The shining trophies perched on top of a wall unit in the
sitting room are testimony to athletics achievements spanning 10 years.
There
are about 20 pictures of the momentous occasions when Mercy Cherono has
conquered her competitors, in a career she started in earnest as a
teenager in 2007.
A conspicuous
image shows the athlete on the podium kissing the 5,000 metres gold
medal she won during the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. She has
also pinned some with President Uhuru Kenyatta in State House, Nairobi,
ahead of last year’s Rio Olympics. Then there is one where she is
sitting on the laps of her husband, Edmond Ngetich.
When
Lifestyle arrives at their house in the outskirts of Kericho town, the
couple’s flat-screen television is showing Emmanuel TV, associated with
renowned, if controversial, Nigerian televangelist Temitope Balogun
Joshua — commonly known as Prophet TB Joshua — and remains on the
channel throughout our three-hour interview.
She
speaks with a smile, happy that her career has flourished since a
demoralising 23rd place finish in her international debut during the
World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa in 2007 at the age of 16.
Last year she came fourth in the 5,000 metres in Rio behind her
compatriots — gold medalist Vivian Cheruiyot, Hellen Obiri — and
Ethiopian Almaz Ayana.
But Mercy, one of the most recognisable
faces of Kenyan athletics, has in recent weeks been in the news for a
different reason: a YouTube video showing her being prayed for and later
giving testimony before tens of people at Prophet TB Joshua’s The
Synagogue, Church of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria.
For
the first time, Mercy opens up about her visit to Nigeria where she was
captured on video telling the congregation about the challenges in her
four-month-old marriage and injuries that have blighted her career and
which, according to the clip, were caused by evil spirits. There were
also images of the athlete in a trance before falling to the ground
after being touched by the televangelist.
Standing next to her husband on the podium, she later said her marital and career problems had been resolved after the prayers.
That
visit sparked off a vibrant debate with some fans wishing her well
while others remained sceptical and expressed concern about her
well-being. There were also suggestions that her husband was seeking
spiritual intervention to be the Member of the County Assembly for
Kaplelartet Ward in Sigowet-Soin constituency, Kericho County.
TAKEN IT ALL IN STRIDE
However, Mercy told Lifestyle she
has taken it all in her stride. The athlete, who is a serving
policewoman, says she has always been a religious person and travelling
to Nigeria for prayers was nothing out of the ordinary.
She
reveals it was the second time she was travelling to Prophet TB
Joshua’s church after a similar visit last year, but has been watching
his sermons on television for the last three years.
“I
went there to seek spiritual uplifting. And when you are in church you
pray for everything. What came to my mind immediately I was there was my
career and my marriage. I wanted God to help me know the source of my
injuries,” she says.
She explains
that persistent injuries before major races, including last year’s
Olympics, were stressing her and she had opted to look for help.
“It
is so stressing when you have trained for a major race and a few days
to the event you get an injury and you miss out or perform poorly. There
is nothing more stressful than that. I do not believe in witchcraft so
the only place I could seek spiritual assistance was in a church,” she
says.
Mercy denies there was a
special arrangement for Prophet TB Joshua to pick her out, but was
pleasantly surprised when he came to where she was and started praying
for two other people next to her.
“I
just began praying for everything: my family, my career and everything
that came to my mind. The Prophet came back and picked me this time
round and asked me why I was in the church,” Mercy says.
It
was then that she talked about her injuries and the stress that came
with them but also “thought it was important” to mention the
disagreements with her husband. She is, however, surprised that some
people, most of them strangers, have blown things about her life out of
proportion.
'NORMAL RELATIONSHIP ISSUES'
“People
out there are saying I was desperate to have my marriage fixed because
it was going down. It is not true. We are okay apart from the normal
issues people face in any relationship,” she says.
Mercy
explains that she was first prayed for on March 2 at the Lagos church
after travelling with a group of about 30 people from different parts of
the country. She was joined a week later by her husband who had to
travel after the televangelist asked for him to come. The entire trip,
she explains, cost them Sh255,000.
“We
did not pay anything more. People are saying we paid millions for the
prayers but that is not true at all. We only paid for the air tickets
and accommodation, nothing more. I wish those saying we paid millions
could have bothered to ask us first before spreading lies,” says the
athlete, adding that she does not regret visiting the church and having
her story beamed across the world.
The
original plan, she says, was to be in Nigeria for one week but there
was a change of plans after Prophet TB Joshua asked for her husband, who
had to travel from Kenya.
“We had
planned to go with my husband but things changed because of his
(political) campaign programme. I left alone but after the service, the
Prophet asked me to call my husband to join me and we had to stay for
another week,” she says.
The church accommodated her for free for the extra days.
Mercy
and Edmond first met during a race in Nakuru in 2008 and kept in touch
as friends for two years before they lost contact only to bump into each
other again in 2014 at a hotel in Kericho belonging to Edmond’s family.
Before they met for the second time, Edmond already had a child with another woman who he had parted ways with.
“I
am proud to say I am a father of a four-year-old son. I was in a
relationship long before I met Mercy. It did not work and we parted
ways. During our first date I told Mercy about the son and she was okay
with it. She is still okay with it,” he says.
UNIMPRESSED
The aspiring politician is unimpressed by some of the things he has heard and read being said about him.
“People
are saying that I have been seeing someone else besides her but that is
not true. We have only been together for four months. It is not
possible that I could have someone else and a child is born within that
period,” he says.
Mercy says she
has accepted the child. Even though for some time the boy’s mother used
to make many phone calls, that had stopped.
“It was bothering me then but things are okay now,” she says.
But
it is in the tracks that Mercy believes her story is eloquently told.
In 2015, she got a silver medal when she participated in the World
Championships in Beijing, China, where Kenya topped the medals standings
for the first time.
Her schedule this year involves the Diamond League races from May as she prepares for the World Championships trials.
“I
will be going for the Diamond League races in May and I will be using
it as a build up for the World Championships. I need a gold medal before
I think of retaining my title at the Commonwealth Games in Australia
next year,” she says.
Edmond says
he is committed to ensuring his wife succeeds on and off the field,
adding that he usually accommodates her schedule.
“When
my wife is in Eldoret training I miss her very much but I understand
athletics and that is why I give her full support by even visiting her,”
says Edmond, who was in the news last year for winning Sh10.5 million
in a sports bet.
He adds: “She is a
lovely person. She is charming and always ready to come home and be a
good wife even after hours of tough training.”
By way of a parting shot, Mercy says she has forgiven all those who mocked her visit to Nigeria.
“I
really felt nothing. Such negative talk does not stop me from moving on
with life. There were a few who were trying to speak negatively about
it. I have forgiven all of them. I have learnt to let God take care of
everything,” says the athlete, who is, however, happy that there are
many people who have been asking her how they can also go to the Lagos
church.
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