Friday, July 25, 2014

100 Seconds to Beat the World: The David Rudisha Story

This outstanding documentary was shown on the BBC this week and is well worth watching.
Documentary telling the story of Kenyan athlete David Rudisha, the greatest 800m runner the world has ever seen, and his highly unusual coach, the Irish Catholic missionary Brother Colm O'Connell. Shot over ten years, the film begins in 2005 when we first meet David as a shy 16-year-old arriving at a training camp with nothing but a dream of emulating his father's 1968 Olympic silver medal. The camp is run by the unlikeliest of coaches, missionary and amateur athletics trainer Brother Colm, who quickly spots his talent. Together they embark on a journey through injury, disappointment and terror when violence sweeps through the country in the aftermath of the 2008 election, all the way to the 2012 Olympics and the greatest 800m race the world has ever seen.
With unprecedented access and featuring interviews with Seb Coe and Steve Cram, this is an epic, magical and uplifting tale that reaches far beyond sport.
If you have Hola installed on Chrome, you can watch it on the BBC:  If not you can watch it here:



One thing missing from the Documentary was video of his Olympic World Record run. You can find it here on youtube.

You might also enjoy this documentary on Brother Colm as narrated by Eamonn Coghlan: Man on a Mission.

I just got back from two weeks in Kenya, but I can count all the runners I saw on both hands. I will admit to being ready to run myself if those hippos or crocodiles got a little closer. This is on the Masai Mara at the Hippo Pool on the Kenya/Tanzania border.


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