Kamathi
gets a new tooth and cleaned up for homecoming
Peter Njenga for the IAAF
12 August 2001 - Edmonton, Canada - When Charles Kamathi returns home on
Thursday morning at 6.30 am even his mother won't recognise him at first.
On Monday the 10,000 metres world champion is to have his denture repaired by the best technology available in the west by a specialist dentist who was moved by the sight of the Kenyan grinning to the world without one tooth.
He has found a new one for him and cleaned up the colour of the rest from sugar brown to milk white as his contribution to improve the image of Kamathi.
The Embu policeman's teeth were affected by water with high fluoride when he was young which also messed up the gums.
And after Richard Limo won the 5,000m gold, an Asian with Kenyan roots, Kabir Lalani, rallied many Asians from neighbouring towns to attend Friday’s races.
Yesterday Lalani, his wife and their two sons pitched camp outside Alberta University with a Kenyan flag and posters posing for pictures and autographs. "I left Kenya 27 years ago but my heart remains there.
"So I felt very moved when I listened to the national anthem being played for the first time in those 27 years," said Lalani who also waited for Limo to return from shopping to get his autograph and a photograph.
