New Zealanders of a certain age will have fond memories of Kenyan athlete Ben Jipcho who died on July 24, of cancer, in Kenya.
Aged 77, Jipcho was one of the finest of the emerging athletes from Kenya's high country who laid the foundations for the middle-distance dominance runners from Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia have enjoyed ever since.
Jipcho, when he ran at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch was a busy athlete taking gold medals in the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase and third place behind Filbert Bayi and John Walker in the world record-breaking 1500m. It was Jipcho who denied Rod Dixon a medal in the fantastic race that set the seal on those games.
The gold medals, albeit on a lesser stage than the Olympics, were some reward for Jipcho who had to forsake his chances in the 1500m at the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968.
That was where he was pressed by Kenyan officials to be the race bunny to give countryman Kip Keino the best chance of beating the hot favourite for the race, Jim Ryun, the world-record holder for the 1500m and the mile.
Ryun, who coincidentally was awarded the American Presidential Medal of Freedom on the same day that Jipcho died, had beaten Keino in their semi-final.
So well did Jipcho do his pace-setting job that the first 400m was run in 55.9seconds. Jipcho poured the pace on for another lap before Keino took over to romp away to win in an Olympic record time of 3:34.9 with Ryun second, three seconds behind. Jipcho finished 10th.
Ryun said that several years later, Jipcho told him he regretted what he had done in Mexico because it was contrary to the Olympic spirit. Ryun said he didn't have to feel that way but Jipcho said he wanted to apologise.
By 1972, when the Games were held in Munich, Jipcho was under no pressure to set the pace for anyone else, but he still wasn't able to get past Keino, who won the 3000m steeplechase with Jipcho second.
It was after 1972 that he reached his competitive peak winning gold medals at the 1973 All-Africa Games in Nigeria over 5000m and in the steeplechase.
His versatility in the middle distances was apparent when he twice broke the world record for the 3000m steeplechase and ran the second-fastest mile at that time of 3:52.0 all within two-weeks.
After a stint as a professional runner, Jipcho returned to teaching which had earlier sustained him through his competitive career and was later a principal who moved into politics while also farming.