On World Kindness Day a story of friendship between a Norwegian icon and a Kenyan novice

This story starts at the end.

It starts at the finish line of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, yet it doesn’t start when Norway’s cross-country superstar Bjorn Daehlie breaks the tape in first place in the 10km classic to take a record-breaking sixth Olympic gold medal. It starts 20 minutes later when, instead of heading straight to the medal ceremony, Daehlie waits for the final competitor to cross the line.

That competitor was Kenya’s Philip Boit, a novice who had only seen snow for the first time two years before but who earned the respect of the Scandinavian star not just for completing the brutal event but doing so on a challenging rain-soaked course.

"He deserves to be encouraged," said Daehlie afterwards. "It was hard for him but he never gave up."

Boit, for his part, was in a world of hurt but put on a burst of speed on the home stretch when the Japanese crowd began cheering him home.

“They were shouting ‘Kenya, go! Philip go’. It was like winning a medal even though I was last,” Boit told the BBC World Service in 2014.

Lungs bursting and with a cacophony of noise from the supportive crowd, it took a minute for Boit to register who it was that grabbed his waist to slow him down as he crossed the finish line before enveloping him in a congratulatory hug.

"My coach had been telling me about (Daehlie) and I had seen him on the television, and I couldn't believe that he was the top guy and he was holding me."

Common ground

The first and last placed finishers at the race had something in common – both had made history that day. Daehlie had become the first man to win a record-breaking six Winter Olympic gold medals while Boit had just become Kenya's first-ever Winter Olympian.

Their routes to their history-making exploits, however, could not have been more different.

Daehlie had grown up in a cross-country obsessed nation, a sport that is on a par with football in terms of popularity. He was on skis from a young age and was active in outdoor pursuits of hunting, fishing, hiking and kayaking.

After foregoing a potential career in football, Daehlie worked his way through the junior ranks into the seniors and by the 1998 Nagano Games had already won five Olympic gold medals. By the end of his time in Japan, he would have eight Olympic titles to his name, alongside his four silvers. This would be his last Games.

Dæhlie was planning to add more Olympic medals to his collection by competing at Salt Lake City 2002, until a roller skiing accident in August 1999 put an end to his illustrious sporting career.

No snow, no skis, no problem

Boit, meanwhile, grew up in a farming family in Kenya’s snow-less Rift Valley and hadn’t even seen snow until two years before the race in Nagano. The then middle distance runner had been offered the chance to try and qualify for Nagano 1998 by a major shoe brand, which Boit, along with compatriot Henry Bitok both accepted.

Training began on roller skis in the warmth of Kenya before, moving to the rather more shockingly cold weather of Finland in February 1996.

"It was a bit challenging at first because I had never experienced cold weather like that in my life," said Boit. "Even putting on skis was so difficult."

Kenya only had one quota spot to compete in the event at Nagano and it was Boit who was selected ahead of Bitok. As the only competitor from Kenya, he also proudly carried the flag at the opening ceremony, something Dhaelie had also had the privilege of doing, at his home Games in Lillehammer in 1994.

Boit was also the flag bearer at the next two Olympics in which he also competed – at Salt Lake City 2002 and Turin 2006 – where he came 64th in the US edition out of 68, and improved on that in the Italian Games by finishing ahead of five competitors.

Boit was also thwarted in competing in his final Games – at Vancouver 2010 due to illness – but completed his career at the 2011 world championships in Oslo, the home country of his good friend.

Fast friends

A few weeks after the Nagano Games, Boit’s son was born. He named him Daehlie.

Now 23 years old, Daehlie Boit has met his namesake as his father and the Norwegian legend have stayed firm friends, doing charity events as well as training together.

The two may have had two very different journeys to becoming icons of winter sport but both have ended up in the same space – perfect ambassadors for the Olympic values. Kindness wins.