Olympics sideshows destroy the higher purpose of sport

Fiji came to a standstill last week to mark the return from Rio de Janeiro of the country’s victorious rugby sevens squad, which won Fiji's first ever Olympic medal. 

This deeply emotional moment of national pride was amply captured by Richard Ewart of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Pacific Beat. 

In Kenya, however, only relatives, some friends and a few members of the public came to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to welcome the 13 medallists returning from Rio. 

Some athletes preferred to land at Eldoret Airport where the welcome was much more befitting, perhaps because most athletes come from the regions surrounding Eldoret.

The low-key reception could partly be attributed to the media, which undermined the athletes’ glorious moment by bringing up myriad issues that could have been dealt with later.

In Ewart’s second paragraph, he wrote that "Thousands of fans lined the flag-bedecked streets of Nadi on Sunday to catch a glimpse of their idols as the team made their way from the airport to an official welcome at a packed Prince Charles Park." 

It is a shame that not many Kenyans would identify any of their world-beating athletes on the streets, yet sport, as Nelson Mandela once said, "has the power to change the world".

It is a universal language that unites communities more powerfully than anything else.  However, in Kenya, we seem to miss the point on the higher purpose of sport.

Everything about Kenya’s impunity has been written. Everybody knows about Kenya’s struggle with corruption.  Since the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the antics of Olympic joyriders have not been new. There are no secrets.

Why raise these issues at the moment of glory? Doing so was tantamount to raining on the party.

This was Kenya’s best outing at the Olympics, having won a total of 13 medals, including six gold, and ranking second after the United States in athletics.

ON TO TOKYO 2020

I would have expected the media to headline the arrival times of our heroes and heroines so that that hundreds of thousands of people would turn up at the airport to receive them.

Further, I would have expected the victorious athletes to enjoy a victory parade, including a drive through estates in convoys of open-top limousines, for people to take a break from their daily troubles and celebrate our success.

How many countries would have wished to have their national anthem played at the closing ceremony, with thunderous response from the audience, watched by billions of people worldwide?  Kenya attained this feat.

The result was that our national anthem was admiringly discussed on social media across the world. We wasted an opportunity to mend our differences and dance to the uniting power of sport.  

The undertones of Kenya's sports controversy are not being addressed and taxpayers will be taken round in circles and the issue forgotten, before resurfacing for Tokyo 2020.  This has been going on since 1988, at least. 

We have to deal with embarrassing issues upfront, or investigate them comprehensively after the Olympics if we are to leverage sports for its greater use. 

ZIKA VIRUS AND IMPEACHMENT

We now have time, for example, to investigate who the most qualified athlete to represent Kenya in judo was. The Kenya Judo Association says Samson Wambi qualified, yet the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) picked Levy Sang.   

If the media truly had Kenya’s interest at heart, there were many aspects of the Rio Olympics they should have shared with viewers and readers at home. 

A good example is how Brazil, a developing country like Kenya, handled the controversies enveloping the country, ranging from the Zika virus to the impeachment of the country’s President. All this at a time when the eyes of the entire world were trained on Brazil. 

Such lessons are invaluable to Kenya especially as the country tries to revive tourism in the face of terrorism.  How did Brazil avert negative publicity, and why would the country implement such a campaign for positive coverage if negative publicity were the normal, natural thing, as our media keep telling us?

There were other issues, like refereeing in boxing. Kenyans Peter Mungai and Rayton Okwiri reached the round of 16 but our media did not find it sexy to cover the rot in the International Boxing Association (AIBA).

Corruption allegations forced AIBA to expel a number of judges and referees.  Did Mungai and Okwiri justly lose their fights, considering the fact that some countries openly complained? 

POSITIVE MESSAGING

Media from countries that had not sent pugilists to the Olympics covered the matter.  When a Mongolian judoka lost his bout and his coaches felt it was unfair, the protest was so loud and clear that the entire world sympathised with them.

Our performance in Rio should be a build-up to what will happen in Tokyo 2020.  For that to happen, we must analyse where we have come from, where we are and where we want to go. We must have a strategic direction and maintain positive messaging.

A brief review of media from other countries shows clearly that media is part and parcel of creating a strategic direction. Britain, for example, is in a celebratory mood while also looking forward to take advantage of its Rio success.

The Mirror of August 21, 2016 had this headline: Rio 2016 is Britain's golden age, but what has been the secret of Team GB's Olympic success? 

It is not that Britain has never had problems of their own, but reviews of their performance helped them to come up with a sustainable funding mechanism that helps athletes train all the time. 

In spite of all the negativity, Kenya performed excellently. We must now reflect and begin to deal with some of the problems urgently.

One of our problems is the culture of complaining without suggesting what needs to be done to correct our situation.

DEALING WITH ISSUES

If people used public resources to take girlfriends to Rio, then action must be taken as quickly as possible.

In the US, for example, swimmer Ryan Lochte, who embarrassed his country by lying that he had been robbed at gunpoint, has had swift action taken against him. 

He has lost sponsorships from at least four companies. The US government is investigating and he could be jailed. Such swift action deters future misconduct.

In our case, every Tom, Dick and Jerry wants in on the investigations, and to make more money from allowances.  It should not happen that way.

Parliament, for example, should not interfere where there are clear laws. Since independence, no Parliamentary investigation has ended up in prosecution.

NO NEGATIVITY

We can stop politicisation of crime by having proper agencies investigate Nock and the Ministry of Sports officials.

Media is key to the development of any country and it must always take responsibility for what it publishes. In the case of Rio, the media failed.  The issues it raised were important, but one wishes journalists investigated more and carefully considered when to release some of the news. 

It is details that would have made new material but what they reported was nothing new. The purpose of those reports was to deny Kenyans the opportunity to celebrate their idols, commune together and become more cohesive as a result.  There was no need for negativity at the moment of glory.

Kevyn Aucoin, an American photographer, once said, ‘Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.’   

Let feel life and stop denying ourselves our humanity.  We must always remember that there is a time for everything.

The writer is an associate professor at University of Nairobi’s School of Business. Twitter: @bantigito