16 March 2022 | Athletics

Peruth Chemutai is a rising star whose ascension continues in the World of Athletics to date. From sensationally collecting Gold in Tokyo last year to starting the season with victory at the Belgium CrossCup de Hannut earlier this year, she's proving a shooting star that will not go out any time soon.

We focus on her journey through the years as she rose the ranks until that lonely race at the Olympic Stadium, setting a lead like no other before crossing the finish line in fine fashion to become the first Ugandan woman ever to win an Olympic medal.

Her success dates back to 2013 in Bukwo district - her home area. Chemutai as adventurous as she is barely knew she would be where she is today. Her dream was to become a doctor or a teacher. “ I always visualized myself either treating patients or on a blackboard imparting knowledge," she is quoted by New Vision.

However, her choice to attend the District Athletics Championships as a casual fan changed everything. With the cut-throat competition between runners, Chemutai says she “liked what she was seeing. “Running looked real good. I felt like trying it out," she added.

Back then she was a Chemron Primary School student and before long, she was already attempting to give it a shot against seasoned athletes. Within two years, she had won two silver at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in the 1500m and 3000m Steeplechase.

Chemutai realized more success when she competed in the junior women's race at the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, finishing in 7th place. In 2016, she finished in 7th place in the final of the women's 3000m Steeplechase event at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships held in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Inexperience is hard to buy and some of her early challenges were that. She huffed and puffed at the Rio Olympics in Brazil and even though her time of 9:31.03 in the heats did not qualify her for the final, she picked a few lessons.

Two years later, Peruth was at the medal table after winning silver at the 3000m Steeplechase race of the 2018 World Junior Championships. It was a national record of 9:07.94. 2019 was the last time she ran in a major competition before the COVID 19 pandemic that forced a halt of all international sport. She finished 5th at the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships held in Aarhus, Denmark.

Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that were postponed to 2021, Chemtai believed she was primed for success at the event. “I can do better. All I need is a little more practice and exposure and I will be able to compete with the best.". Her dream was to break the steeplechase record at the games.

All of Uganda's 10 medals at the Olympic Games had come from men. The nation's two Olympic golds before then had come from John Akii-Bua at Munich 1972 and marathon runner Stephen Kiprotich at London 2012.

Pre-race attention had been on the past three world champions: Beatrice Chepkoech, Emma Coburn, and Hyvin Kiyeng. Chemutai, meanwhile, had finished some way off the leaders in her two international races before, so she went largely unnoticed. After clocking a season’s best of 9:12.72 in her heat she eventually got a couple talking.

On the Tele back in Uganda, Peruth leading the large pack through the first kilometre in 3:05.18 was probably a thing that worried man as all the big contenders looked extremely comfortable with the pace. After another lap, USA’s 2017 world silver medallist Courtney Frerichs took up the lead and stretched out the field.

Chemutai was the only one to go with Frerichs toe to toe and even though the rest of field perceived the duo would let up, catching even became more difficult. The North American record-holder had a five-metre gap on Chemutai while the rest of the chasers were a whooping 10 metres adrift.

The cracks were starting to show in the final lap when Frerichs started losing ground. Chemutai was just a couple of seconds away with glory in sight. With 250 metres to go, Chemutai successfully overtook her, flew over the final water jump – feet not even touching the barrier – and paced down the home straight to win in 9:01.45.

“I am feeling great. Today I made it. It is the first time Uganda gets the gold medal in 3,000m steeplechase. I am so happy to be an Olympic champion,” the visibly tired 22-year-old said.

Chemutai had created history by becoming Uganda's first woman to win an Olympic medal, having edged out Frerichs (silver) and Kenya's Hyvin Kiyeng (bronze).

At that moment her special milestone meant Uganda had won three Gold at the Olympics overall. The first Gold was won by John Akii Bua in the 1972 games in Munich over the 400m hurdles. The second medal by Stephen Kiprotich at the 2012 London Olympics over the men’s marathon. Later Joshua Cheptegei made them four when he won the 5000m final at the same event.

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