Daniel Simiu Ebenyo recounts battling discrimination and being undervalued as he fights for his rightful place on the Kenyan team for the World Championships.
Daniel Simiu Ebenyo has opened up about how challenging it was for him to make the Kenyan team to the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
At the trials, Ebenyo finished second in the 10,000m but revealed that he was to be replaced by Kibiwott Kandie, something that he failed to comprehend.
Despite that, Daniel Ebenyo went on to win a silver medal in the 10,000m at the World Championships. He lamented that people always fail to believe in his abilities and he constantly has to prove a point.
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“I was not supposed to run, I was replaced by Kandie…I went there with one heart because my coach told me to go and run my race and compete like a wounded lion. I was not valued,” Daniel Ebenyo said in an interview with Sports Wave Africa Foundation.
“I was just like others and nobody believed in me…I never had the timings but I was denied and told that I had not qualified even despite finishing second at the trials. What made me qualify were the world rankings.”
Daniel Ebenyo revealed that it was by sheer luck that he made it to the team after Kibiwott Kandie had an injury.
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The reigning Commonwealth Games silver medallist revealed that his focus was on the 10,000m and despite having run the 5000m and finished second, he explained that he would not have competed over the distance, given a chance.
“If Kandie could have remained in the camp, I could not have gone for the 10,000m, I could have run the 5000m which I could not have boarded the plane because I was not focused on the 5000m, I wanted the 10,000m. I don’t know what happened in between but I told God to let things happen,” Ebenyo said.
This is not the first time that the Kenyan distance sensation has complained about the incident since he also faced almost a similar incident in 2024.
He went to the Prefontaine Classic where the Athletics Kenya 10,000m Olympic trials were held but failed to live up to the billing following a fall that cost him a podium finish. He finished eighth and following an appeal, he was still denied a chance to represent Kenya.
The moment haunted him and ahead of the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, Ebenyo has pleaded with Athletics Kenya to consider him while selecting a team.
