Ecstatic Noah celebrates wife Jemimahs epic Olympics win

As an entire nation erupted to cheer Kenya’s first gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics on Sunday, the man who gave women marathon champion, Jemimah Jelagat her third name, Noah Sumgong was besides himself with joy.

Speaking to Citizen Digital the moment her spouse ran to her historic 2:24:04 victory at the sun-baked Rio, Noah who was watching the race at their training camp in Kapsabet told of the tension that turned into unbridled ecstasy as events unfolded.

“I’m very happy with my wife’s performance. I was a bit worried when she fell ill two weeks before the race but we had prepared very well.

“When she comes home, the first thing we shall do is a thanks giving prayer and then I shall give her a unique present because what she has done is extra ordinary,” the husband who is also the coach of the London champion said.

He was watching the event at the Federico Rosa camp in Kapsabet, Nandi County, where Stanley Biwott, who will run in the men’s marathon next Sunday, also trains.

Noah could not share his wife’s special moment as she became the first Kenyan woman to strike Olympics marathon gold since the allocated quota for athletes to take their family to Rio has been gobbled up by National Olympics Committee-Kenya officials.

He however, noted 2016 is a special year for them after his wife survived a nasty fall and being attacked by a pedestrian to storm to London glory in April.

“The secret was lots of prayers which we did during training and after training. We did our part and God did the rest. Jemimah put a lot of effort in her training. This year we changed her programme and I was not sure of how her body would respond to it but something inside told me to stick to it and it has really paid off.

“She has won two gold medals in one year and that is very exciting for me and motivating to other athletes in her camp who were watching the race with me,” he gushed cheerfully.

Noah was not worried about the Kenyan born Bahraini runner Kirwa who settled for silver few seconds behind the London winner.

“I was not worried much Eunice because I knew they are friends and come from the same village and to top it up they are neighbours,” he told.

Following the victory, Kenya’s social media space erupted to cheer the country’s first gold that came over a week since action started.

The Kenya Defence Forces runner can expect a resounding welcome home after the forces organised a parade in her honour when she came home the London champion.