Patrick Sang on his coaching success with Eliud Kipchoge and Faith Kipyegon: "Longevity is the new lesson"
Coach Patrick Sang has three global athletics silver medals to his name.
He was among the very best when Kenya were the dominant force in the men’s steeplechase, but he always finished second at major events.
Despite this, the retired athlete's sturdy pursuit for gold remained when he switched to coaching.
Sang's two finest protégés at the Global Sports Communication training camp in Kaptagat, Kenya, are Eliud Kipchoge and Faith Kipyegon, who have won 12 gold medals combined at Olympic and World Championships.
Twenty years since nurturing Kipchoge to his first career gold at the 2003 World Championships, Sang is counting on the GOAT to increase that medal tally and inspire others with his longevity.
“If you look at how many people have been into so many Olympic Games, World Championships, you learn something, longevity is something that is still possible,” Sang told Olympics.com in an exclusive chat from Kaptagat where he trains his athletes.
When Kipchoge competes in his third successive Olympic marathon at Paris 2024, he will be three months shy of his 40th birthday, making him one of the oldest elites in the men’s 42km race.
“Before, I learned about the strength of the mind,” Sang said. “Longevity is the new lesson.”
Patrick Sang on coaching: 'I wanted to see a way of giving back to track'
Sang, has been mentoring and training runners for more than half his life, a role he took up in order to help athletes achieve what he couldn't.
He has many fond memories from his former career, when he bagged three world championships silvers and another silver from Barcelona 1992. The steeplechaser did manage to win the All-Africa Games gold medal in front of his adoring fans in Nairobi in 1987.
After his retirement in 1998 as a marathoner, Sang switched to coaching and began working with one of his greatest athletes.
“I can remember this young 16-year-old who would come up to me at the dirt track in Nandi County and ask for a training programme and, at that time, I didn’t know who he was. After he had done this a few times, I finally said ‘who are you?’ and he replied ‘I’m Eliud’,” Sang recalled of his early interactions with future double marathon Olympic champion Kipchoge.
“I gave him a two-week training programme and off he went. He came back two weeks later and said, ‘what’s next?’ and that’s where it all began.”
Sang saw the hunger in the teenager’s eyes and lent him his support.
“Most of the time I was self-coached, especially after my college years in the U.S. So, I could see, with the assistance of a coach, an athlete can achieve more. And I think that in a way influenced my inclination to coaching,” Sang continued.
“I wanted to see a way of giving back to the sport that gave me so much, despite those shortcomings.”
Since then, Sang has been nurturing leading runners to the top of the podium.
In many ways, as a trainer, he’s a perfect emulation of most of his athletes - confident, disciplined, and philosophical. But over the years, the master has become the apprentice.
“The history of the period I have coached, there's so many gold medal winners in the world champions, Olympics, world record breakers. It's a privilege in my case,” he told Olympics.com, shortly after taking Kipyegon, the reigning Olympic and world champion, through an hour-long speed training track session.
He continued on his coaching partnerships with his athletes, in particular his lead marathoner, Kipchoge, who grew up looking to him since his Olympic silver.
“Before, I was a teacher … And now I'm learning that it makes a difference to give back to society, by really sticking longer in the sport because you will address different people in different segments of society, the longer you stay in the business.”
Patrick Sang's Paris 2024 expectations
The basics of coaching is something that makes the man behind Kipchoge and Kipyegon’s record-shattering careers not only stand out at his training base, but also when handling the national team.
His philosophy is simply fashioned around hard work and self-belief.
“Coaching is a science that is executed by a coach, but it also has the human aspect. The human aspect you cannot train. But learning and not having it, are two different things,” he explained.
“I've been lucky to work with some very good athletes, people who have very good understanding of the sport.”
Sang is one of the coaches assigned to handle Kenya’s marathon teams for Paris 2024.
“When you have achieved certain things in life, like some of us, we've achieved quite a bit. Then you ask yourself, what is there to achieve more?
“Giving back in whatever way you can do is probably the best thing. So, I'll be glad and happy to play the different roles. And the bottom line is that we see our athletes succeed, and we see our sport of athletics prosper.”
Kenya has won 106 medals in track and field, with 34 of those being gold.
Beijing 2008, London 2012, and Rio 2016 were the most successful Olympics for the East African nation.
At Rio, Kipchoge’s marathon gold and Kipyegon's 1500m title were two of Kenya’s six, equalling London, the country’s biggest haul at the Games.
“For us as a country, we have a record broken in terms of medals achieved in Rio. So hopefully, fingers crossed, that we surpass the achievements of Rio …[or] it would be a good thing.”