It’s a sad but common story for women, especially Black women, to be the best in the world yet find the focus aimed at what you didn’t achieve, rather than what you did (just ask Simone Biles and Serena Williams). It has long been considered by some scientists and sporting experts that a woman can’t run a sub-4-minute mile. As running experts examined and scrutinised Kipyegon’s efforts lap by lap, second by second, I marvelled at the Kenyan woman behind the incredible metrics; who as a child in Kenya would run 4 kilometres to school while barefoot, who began competing on an international stage at just 16-years-old, who ran the fastest recorded mile by a woman, who is just six seconds closer to pushing the boundaries of what women athletes are said to be able to achieve. Faith Kipyegon, as she would say, “dared to try” the impossible — and came exceptionally close.
