Kenyan Olympic hopeful Mary Moraa, despite her impressive achievements, remains cautious about her prospects in Paris. Growing up as an orphan without even a photo of her mother, Moraa’s past challenges continue to shape her outlook.
Last year, she clinched the world 800m championship in Budapest with a career-best time of 1:56.03, surpassing Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson and the defending champion, American Athing Mu.
Known for her celebratory dance moves, which have earned her the nickname “dancing queen” in Kenya, Moraa’s success is also driven by her determination to support her siblings through the hardships she has faced.
“I push myself to the limits, because I’m the breadwinner for my family,” she told AFP in an interview earlier this year.
Still, Moraa remains wary about making predictions for the Paris Olympics –- despite dreaming of the title that will cement her place among the sport’s elite.
“A competition is very tricky,” she said.
“I can’t say: ‘I’m Mary Moraa, I’m going to win gold’… My goal is to finish on the podium.”
Mary Moraa is part of the Kenyan team for both the 800m and 400m events. Her initial passion was the 400m, where she first made her mark. This season, Moraa has been impressive on the tracks, securing eight wins out of nine 400m races and triumphing in three of five 800m events.
However, Moraa’s journey to success was fraught with challenges. She lost her mother when she was just two years old, and shortly after, her father died in a car accident, leaving her and her three siblings orphaned. Growing up in Kisii County, western Kenya, she lacked even a photograph of her mother. Despite these hardships, she has carried forward a piece of her past with her.
“I heard in the village people were saying my mother was running, but there was no support.
“So when I heard people say that, I was like, I want to run like my mother,” Moraa said.
She and her siblings moved in with their grandparents, with Moraa running some six kilometres (four miles) to school each day, before winning a school bursary, and starting competitions.
She shone early in the 400m, winning silver in the under-18 world championships in 2017, and becoming African under-20 champion two years later.
But disaster struck in 2019 when Moraa crashed at the world championships in Doha in the semi-finals, finishing well outside the top 10.
Fellow Kisii runner and twice Olympic silver medallist Hellen Obiri, fresh off her second world title in the 5,000m, took her under her wing following her disappointment.
‘Something marvellous’
Examining her form, trainer Alex Sang and mentor Obiri suggested she change track -– literally.
“I told her, ‘You are good in 400m but if you try in 800m, it is something marvellous’,” he said.
The speed she brings from 400m plays to her advantage when competing in longer distance, he explained.
But Moraa said it was not the easiest of starts to a new discipline. “I said to myself: This is not my distance, I want to go back to 400m.”
Then, a breakthrough.
Post-pandemic, Moraa’s progress is evident: semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 (2:00.47) after only a dozen official races over 800m, world bronze medal in 2022 (1:56.71), followed by her first major title at the Commonwealth Games (1:57.07).
And with each success has come a joyful dance at the race’s conclusion.
Recalling her first boogie, Moraa grinned.
“I started dancing, even though I was tired.”
Her shimmying capped her successes in the Diamond League (Zurich in 2022, Rabat, Lausanne, Chorzow in 2023) before her Budapest crown.
“I decided to focus… to put my country somewhere,” she said, citing the careers of compatriots Obiri, David Rudisha, Faith Kipyegon and Pamela Jelimo.
Ultimately though, her coach Sang said he reckons her “slippery life journey” is what makes Moraa the athlete she is.
“She knows what she wants and she goes for it.”
