Team Kenya coaches confident as camp opens in Eldoret

Team Kenya's coaches Julius Kirwa (left) and John Mwithiga inspect equipment inside a gym at the High Performance Training Centre, Kazi Mingi Farm, in Eldoret on July 4, 2016 where athletes will be training for the Olympic Games. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA |

What you need to know:

  • Star-studded Team Kenya’s preparations for the August 4-21 Rio Games begin taking shape
  • The centre is located on legend Kipchoge Keino’s Kazi Mingi Farm on the outskirts of Eldoret Town.
  • Coaches, who spoke to Daily Nation Sport, were confident that they have enough time to prepare the athletes ahead of the August 4-21 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Kenya’s Olympic athletics coaches have started mapping out strategies as the residential training camp opened in Eldoret on Monday.

The track and field athletes are residing at the High Performance Training Centre, which has been receiving funding from the International Olympic Committee.

The centre is located on legend Kipchoge Keino’s Kazi Mingi Farm on the outskirts of Eldoret Town.

Coaches, who spoke to Daily Nation Sport, were confident that they have enough time to prepare the athletes ahead of the August 4-21 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Julius Kirwa is back on the technical bench. He previously handled the team including during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games where Kenya bagged its biggest medal haul ever. The team won six gold, four silver and four bronze medals.

Head coach Kirwa is handling the middle and long distance athletes along with James Mutisya while former national 400m champion John Anzrah is in charge of the sprinters and Richard Metto is overseeing the marathon team preparations.

Kenya will have a large number of sprinters with Carvin Nkanata and Mike Mokamba having qualified for the 200m while Alphas Keshoyan, Raymond Kibet, Alex Sampao and Boniface Mweresa make the men’s 400m team.

Nicholas Bett, Boniface Mucheru and Aron Koech will compete in the 400m hurdles. Maureen Jelagat also qualified for the 400m hurdles and will team up with Margaret Nyairera in the 400m flat race.

Coach John “warm-up” Mwithiga is the ubiquitous figure across the disciplines and well-known for his no-nonsense fitness drills. A group of physiotherapists are also on hand.

Keino’s son, Martin, a former athlete and pacemaker who played ‘rabbit’ to almost 10 world records in his heyday, is the camp’s manager.

“It’s a tranquil environment and the athletes will be training in conditions that they are familiar with,” Martin said on Tuesday.

Kirwa was happy at the early arrivals in camp, saying Athletics Kenya and the National Olympic Committee of Kenya had done their homework well and were leaving nothing to chance in preparing for the Rio action.

“I’m happy and thankful to my fellow coaches for reporting to camp as per the time we had agreed on. This shows we are ready to work. We are positive that the training will be a success,” said Anzrah, a fine sprinter in his days with a personal best of 45.3 in the 400m, which he ran in 1984, the same year he reached the Olympic quarter-finals in Los Angeles.

The training camp is in an unflappable environment, free from any distractions to the team of about 50 athletes, which features seven of Kenya’s world champions namely David Rudisha, Asbel Kiprop, Ezekiel Kemboi, Nicholas Bett, Julius Yego, Vivian Cheruiyot and Hyvin Kiyeng.

The camp has a well-equipped gymnasium to augment the athletes’ workouts.

“During the trials, as coaches we realised the flaws in most of our athletes. This gymnasium will help deal with issues such as weak muscles and lack of the energy to finish races,” said Kirwa.

“We are confident because everything is in place for the training,” he added.

APPEALED FOR SUPPORT

Training proper was scheduled to begin on Tuesday. There will be limited access of journalists and other visitors to the camp for the athletes to concentrate on their individual “roads to Rio.”

Meanwhile, the Kerio Valley Development Authority will provide honey and other forms of support to Team Kenya athletes. At the same time, the National Olympic Committee of Kenya has appealed for more support for the team.