Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet shares fond childhood memories

Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet recently posted pictures from her childhood. In the pictures, Chebet shared a powerful reflection on her incredible journey.

The caption read: “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be where I am today. She is an Olympic champion! (sic).”

Given her tough background, it would have been easy to write her off.

Chebet hails from the tea capital of Kenya; Kericho, located in the highlands west of the Rift Valley.

Growing up, she was always passionate about running.

However, it was her grandmother, Pauline Lang’at, who ignited her serious commitment to the sport.

Lang’at took Chebet to her first athletics club in 2016, and from that moment, a star was born. With her grandmother’s encouragement, Chebet set impossibly high standards for herself and compiled an ambitious list of goals; each one more challenging than the last.

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In just over two years, Chebet has checked almost everything off her list.

She became the first woman in history to run a 10,000m race in under 29 minutes and also achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the first Kenyan to win the double-distance Olympic gold medals at the same Games.

Along with these milestones, she is also a three-time World Cross Country champion and holds the title of the fastest woman on the road over 5km.

Her career has been a whirlwind, but for Chebet, it’s just the beginning. Beyond the accolades, her mission has grown and she now aims to restore Kenya’s glory in women’s track running and to inspire the next generation of athletes.

The youngster’s road to success was not without its bumps.

After missing out on the world 5000m title in Budapest in 2023, where she settled for bronze, Chebet sought redemption on the roads.

The same year, she triumphed as the holder of the women’s 5km title at the inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga where she shattered the world 5km record with a time of 14:13 in Barcelona on the last day of 2023.

She ended her impressive 2024 on a high by running a stunning 13:54 to shatter the world 5km record at the Cursa dels Nassos, a World Athletics Label Road race, in Barcelona on New Year’s Eve.

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What made her time even more sensational is that she was the first woman to break the 14-minute barrier on any surface, also surpassing Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay’s 5,000m world record of 14:00.21.

In doing so, the 24-year-old Kenyan bettered the previous record by 19 seconds.