Tarsis Orogot: Uganda's sprinting sensation is 'a boy with a dream' - and really cool socks
The national record holder in the 200m chases an NCAA title for Alabama - and much more. He speaks to Olympics.com about his unique path to sprinting, and how Joshua Cheptegei has inspired him.
Athletics
Growing up in Uganda, Tarsis Orogot didn’t have any African sprinters to look up to. And when the teen moved away from home to Nairobi, Kenya, to train full time, a chorus of doubters cautioned him.
“When I was starting out, many people did not believe that I was going to be able to compete at the right level,” the athletics competitor, who runs in the U.S. collegiate system at Alabama, told Olympics.com.
“Many coaches and officials told me that I was I was crazy to think that I could compete with the Americans and Europeans in sprint events,” he said. “They advised me that, if I wanted to amount to anything, I would have to do the 800 or 1500m.”
It spurred a motto that Orogot, who is now 20, still uses today on his Instagram: “Just a boy with a dream.”
“That’s how the dream started,” he explained. “I wanted to be one of the best in the world in the sprint events.”
Tarsis Orogot: One to watch in the 200m
Orogot is on his way to being considered “one of the best in the world” in the 200m today, as he’s turned heads over the last several seasons, beginning with a fourth-place finish at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi.
That event, in fact, marked a shift in his belief. He was running times that would have put him in the Olympic final at Tokyo 2020, which had taken place just a few weeks prior.
“Once I ran a 20.37 in the semi-finals, I wanted to just go back and start training more,” he said of the realisation.
It also shifted his anticipated approach: Orogot had plans to go professional after the U20 Champs, but he was in part influenced by the path of Jareem Richards, the 2017 world bronze medallist in the 200m from Trinidad & Tobago, who had competed for Alabama.
Having conferred with Crimson Tide coach Blaine Wiley, the decision was made: Still a dreaming boy, Orogot would make his way from Uganda via Nairobi to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
His second season in Alabama has seen him race to new heights: His 20.20 in February set a new Ugandan record (indoors), and a wind-aided 19.60 gave him the third-fastest collegiate time ever (all-conditions) – and a word of congratulations from world champion Noah Lyles, who he was faster than on the day.
Ugandan roots – and encouragement from mum
Orogot was born in the village of his grandparents, Soroti, but grew up mostly in Kampala, the Ugandan capital.
As many school boys do, he participated – and was quite good – in rugby, and one of his coaches noticed how fast he was on the pitch, suggesting that he go out for the 100m. He won the first race he competed in, and at 16, began training for sprints more.
In 2019, Orogot moved to train in Nairobi full time. It was a pivotal moment in his young career, and his mum, who had been a competitive runner herself as a youngster, was not only encouraging but was his No.1 supporter.
“Her parents did not running as a career path, so they didn't let her take it up to the next level,” Orogot said. “When I started running, she knew what it felt like to be shut down. She told me, ‘I will support you.’ And yeah, it worked out.”
Orogot hasn’t been home to Uganda (or back to Nairobi) since he left for Alabama ahead of the 2021-22 school year, but he’s in constant contact with his mum and the rest of his family, who sometimes follow his results via livestream or updated race result pages.
“It’s been really challenging,” Orogot says of being a world away from home. “I had to adjust to the food... and learn to cook. And I’m only used to the heat, so when it’s cold... I can struggle.”
Orogot: Inspiration from Joshua Cheptegei
As Orogot looks to break new ground in the sprinting events, he may not have Ugandans in his event to gather insight from but has something perhaps even more powerful: A mentor in Olympic 5000m champion Joshua Cheptegei, a running legend.
The two were living mates during the World Athletics Championships in Eugene in 2022, and Orogot hung onto every word Cheptegei spoke to him having never met the two-time world champion and double Olympic medallist in person prior.
“He told me, 'The only thing you have to think about is how you’re going to be the best in the world,’” Orogot said of Cheptegei’s advice. “Before, my mind was on other things, like: ‘I want to be famous;’ ‘I want to make a lot of money.’
“But he told me that the most important thing is for me to want to be the best in the world and beat everybody. And then everything else will come into place. It is something that really changed my mindset for going forward.”
Cheptegei is a national hero in Uganda, and Orogot would like to take his learnings from the distance runner and apply it to the sprints. And while Cheptegei has served as a personal hero for Orogot, Africa has seen its profile rise among men’s sprinting globally.
This season, Africa has six of the 20 World Lead times in the 200m so far, and four of the best 20 in the 100m, too. Only Frankie Fredericks, the Namibian sprinter, has claimed Olympic medals in these events among African athletes, winning four silvers across Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996.
Tarsis Orogot: NCAAs, Budapest... Paris 2024?
Orogot has kept his schedule to a minimum this season as he’s eyed bigger stages. This week (7-10 June) he’ll compete for Alabama at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Austin, Texas, where he is among the favourites in the 200m.
“For me right now, I know the competition is fierce,” Orogot said of the collegiate scene after taking bronze at the SEC Championships. “If I don't run my best, people will beat me. So I'm really focussed on doing my best at every race.”
His focus will then shift to the World Championships, set for August in Budapest, where he’d like to make the 200m final. On debut in 2022 he made the semis but did not advance any further, though the experience – including running in the same heat as Lyles (see the video above) – helped Orogot in his process of belief.
He’d like to see himself with Lyles and other top sprinters at next year’s Olympic Summer Games Paris 2024, too.
“I picture myself in Paris so much,” he confirmed. “Not just being there, [but] winning. Anything can happen. I'm not writing myself off because the guys that have won it were once at my level, once running like me. So why not? I see myself in the final. I see myself competing, I see myself winning. I don't write myself out.”
He added: “Even going into the World Championships [this year], I’m not going there to just compete, I'll give it my all.”
Cool socks, visualising & Kenyan music
As athletics fans will remember, Lyles was a fan of quirky socks in the earlier part of his career. As a teen in Uganda, Orogot picked up the habit, too, and now orders them in bunches online.
Sonic the Hedgehog. SpongeBob SquarePants. The Avengers. One of his favourite pairs – which he wore at Worlds last year – has wings on them.
“Now it’s just a part of me,” Orogot laughs. “I go to a meet with like 15 pairs. I pick the pair depending on the mood I’m in.”
“When I run my fastest I usually have the wings on,” he added.
In addition to the socks, Orogot keeps himself grounded in ways that remind him from home and all the ways he’s worked to get to where he is now. He often listens to Kenyan music, which is the sound of his training days in Nairobi.
And he still works with a life/mental coach from Africa, too: Visualisation is key.
“It’s really helped me ease the burden,” Orogot said of his fast-changing life. “Before races, for practice... she helps with meal plans and how to organise my day.”
And picturing himself in Paris, too.
“That has been my dream for so many years,” he said. “I watched the 2020 Olympic Games, and I told my parents, ‘This is a the last one I'm watching from home.’”
“Yeah, it's something that every single day we're working towards it... every single training, every single race we’re preparing [for me] to be able to be at my best at the Olympic Games.”