Let’s party and strategise in equal measure

Kenya's Elijah Motonei Manangoi celebrates the final of the men's 1500m at the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London Stadium in London on August 13, 2017. PHOTO | ANTONIN THUILLIER | AFP

What you need to know:

  • As Team Kenya arrives back home on Tuesday to what is expected to be a thunderous reception, Athletics Kenya’s technical team needs to retreat and immediately take stock of the London World Championships.
  • Cows, goats and sheep will be running for cover, especially in Narok County where the Manangois will be throwing a generous bash to celebrate two gold medals in the family after George Manangoi threw down the gauntlet with a gold medal in the 1,500 metres at last month’s World Under-18 Championships and big brother Elijah took up the challenge, winning the senior 1,500m title here on the closing night Sunday.

IN LONDON

As Team Kenya arrives back home on Tuesday to what is expected to be a thunderous reception, Athletics Kenya’s technical team needs to retreat and immediately take stock of the London World Championships.

Cows, goats and sheep will be running for cover, especially in Narok County where the Manangois will be throwing a generous bash to celebrate two gold medals in the family after George Manangoi threw down the gauntlet with a gold medal in the 1,500 metres at last month’s World Under-18 Championships and big brother Elijah took up the challenge, winning the senior 1,500m title here on the closing night Sunday.

“We will have joint celebrations and around 30 cows and 200 sheep will be slaughtered for the party. We didn’t have time to celebrate my brother’s gold because I was busy preparing for the London championships and so we will celebrate jointly and I can tell you it will be a huge party,” Elijah said on Sunday night.

And deservedly so because he and Team Kenya did absolutely well at these championships, with Hellen Obiri making Ethiopian star Almaz Ayana play second fiddle in a memorable 5,000m final.

Generally, save for minor glitches, the championships were a huge success and it was painful to see Jamaican sprints legend Usain Bolt and British distance running star Mo Farah quit the track alongside our very own steeplechase icon Ezekiel Kemboi.

Bolt and Farah especially held the sport together as globally acclaimed icons who saved athletics at a time it was tainted by doping allegations and widespread corruption that saw former IAAF president, beleaguered Lamine Diack, placed under house arrest in Paris and his equally culpable son, Papa Massata Diack, forced to flee to the “safety” of their Dakar home to avoid arrest for corruption.

Team Kenya did brilliantly, and deserve to party, but we must not celebrate too long and forget ever bigger tasks that await Kenyan athletics in the months and years to come.

The Commonwealth Games come early next year and before we realise it, Doha will be hosting the next global track and field contest in 2019. Due to the humidity and heat of the Qatari capital, the marathon races could start and end at night when temperatures are cooler, which should provide for added excitement.

We must start preparing early for these championships, which is why Athletics Kenya needs to have its elections done and dusted and the politics out of the way in good time to allow for serious work. While we celebrate the medals earned, we should scrutinize those lost, especially in the hurdles and javelin where we had broken new ground.

Specific support for former world champions (Julius Yego in the javelin and Nicholas Bett in the hurdles) should be sought so that we get them fit again besides developing more hurdlers, throwers and jumpers.

Kenyan athletics has a great future indeed.

Adios London!