When John Ngugi won the 5,000 metres at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he was completing a tradition that Kenya had been building since 1968, when Kip Keino had beaten American Jim Ryun in one of the most stunning upsets in Olympic history. Kenyan distance running had become a phenomenon. Athletes from the Rift Valley highlands, training at altitude, fuelled by ugali and determination, were consistently beating the world. Ngugi, Keino, Henry Rono, Paul Ereng, the names kept coming. Kenya had found its sport.