Faith Kipyegon hopes to inspire young athletes to embrace resilience and freedom in their careers, sharing how she overcame setbacks to achieve Olympic success and her early joy of running barefoot.

Faith Kipyegon is undoubtedly the greatest 1500m runner of all time and with her tons of accolades, many athletes look up to her.

Having this in mind, the three-time Olympic champion explained that she wants all her fans and upcoming runners to know there is freedom in being an accomplished athlete.

She had one of the most surprising outings at the Paris Olympic Games, being shortly disqualified after the women’s 5000m and her silver medal stripped, before it was reinstated upon an appeal, but she bounced back to take 1500m gold medal. 

From such experiences, Faith Kipyegon noted that she wants people to know that they have the freedom to rediscover themselves and they can always bounce back no matter the setbacks they are bound to face.

“When young runners from the next generation watch me compete, I want them to see freedom — the freedom to challenge themselves in new ways. My 2024 season was beautiful. I was thankful for competing in the 5,000m in Paris and the 1,500m, which happened a few days later,” Faith Kipyegon said in an interview with Nike.

“But when I held that silver medal from the 5,000m, I thought to myself, ‘I can’t let this disturb my 1,500 dreams.’ So, I put that silver medal away. I had to be mentally strong to achieve my goal in the 1,500m,” she added. 

She added that growing up, she always loved competing bare foot because it was enjoyable then. Despite having spikes in a couple of races, Faith Kipyegon noted that she could not stand wearing them and opted to run barefoot mostly.

The double world champion went down memory lane to the days when she and her classmates would run back home for lunch then back to school. She termed running as a ‘shared childhood experience.’

“Running barefoot has always felt comfortable to me. When I started running competitively at 14, I was given spikes to wear for the first time. I was happy to have them, but feeling as comfortable in spikes as I was while running barefoot took a long time. I even turned down wearing spikes a few times. Now, I still can’t believe how I’m running in the fastest spikes on the planet,” she added. By Abigael Wafula, Pulse

South Sudan’s First Vice- President Dr Riek Machar has said the world’s youngest nation should have adopted the Sudan laws instead of drafting new ones.

Machar expressed the sentiments at the conclusion of the validation of Judiciary Reform Committee (JRC) report in Juba on Friday.

He said an independent South Sudan should have inherited the Sudan laws they participated in creating and embarked on catching up with the rest of the world.

The First Vice-President, however, pointed out that the sharia (Islamic law) should not have been adopted.

South Sudanese, he said, contributed to the enactment of most of the Sudan laws, and therefore adopting them and amending some would have precipitated the reforms.

“If we had adopted the laws of Sudan which we contributed to properly, we would have reformed our judiciary system and justice administration without difficulties, but we decided to start from scratch,” he said.

Machar further advised the country to reconsider adopting the pre-South Sudan independence laws, except sharia, in order to catch up with other countries that have reformed their judicial systems, rather than having news laws.

“Maybe we have to critically think some of our decisions when we rejected the adoption of the Sudan laws prior to independence, except for sharia,” he reiterated.  

The First Vice-President, who is also the chairman of the opposition SPLM-IO Party, has tasked JRC to deliberate on the laws enacted in Warrap and Lakes states, with a view to ending the vicious cycle of conflict and cattle rustling.

This year, Warrap State introduced the Green Book law, which includes severe penalties, like the execution by the firing squad, for offences such as cattle raiding, revenge killings, rape, forced marriages, kidnapping, and hate speech.

In 2022, Lakes State implemented a similar law called Public Order, aimed at addressing the crimes.

“You know, Warrap and Lake states are one step ahead of the others. I think what they are trying to do is to have a state penal code,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Chan Reech Madut emphasized the need for the judicial transformation to prioritize the upholding of the fundamental human rights, pointing that the cultures that abused them should be abolished.

“Bear in mind that we’ve got some customs that undermine fundamental human rights. An example is the giving of a young girl compensation to family whose member has been killed to become a wife when she comes of age,” he said.

Reech said the country must respect human rights at all levels for there to be meaningful judicial reforms.

The Transitional National Legislative Assembly Speaker, Jemma Nunu Kumba, emphasized the importance of an independent judiciary in a democratic transition.

She said a reformed judiciary promotes transparency and accountability and fosters trust between the citizens and the government. Radio Tamazuj

Sudan's war - ongoing since April 2023 - has killed tens of thousands of people [Getty/file photo]

Sudan's paramilitary troops have killed at least 50 people in the al-Jazira state, besieging and attacking villages where little aid is available.