Cheers to Our Athletic Heroes
While the rest of us in Kenya were busy arguing about the winners of the just concluded general elections, a relatively “obscure” event (by Kenyan standards that is) was happening in London.
Two things stand out from these results. One, our medals came exclusively from running as our only hope in the field events javelin, thrower Julius Yego finished last in this event as he had issues even before he went to London. Even in track, we suffered because several of our star athletes – like David Rudisha - did not participate and several others did not perform to the expected standard. So much so that even our famed dominance in steeplechase was stolen by newcomers and our performance in several other races like 5,000 metres men, left a lot to be desired.
The second thing that stood out is some lack of team strategy as we watched other teams execute perfect strategy. A case in point is 5,000 metres men where the Ethiopians were determined to reclaim “their” race from one Mo Farah of Britain who has single-handedly dominated this race and the 10,000 metres one as if they were personal property. The manner in which the three Ethiopians in that race managed to corner their arch rivals must go into the annals of athletics as a classic case of pure team work. This is an area where Kenyans have been systematically losing out over the years as each of our athletes has tended to go out there and win for him or herself.
Edging the Old Bulls Out
While still on this subject, a new phenomenon emerged in London. Two of the world’s greatest athletes – Usain Bolt and Mo Farah – had announced their retirement after London. They had dominated their individual races like no other and we must commend them for their sterling performances.
Usain Bolt is a giant of a man who has stood out like a colos- sus among lesser mortals but his final race was a total disaster due to a hamstring injury. Mo Farah, on the other hand, is a lanky and shorter fellow from whom you would not expect much but his finishing kick is legendary.
These two guys realised something that those of us who watch the behaviour of wild animals, especially lions, know only too well. The old lion must know when it is time to quit and give way to the young and virile younger lions who are probably his own sons. If he does not quit willingly – which rarely happens – he will be forced out, fang and claw. Which brings out a point that some of our leaders should know by now: sometimes, it is more prudent to call it quits when you still can and let the youth have their turn. But that is another story..
Back to Athletics
There is little doubt that when it comes to athletics, Kenya is a great nation. So much so that, even in the just concluded championships two foreign medal winners – Paul Chelimo (USA, 5,000 metres bronze) and Rose Chelimo (Bahrain, marathon gold) – have Kenyan blood flowing in their arteries. Had they been Kenyans, our medal tally would have been 10. But, as someone once told us, “choices have consequences”.
On a more serious note, however, it is about time as I had said in a commentary way back in 2010, that Kenya realized that we have a veritable gold mine known as the sports industry. It is time we devoted sufficient resources into this field. And I mean much more than just building stadiums around the country. There must be systems for identifying our budding sportsmen and women early enough, giving them appropriate training, giving them incentives to excel and showing them how to manage their hard-won winnings from sports. It is a responsibility that the ministry of sports must take very seri- ously both as an investment and employment for our youth.
Finally, watching these athletics showed that two of our arch rivals – Ethiopia and South Africa – are upping their games. The case of downing of Mo Farah stands out but I also saw several sterling performances from South Africans. Their target should be obvious: Kenya. We better look out.
I hope Athletics Kenya is listening.
This was the 2017 IAAF Athletics Championships where we had sent an excellent team of young men and wom- en to represent us thereby unwittingly denying them a right to choose their next crop of leaders.
But no matter; they did us proud as the statistics of the just concluded event shows. For the record, Kenya emerged sec- ond behind the mighty United States with a total of 8 medals – 3 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze. This might appear a miserable performance compared to the aggregate 27 medals that were won by the USA, but if you look at the top five countries, then we are not so bad.
Medal Table - 2017 Athletics
