Susan Kariuki Won A Historic First Ever Kenyan Thai Boxing World Championship Gold!

Susan is a humble, jovial woman whom by her petite body might mislead one not to think much about her. But a closer look reveals a well trained body a focused mind and of course a cute happy face.

She does not even seem to realise that I am sitting next to a champ. She tells her story with ease, almost with a carefree attitude. And if she had had any regrets before the title fight, not much of that is left as she accumulates all her sacrifices to that win. Significantly, also her last international championships win.

It hasn’t been as easy as she tells it. And she has a few things to make up for. As we sit in Kungshallen’s food court at a window facing Kungsgatan, one of Stockholm’s main streets, it's evident that she has missed the people. At some time we tried to guess what country some passer-bys might come from, a game she quite enjoyed.

She has had to stay away from people sometimes; some of which, are her close friends as her work and especially her training schedule eats up most of her time. This is also the reason why she is not known to most Kenyans and why she only knows a handful of Kenyans in Sweden too. She's tried to interact and socialise with her fellow home countrymen but her training and matches would always come in the way.

The interview had to turn to a moment to catch up for the lost time. I had not seen the now champ for about two years. The first time I met her was while at work, at the offices where both our employers used to work. And as usual it had all started with the usual questions, where do you come from? Do you speak Swahili? And eventually, we were both bubbling in Kikuyu so fast that you would think we had known each other for ever.

IFMA, International Federation Of Muaythai Amateur, “the soul governing body for amateur Muaythai has since declared Susan the best female boxer of the year 2014!” And that in no little words, get this piece.

 

“Susan Kariuki – Best Female Boxer 2014

MAY 20TH, 2014    

Susan Karinki from Sweden received the honour of being awarded as Best Female Boxer (after) winning the gold medal in the 48KG division.

Susan Karinki sent Thailand packing on the quarter finals, beat out Onar Sukean Tesa from Turkey in the semis and went on to overcome WCG 2010 medallist Medina Sarai from Spain in the final to make both herself and her nation proud. This is the first time that Sweden took home this prestigious award in the female division.”

But what was not told here is that Susan had to cut her beloved dreadlocks for her to be of the required weight. She had nice dreads, no doubt, they took her years to nurture and that she loved them was evident in the way she took care of them. But it was worth it; she says happily, hair will always grow.

While chatting with Susan, I every now and then sought to behold those warrior-some muscles well displayed when the champ was receiving her trophy but nada, her dress and cardigan were doing a much better job concealing them. She is so gentle you won’t feel them in a hug if you lucky to get one.

But Susan, you won this one for Sweden, was Kenya in the picture? Do you feel that you won for Kenya as well?

“Of course. Sweden, luckily is my sponsoring and country of residence, but in my mind I won this one for Kenya as well. That’s my homeland.”

So what has happened after that? Do you realise that you actually made history (though not on record, yet) by being the first ever, Kenyan to win a Muaythai world championship gold?

“What? No, I didn’t know, but if so I am honoured. Haha..”

But what are your status, are you Kenyan, of course we now have dual citizenship, but where are you?

“I am Kenyan first, but also a Swedish citizen. At the time I am actually waiting for my Kenyan ID which I applied for last year when I was in Kenya. I don’t understand why it has taken so long for it to be processed, but I am hoping that it will be through soon. Maybe they have already sent it home to my parents but I don’t know yet. After that I will be applying for a Kenyan passport.”

Has the Kenyan embassy called to congratulate you?

“No, no, I have not heard anything from them”

I guess that is expected.

Susan might not have won that medal at the time especially for Kenya. And her story is the best explanation why (not).

Miss Kariuki, she is yet to be married though she has a “loving and supportive boyfriend” came to Sweden in the year of our lord 1998. She done went through all the hustles that most of us did but she has never, according to the champ herself, ever lost focus. It was not easy, as nobody would expect, but at her age, the new adventure was excitingly challenging.

There was love involved until she discovered that men are from mars. 

The champ went on with life undeterred, she did and still does the jobs that fall within reach among others as a personal assistant, a job she still holds, and has no intention of resigning from as yet. Her current boss was one of the people who received her at the Arland airport on arrival from the tournament. Now he is scared the champ will fly away with all the opportunities knocking.

But it took her former boyfriend's challenge for her to get where she is today. 

Once upon a time on a normal day in Sweden, a man came home limping, occasionally writhing and yelping in what Susan thought was pretentious pain.

“You are a man” she told him, “ you don’t come home yelping like a little puppy when coming from your training. Man up!”

Well the solid man in the wisdom of pain did what was the only thing that could make any sense to his better half at the time. He challenged her to follow him in one of his trainings in Thaiboxing, and if she doesn’t complain of pain then he would never yelp ever again. The bet was on.

The next day she was at the training centre and charged. Well, a shortened version of the story is that she got her ass kicked. Out of that pain, the champ learned that there is pain in the ring. But was she ready to accept defeat? Which in turn would legalise her man’s yawping on reasonable and unreasonable times?

