Olympic icon survives plane crash
Three years after escaping unharmed from a car accident, two-time Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha has survived a plane crash in his Kenyan homeland.
Speaking to the country’s most popular independent newspaper, the Daily Nation, Rudisha said he had been involved in a “scary episode” on Saturday, with pictures showing a plane upside down in a field.
“All was well close to seven or eight minutes into the flight when the engine of the plane suddenly went quiet,” Rudisha explained.
“[The pilot] saw some clear space where he tried to land the plane but one of its wings hit a tree as the plane started to spin before landing on the rocky field.”
“It was a scary episode where you hold your heart in your hand as you pray to God. The pilot did an incredible job to keep the plane afloat and stable for long,” added Rudisha.
David Rudisha after surviving a crash landing in Amboseli pic.twitter.com/aFzB6exHAl
— Kenyans.co.ke (@Kenyans) December 11, 2022
“We thank God we all came out alive with some soft tissue injuries that were treated before [we] all were discharged save for one.”
At least five other passengers that had attended an Annual Masai Olympics event at the Kimana Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Kenya with Rudisha sustained injuries.
The incident was Rudisha’s second close shave in recent years, after escaping with minor injuries when his SUV ploughed into a bus on a highway near Keroka in August 2019.
“Thanking the Almighty God for the gift of life,” Rudisha tweeted at the time, while sharing photos of the wreckage.
“Saturday night [at] around 10.30hrs I survived a tragic road accident at Keroka on my way home to Kilgoris after a head-on collision with a bus plying Kisii Nairobi Route. I am fine with no injuries! Thank you for your prayer,” Rudisha added.
Rudisha won his Olympic gold medals at the 2012 London Games and 2016 Olympics Rio.
His 1 minute 40.91 seconds time in the final in the British capital remains a record, and he also won World Championship titles either side of the feat in 2011 and 2015.
Rudisha, 33, has not officially retired from competing but hasn’t raced since 2017.
