Double Olympic champion Rudisha survives plane crash

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Double Olympic 800 metres champion David Rudisha was unharmed after a plane he was flying in crash-landed.

Rudisha was among six passengers on a plane that came down and was left upside down in a field in Kajiado County in south-east Kenya on Saturday (December 10).

Rudisha unharmed

The 33-year-old Rudisha was unharmed in the "scary episode" and praised the pilot for his actions.

"All was well close to seven or eight minutes into the flight when the engine of the plane suddenly went quiet," he told the Daily Nation.

"He [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. The pilot did an incredible job to keep the plane afloat and stable for long."

Olympic Gold medallist in London 2012 & Rio 2016

Rudisha, who won gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, was returning from the annual Maasai Olympics at Kimana Wildlife Sanctuary in Kajiado County, was unscathed but one of the other passengers, Stephen Ole Marai, was treated in hospital for rib injuries.

It is not the first close-call Rudisha has faced, having been involved in a car accident in 2019 when a tyre burst and his vehicle collided head-on with a bus.