Wait, wait. What are they saying back home? This ain’t a Kenyan thing so to say, what did your parents say about all this?

“Well, it is yet to be accepted. My mother has giving me a two years quit notice while my dad is yet to know that this is my thing. I was supposed to stop this soon, not just that my 35 years do not allow me to continue fighting international championships, 35 is the limit but, its so amazing that I did it on exactly that! Haha…”

“My mom has been on the know and actually she sent me a congratulatory sms, here, after my sister told her about the bout. I was so happy when I got that.”

I don’t know yet what the father will say when he gets to hear, but as a father, my guess is, “si nilikuambia Susan ana kipawa? That’s my gal!” Well, we will get the actual comment momentarily.

Susan’s preparation for that gold medal started seven years ago. After the challenge, she went on with the training while albeit suffering in silence. Eventually, the pain became bearable. And she learned and accepted her call to administer the same to her opponents. She became a warrior.

The sparring became an easy thing. She started to hurt the others, and of course the manager noticed. “Ask for anything, believe in it and the whole universe will work to give you just that.” The manager came one day after training and gave the champ an offer she could not refuse, would you like to join the Swedish league?

“Oh no, no” she said. “I don’t have such plans, I just like to train is all” But of course she did.

But interestingly, Susan started her training back home in Kenya. As she says, every time she found herself idle, she would go run a few kilometres. Her body was already fit by the time she came to Sweden. She was prepared and made for the game, even though unknowingly.

You should know that she laughed a lot during this interview. And that’s her nature. As a fighter, Susan is hardly depressed. And not because she wins most of her fights, no. That’s how she has set her mind. Nothing is elephant (but the elephant itself of course), is a kikuyu saying that suits her best, it means you can do anything, if you set your mind to do it.

When she joined the Swedish national team, Susan was not there to laugh, she fought hard. Even in the fights that she lost.

Oddly though, she is yet to win the Swedish championship gold, she has her nemeses as the Swedish champion. She is yet to beat her. 

But on the particular tournament, she excelled without having to go through that curse. They were not in the same weight category. And to perfect this, she had to cut her dear dreadlocks in order to loose 50 grams. Her dreadlocks.

But how were you feeling when you entered that ring, did you have it in you that you were going to take the whole sack home?

“Oh yes. Definitely. That was my game. I actually told the coach before I even entered the ring for the first match that this was it. This one is mine, am not taking anything less. It was my game and I knew it, felt it and I had it from the word go”

Ok, how does it feel like to get into that ring, I mean, are you ever afraid? I have watched these games but, the truth, I ain’t getting into no ring with anybody, anytime soon. I mean these are mean fighters. Legs get broken, ribs, jaws and stuff..

“Haha..we don’t think about such when we get into that ring. You know you push your fears aside if you want to win. In the ring you are trained to disregard the pain and concentrate on the game. At one time in the final match, my opponent was in so much pain that she was literally clinging on the ropes for mercy. But I had to keep hitting until the referee says otherwise, no matter how much pity I felt on her.”

In the course of this jovial conversation a guy from her team came by. The only person who could really show some recognition to the champ. Most of the Swedes milling about either pretended not to or they could not behold their heroine. And I was disappointed. The newspapers had said it, the TV stations had shouted it. But still.

I believe that in little Kenya, an African giant, Susan would have been carried high. She would have been received at the airport with gourds of milk, or/with, blood. Everywhere she would go she would be known. She would have been treated like the heroine that she is. The Swedish media declared her as such, but….

So what does it all mean to you? The gold, the opportunities..

 “Wow, eh..it means everything. All my efforts, everything that my coach told me, I had to do. All those sacrifices that I have made. It was all for this. This is not just about me, but as well for my coach. He is like my father, if he says push-ups, I ask how many!”

Talking about the gold medal, what is its worth, is it real gold, how much is it really worth?

“Hahaha..I can’t tell. I don’t know if it’s real gold or not. The trophy was enough. Just by being the best in the world, doors opened. And they are opening still, its finally my moment, my time. And it’s good.”

Congratulations yet again, but you say after 35yrs you are done, what now?

“No, no…not really done, in amateur level yes. I can not represent Sweden internationally again. But professionally I am still in this game! But while I was in all these, I went for a trainer’s course in Florida and today I am a Muaythai professional licensed trainer!”

“That all these happened at the same time; it all shows that it was meant to be. This is my call and I love it. It’s what I want to do. And if I won’t be fighting, I want to be a self employed PT with Muaythai as inspiration and as a complimentary training form, and everyone is welcome. It’s just getting better!”  

Well, there is your star. Susan Njoki Kariuki beat Thailand in quarter finals, Turkey in the semis and Spain in the finals to snaffle the gold for Sweden, and most meaningfully so for us, for Kenya! She is a Kenyan Swede.

P Bryan Njoroge.