Mathayo Mahabila: "Wrestling earned me a first car ride and it can transform our society in Kenya"                                                

When Mathayo Mahabila was offered the chance to try freestyle wrestling as a 13-year-old, he immediately thought that he could become the next John Cena - a star of professional wrestling’s WWE.

The handball player was from a poor village in rural Kenya, where he lived with his mother in accommodation that was routinely flooding.

He thought that this new opportunity could allow him to build a better future for them.

“At that time we were living in a hut, it was not even a house,” Mahabila told Olympics.com

“During the rainy season we were just moving from one corner to another corner.

“I thought: ‘One day I'll build a house for my mum’.”

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Mathayo Mahabila's epic first car ride

Despite realising that the coach who spotted him for his impressive physique was actually talking about freestyle wrestling, the teenager had decided that his mission would remain the same.

Soon after, a tournament was organised in the nation’s capital Nairobi, around an eight-hour drive from their village.

It meant that Mahabila would get to travel in a car for the first time.

“I thought this was amazing, the noise of the wind and the other cars moving around us,” he continued.

“It motivated me a lot because in our village during that time, there were no cars. If somebody would ride in the car, it was a special person, a rich man. But I was able to ride in a car thanks to wrestling.

“Then we got to the capital and I saw tall buildings, and I suddenly thought of my mum, and that we lived in a horrible hut. And it motivated me even more to get her a house.

“I saw people living a better life there and I thought, ‘Now it is my turn’. Let me focus on this wrestling and one day even my family will benefit from it.

"Wrestling can pay"

True to his word, the budding wrestler focussed all of his energy on the sport and improved quickly.

However, his friends and family were worried.

“Wrestling has to be tough and you need to sacrifice yourself and your body,” the 74kg competitor said.

“People told me that it was too dangerous - even my mum. But I told her that we need to change our life and move forward.

But by 2014, he was winning domestic tournaments and earning money for his performances to the tune of 200 US dollars a time.

The impact this had on his family’s life was immediate.

“The money I earnt meant that I could pay the school fees. Most people started to see that wrestling can pay.

“I have also been able to move my mum into a well-roofed place that she can safely stay in for now.

“I was also able to travel on a plane for the first time when I was selected to represent Kenya at the 2015 African Championships in Egypt. It was amazing and I felt like I was in Heaven! I was the first man in our village to take a flight.

“It made me humble and grateful that I was able to do this. It also made me even more hardworking, and taught me the value of being patient and working for a dream.”

How wrestling led Mathayo Mahabila to employment

Patience is a key requirement for all wrestlers.

But Mahabila and his fellow Kenyan grapplers have to show even more patience than their international counterparts due to their training infrastructure.

“We don't have a facility,” he admitted.

“Many wrestlers here don’t have funds, which means that they can’t travel for training and competitions.

“Most of my friends were from single parents, and they were very poor. I wanted to show them that we could change our backgrounds by succeeding through sport, and show them how we needed to proceed.”

Being successful on the mat led to other opportunities for Mahabila too.

His coach also worked as a prison warden and, seeing his protege’s commitment, thought that he would also make an ideal recruit for the correctional facility.

“It was like a miracle,” he said of becoming the first person to be employed in his family.

“During that time they were bringing in athletes, and saw that I was hard working and they said, ‘We need this boy, he has passion’.

Just like in wrestling, it allowed Mahabila to help others and improve society.

“I really enjoy my job because I get to give back,” he said. “When I work with the inmates, we help them to become good men that can depend on themselves.

“I am also an instructor for the new warden recruits in prison. I train them in wrestling, which allows me to work on my techniques and to make them confident though self-defence if an inmate is just trying to run away during a breakout.

“We don't use explosive power, but we use techniques to capture them and put them back in jail.”

The learning, however, doesn’t just go one way.

Ever the student, Mahabila also uses his time to acquire knowledge from the inmates that he works with.

“I do feel better when I sit with the inmates, most of them,” he said.

“They teach me a lot when we talk. I see these people as a human beings. We need to show mercy as everybody can do wrong. But sometimes you can change.”

Wrestling now on the rise in Kenya

Thanks to the efforts of Mahabila and other coaches in Kenya, wrestling is on the rise.

As well as providing role models for the youth of their villages and the nation, they are teaching hundreds of kids to follow in their footsteps.

“I have almost 400 students where I’m from in Bungoma County,” he said.

“There is a lot of drug abuse and these kids can see wrestling as a way of escaping their background and changing society for good.

“The parents are sending their children because they want their kids to be like me.

“They know they will learn something that will change their life, even if it’s just a small amount - feeding their family or maybe just themselves. We want them to learn to depend on themselves.

"Wrestling earned me a first car ride and it is transforming our society in Kenya."

The 2026 Youth Olympic Games will take place in Dakar, Senegal - in what will be the first Olympic event ever to be hosted on African soil.

Mahabila sees this as an opportunity to make his sport boom in Kenya and on the continent.

“It is so important for Africa,” he said.

“Most of the countries are preparing eagerly to get to the Olympic standard. 

“Normally we train on the sand, in bare feet, but now we have time to prepare properly and I believe that we will do better.

“People could also find jobs working at the Games and it is very positive for everyone. We will come together as a family, one family. It will push our country and our continent.”

Before then, Mahabila has his own Olympic dreams to focus on, and qualifying for Paris 2024.

“It would mean so much and I’m eager to achieve my dreams,” he said. 

But such a dream requires investment.

It is just another challenge that Mahabila believes he will overcome.

“Maybe I will get a good place to train and prepare, for maybe six months, or even three or two months - that would really help me to qualify for the Olympics. That’s the big challenge.

“Other wrestlers here also have that dream, and maybe one day we will have a Kenyan on the wrestling podium. 

“I don't want that dream to die, so we must push for it.”