Philip Kimely Boit is a cross-county skier and the first Kenyan to participate in the Winter Olympics.
Education
After graduating from Samwayi Secondary School, he was recruited to General Service Unit in 1992, where was able to enhance his athletics career. As an athlete, he was a bit behind the top Kenyan runners. His 800 meters personal best is 1:46.06.
Career
His first name is sometimes spelled as "Phillip". Philip Boit and his compatriot Henry Bitok were trained in Finland in order to become competitive skiers. Both were former middle distance runners with no previous skiing experience.
Their project was sponsored by sportswear giant Nike.
Their winter training began in February 1996. Boit"s participation in the games gained worldwide media coverage.
Boit participated in the Nordic skiing World Championships in Ramsau, Austria, and again finished last in the 10km classic event. After the event Nike dropped their sponsorship, hence he had to settle for "dry training" in Kenya for over two years.
In the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City Boit finished 64th in the sprint race, beating three competitors.
After the Salt Lake City Olympics Boit left competitive skiing again, but came back to participate in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin where he finished 92nd in the 15km Classic, ahead of 5 fellow competitors. Boit said in a 2006 interview that he was planning to retire after 2010 Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver. In 2007, he competed in the World Ski Championships held in Sapporo, Japan, the same country where he started his Olympic career.
Boit had planned to retire after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
However, he didn"t meet the requirements needed to start in the Games. He missed the limit by 2 FIS points, therefore he was unable to compete.
His attempts to qualify for the Olympics had been hampered by illness. After missing the Olympics, Boit decided to continue his career by a year and retire after the 2011 World Championships to be held in Oslo, Norway.
Boit finished 42nd during qualification, and therefore was unable to compete in the 15 kilometre classical.