Henry Rono, Record-Breaking Distance Runner From Kenya, Dies at 72

Twice denied Olympic glory by his nation’s boycotts of the Games, he wrote himself into track history in 1978 by breaking four records in just 81 days.

Henry Rono competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta. He won the gold medal.Credit...Tony Duffy/Getty Images Henry Rono, a Kenyan distance runner who was unable to walk until he was 6 after a gruesome injury to his right leg when he was a toddler but went on to break four world records in just 81 days in 1978, died on Thursday in Nairobi. He was 72.

His death was announced by Athletics Kenya, an amateur athletic association. He died in a hospital, where he had spent 10 days with an…