A Kenyan high jump video posted on YouTube by Run For Life volunteer Michael Stewart has attracted almost three million views since it was uploaded in late May.
Citizen TV reports the clip, which so far has 2.9 million views, shows Kenyan high school students’ unique method of competing in the high jump.
Students leap over the horizontal bar, placed at least six feet high, using a flying kick method with neither a soft mat to land on nor shoes on their feet.
“It was sort of awkward and beautiful at the same time,” Stewart said. “It seemed like they were doing what was most natural to them.”
Stewart filmed the clip during a Rift Valley Marathon promotion organised by Run for Life, but did not expect the video to attract many views.
“I had an idea that it would be big, as in all my friends would see it and it would have a couple hundred views. I had no idea it would get a few million views. It was crazy, but for them it’s quite normal,” he said.
“You see viral videos, but it’s unreal. I’m hearing from people back home, and they’re posting that video before they even knew it was from me.”
Joseph Mosonik, a Kenyan high jump coach with five years of experience, was impressed with the video, saying that with the right training and support Kenya would soon have representatives in the high jump at the Olympics or World Championship for the first time since 1980s.
“We can produce high jumpers like these who are in school and help them with the right skills to enlighten their lives in future,” he said.
John Carson, Run for Life’s founder, said the high jump video has been a pleasant surprise, drawing unexpected attention to the work his group is doing in Kenya.
“This thing has gotten big,” he said.
