How photographing recreational rafters ignited the Olympic fire in Kenyan canoeist Samuel Muturi

Samuel Muturi remembers marvelling at rafters floating downstream on the Tana River on his daily trips to fetch water and play with his friends.

The leisure activity on the wild river that runs through his hometown of Sagana, located on the edge of a small plain at the southern foot of Mount Kenya, was a big draw for the young Kenyan boy.

For him and his family, the river has been a source of livelihood and various consumptive activities including cooking, drinking, and even water for cleaning.

Years after, when he was 18, Muturi got a chance to ride on rafts as a freelance cameraman and photographer.

Experiencing the paddlers up close sparked something in him.

Fast forward nearly a decade later, he’s now chasing his dream to become Kenya’s first canoe-kayak slalom Olympic athlete at Paris 2024.

“I liked Slalom because it was unique and not so common amongst Kenyans and I thought I stood a good chance to excel,” Muturi told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview via videolink.

The river that sparked Muturi's Olympic dreams

The Olympics was a whole different ball game for the young Muturi. It was where the famous Kenyan runners would go to compete and win medals.

He never imagined that Kenya’s longest river, the Tana, which they depend on for daily domestic use, would set him off on the course to a unique Olympic dream.

“We grew up with the river. We would wash our clothes by the river, fetch our cooking water from the river. My mum would wash clothes by the river, as I dived and swam with other boys in the river,“ recalled Muturi.

“When I started as a photographer, sometimes as mum was fetching water, she would see me passing by on kayaks and she was very proud of me. But when I started paddling on the craft, those things that she wasn’t quite familiar with, she was a bit worried and always reminded me to be careful.”

But he dispelled his mother’s fears when she realised the canoe paddles could be a viable way out of poverty and create opportunities for Muturi.

“When I was 18, I got hired by a company that would organise rafting in Sagana and I would take photos and videos of guests paddling down the river and I would sell to clients. I was also training on the rafts then after three years I was hired as a guide and trainer for kayaking, mountain climbing, and rock climbing.”

Paddling with furious power he became unbeatable in local competitions on the river.

It wasn’t long before the Kenyan Canoe Slalom Association spotted him.

The Olympic chase for Muturi

Muturi came close to making history for his nation by qualifying for Rio 2016, but a third-place finish at the 2015 African Canoe Slalom Championships saw him fall short.

“I was really looking forward to making the Olympics team then and even flying for the first time, but I didn’t make it.”

His first trip abroad came in 2019 when he was invited to a development camp which was followed by the world championships in La Seu d’Urgell in Spain.

He returned to the global event in September 2021 when it was hosted in Bratislava, Slovakia, where he competed in both K1 and C1. Yet again he had a chance to be part of the ICF development course.

“Since K1 is more popular I had started with that, and I just recently started on C1. I realised I have more opportunities in this (C1), and I could advance further even with my minimal training,“ he explained.

“I was third in Africa. I reached semis, which was huge, but again I fell short of making the Olympics (Tokyo 2020 in 2021).”

His semi-final berth was the first-ever by a Kenyan paddler at the world championships.

Muturi's motivation goes beyond qualifying for Paris 2024

The Kenyan paddler cherishes the few opportunities he has had to compete and train ‘properly’ abroad which gets him closer to achieving his cherished dream.

“I don’t have the right equipment or cannot get the good kayaks, which are expensive. The same slalom equipment I found when I joined the club in 2007 are the same ones, we are still using to train and compete locally.

"But when I go outside Kenya, I find new high-speed kayaks and canoes and well-marked rivers, “he said of the outside distractions and twists that have had a huge effect on his career aspirations and sometimes limits his potential.

“Competing outside always helps me raise my levels. When I am training here, I can never set up more than five gates, as it’s costly to acquire the poles and there are also access issues. Most parts of the river have been taken up by private users who farm on the land by the river.”

Despite the long, lonely, and hard journey, Muturi hopes he can be the paddler the next generation of Kenyan youngsters hoping to get into canoe or kayak can look up to.

“My dream is to qualify for the 2024 Olympics… it would be great if I can be the first Kenyan to do the Olympic slalom,” he told us.

Muturi is also stepping-up to training local youngsters around his home in Sagana, a remote town located in the central part of the East African nation.

The 27-year-old hopes it will help grow the numbers of people taking up the water sport and get canoe slalom on the Kenyan Olympic agenda.

“It will also create more interest. The kids I coach will say, ‘look this is our coach and he has done it…so this is a big sport...’ If they see someone doing big stuff in the sport and going to the Olympics, they will also be interested just like with how running became popular because of their successes at the Olympics.”

Mutiru keeps checking out training run videos of some of the sport’s most successful paddlers, led by his two idols - world champions Giovanni de Gennaro of Italy and Slovenian slalom canoeist Peter Kauzer, and trying to ace some of the moves when the water levels at his home base can allow him to float his raft.

“I never allow myself to be restricted by my current situation no matter how difficult," he shares, with an eye on the future.

"My mantra is don’t give up, keep pushing, you will get whatever you are looking for one day no matter how difficult your life may seem now.”