Let’s show why Kenya is home of athletics

Men’s winner Bayelign Teshager of Ethiopia and women’s winner Margaret Muriuki of Kenya celebrate after the 2020 Los Angeles Marathon on March 6, 2020. Over the years, Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes have dominated global distance running and have another opportunity to showcase this pedigree during the World Athletics Continental Tour and World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi in May and July. PHOTO | KATELYN MULCAHY |

What you need to know:

  • Nairobi was belatedly given the onus of hosting one of the Continental Tour legs which run at Kasarani on May 2.
  • The Kasarani meet offers a golden opportunity for Kenya to show the world why we are the best in track and field.

On Sunday, President Uhuru Kenyatta clocked his personal best time over two kilometres, completing the distance in just under 30 minutes and 50 seconds.

Watching the President breast the tape after a sprint to the finish line at the Nyayo National Stadium, I couldn’t help but notice the conspicuous absence of officials from the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya.

For they should have intuitively whisked the Head of State away and tested his samples to confirm he wasn’t powered by nandrolone, erythropoietin or some other anabolic steroid.

But having assented into law the Anti-Doping Bill of 2016 himself, I was convinced that President Kenyatta, like most of our elite athletes, was running clean.

His gesture - in support of the First Lady’s Beyond Zero Half Marathon fundraiser for better healthcare – was symbolic in more ways than one.

Principally, it endorsed Kenya’s enviable distinction as the global distance running headquarters.

Over the years, Kenya has taken a beating with critics happy to see the country in the crosshairs of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The dominance by Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes in distance running, much to the chagrin of the Western world, has seen a spirited fight to have events like the steeplechase, 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres off the global television radar.

Conducted arbitrarily

It was hardly surprising, therefore that World Athletics made the extremely irrational decision to strike the steeplechase and 5,000 metres off the list of core events on the Diamond League roster.

They argued that these events “are too long for live television” and premised their decision on “research” they conducted arbitrarily.

Subsequently, as though to save face, World Athletics conjured up the “Continental Tour”, a 10-meet series where disciplines struck off the Diamond League broadcast window find solace.

Nairobi was belatedly given the onus of hosting one of the Continental Tour legs which run at Kasarani on May 2.

The Kasarani meet offers a golden opportunity for Kenya to show the world why we are the best in track and field.

It’s reassuring to see the government offer the financial guarantee that World Athletics requires for the hosting of the competition, with the global athletics body’s Monaco headquarters taking part of the tab.

On the global one-day meet circuit, Brussels and Berlin boast of the biggest stadium attendances, with crowds penduluming between 45,000 and 50,000.

With crowds of over 60,000 witnessed at Kasarani during the World Under-18 Championships in 2017, the Continental Tour meeting on May 2 offers us another opportunity to elevate Kenya’s stature as home of athletics.

We should start showing interest and lining up for tickets to this one-day spectacle which will most certainly assemble a galaxy of leading global track and field stars keen to run in Kenya for the first time.

It’s reassuring to see global icons, such as multiple world and Olympics triple jump champion Christian Taylor, expressing desire to compete at Kasarani.

The Nairobi Continental Tour’s secretariat is already jammed with requests from other global stars who wish to break new ground. These include Nigerian sprinters Jerry Jakpa, Emmanuel Ojeli, Joy Udo-Gabriel and Blessing Oladoye, to name but a few.

On Mondau, Ethiopia’s ambassador to Kenya, Meles Alem, assured that he will rally his country’s elite runners to show up on May 2, and also at the World Under-20 Championships that will run from July 7 to 12, also at Kasarani.

With similar support from other African nations and the Confederation of African Athletics, Nairobi will most certainly emerge as a popular destination for track and field.

The ball is now squarely on the court of the men and women charged with the responsibility of organising both the Continental Tour and World Under-20 Championships.

There’s no time for horse-trading, or jostling for the gravy train, as is the habit whenever ad hoc committees are formed in Kenya.

It’s time to work for the good of sport, and for the future of our great nation. Kenya and sport are bigger than anyone of us.

Makori is the Editor (Sports) at Nation Media Group. [email protected]