk cream using firewood. Well, you may say that her occupation dictates that she lives such a lifestyle, but I see humility in all these. Kiplagat, as many athletes, remains humble and true to her roots, yet she is a celebrity.

Now, compare this with some people, who have sang a song that reign the air-waves for a month or those who post their ‘nude’ photos on the internet and receive some attention, and then they call themselves celebrities.

If they were the ones who had been asked about what they eat or wear, they would have talked of some foods they heard from the so-called socialites and their ‘state-of-the-art’ kitchens, just to show off their ‘status’. The moral of this story is that athletes are some of the most humble celebrities, who never lose their self despite globetrotting.