Cheptoo’s discus dreams thrown away

As the World U-18 Athletics Championships girls’ discuss throw final took centre stage at Kasarani on Friday, Vivian Cheptoo watched from the stands with a heavy heart.

Cheptoo was Kenya’s sole representative in the discipline but failed to feature to the surprise of many.

The 17-year-old Form Four student from Sotik was scheduled to compete in the field event on Wednesday at 10.40am alongside 16 other competitors but was disqualified due to lateness.

“I cannot understand what went wrong. My coach told me to go warm up and after a while, he disappeared. I found my way back to where Team Kenya was at the stands and by the time I was getting back, the event had already started and everyone was asking me why I am not on the field,” said a distraught Cheptoo, fighting back tears.

Team Kenya coach Kariuki Gikonyo said investigations were going on to determine why Cheptoo failed to take part in the competition.

“I was also shocked to hear that incident because every athlete is informed of their discipline and knows when it starts. We will get to the bottom of the matter and deal with it accordingly because it is quite unfortunate,” Gikonyo told Nation Sport.

The youngster was introduced to the sport while in primary school but took a break when she joined high school only to returned to the game late last year. She made it to the global youth event during last month’s trials coached by her elder brother.

“No one has talked to me about the incident from Athletics Kenya or Team Kenya but coach Nicholas Mureithi owned up to the mistake, saying he was wrong about our arrival time at the Call Room,” she added.

Her mother Sarah Terer, who had travelled from Sotik on Tuesday to cheer her up, is also a disappointed woman but has encouraged Cheptoo to soldier on and work to get better in the sport.

“When the event started and I could not see her, phone calls from family and friends came in questioning her absence. I called to find out what was going on, only to receive the heart-breaking news,” said Terer.

Cheptoo’s personal and season best was 31.96 coming into the competition. Twelve competitors battled it out in the final Friday evening.