After four cycles of Summer Olympics, where success was harder to come by for Kenya, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing saw the an outpouring of success on the track courtesy of a group of runners who had come up together through a series of Junior championships
The most recognizable faceS of this generation would be David Rudisha, and Eliud Kipchoge. Off the track and road new ground was also being broken in field such as swimming and Rugby.
The 1990s and early 2000s Olympics were a fallow Period for Team Kenya. For most of this period Kenya were without any team sports at the Summer games, and the boxers who did make it to the Olympics were a pale shadow of the the ones who contended with the best amateurs in the world in the 1970s…
After missing two Olympics and struggling in one, Kenya’s Olympic team at the 1988 delegation put together a performance for the ages.
The 1970s were a very political time in the world of sports, and even the otherwise sacrosanct Olympic games were not immune to the posturing and power games of the Cold War.
Coming into this decade, Kenya would have expected to go from strength to strength after a promising showing at the 1968 and 1976 Summer Olympics. It was not that be as the intrigues of resisting apartheid and imperialism meant that Kenya skipped the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, denying a slew of potential legends an opportunity to shine on the biggest stage in sports.
Kenya announced herself properly on the big stage of the Summer Olympics in Mexico in 1968, and followed it up with another excellent show at the 1972 games in Munich.
These Olympics went a long way in creating Kenya’s world renown I. Middle and Long distance track events…
Kenya first participated at the Summer olympics as a colony of the British Empire, in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics fielding squads that mostly comprised of British settlers, with the exception of the men’s hockey team, which was mostly Kenyans of Indian descent. This was reflective of the segeragation of access to sorting activities that was characteristics of colonial rule throughout what is now known as the third world.
Kenya being granted independence saw the remocval of such restrictions the gradual transformation of Kenya’s olympic teams from a handfu of amateurs, witha few token natives, to a the middle and long distance running powerhouse people know tpday, starting with the bronze medal of one Wislon Kiprugut at the 1964 Olypics
The gruelling process of selecting the group of elite track and field athletes who will represent Kenya at the Tokyo Olympics comes to a close starting tomorrow. Athletics Kenya is conducting its three day national trials, in which track runners from 100m dash up to the 10,000 metres, as well as various field events, will compete for the right to fly Kenya’s flag at the Olympics in Tokyo next month.
It is a testament to the competitiveness of these national trials that, of Kenya’s four track gold medallists from the 2016 Olympics, only Faith Kipyegon (1500m women) and Conseslus Kipruto will even be at the trials to contest an opportunity to defend their titles. Conseslus Kipruto will be participating in the trials in spite of his ongoing legal troubles. A DNF at the most recent Diamond League race in Florence is also not a good omen. Defending 10,000m women’s Champion Vivian Cheruiyot will be contesting the marathon in Tokyo
The most notable absence from the start list is 800m World Record holder David Rudisha. The two time Olympic Champion has not raced actively since 2017, most recently citing a persistent hamstring problem. Instead the fastest man in the 800m men’s trial will be 2019 World Championships bronze medallist Ferguson Rotich.
Among the other Rio 2016 medallists in contention over the next three days, Hyvin Jepkemoi will contest the women’s steeplechase, 5000m Silver medallist Hellen Obiri, will lead a strong field in that race. Julius Yego will also begin his efforts to improve on his silver medal in Rio, at these trials. Among the fresh faces, there is World under 20 champion, Beatrice Chebet in the 5000m trials. in She has already impressed at the Diamond league in Doha, and will look o make a strong impression at the trials
As per Athletics Kenya, the top two finishers of the finals of each event, who have also met the official World Athletics standard within the qualifying period, and have also undertaken the mandatory Anti-doping workshop course set by Athletics kenya, will automatically get tickets to Tokyo. Athletics Kenya will then issue what amounts to wild card selections to various competitors across several events based on merit.
The only track and field event where Kenya’s representatives will not be selected at these trails are the men’s and women’s marathon. Kenya’s olympic representatives were selected in February. Defending champion, and world record holder Elid Kipchoge (2:01:39) will be joined by Lawrence Cherono (personal best 2:03:04) Amos Kipruto (2:03:30), and Vincent Kipchumba (2:05:09). The women’s team will be headlined by world record holder Brigid Kosgei (2:14:04), Peris Jepchirchir (2:17:16), Vivian Cheruiyot (2:18:31) and Ruth Chengetich (2:17:08)
Diamond League is back
World Athletics has published a calendar for the 2021 Wanda Diamond league series of events, signalling another positive step on the path to normalcy in global athletics. With last year’s cycle curtailed by the global Covid-19 pandemic, it should be relief for track fans, and athletes all over the world, that these elite events are back on.
The first event will be at Gateshead, in the UK on the 23rd of May, followed rapidly by events n Doha Qatar, on the 28th of May and then Italy, on the 10th of June, either in the city of Rome or Florence. The inaugural event for the season was initially supposed to happen in Rabat, Morocco, but that host city pulled out due to Covid-19 concerns. The calendar publsihed so far has 14 scheduled Diamond League meets, scheduled to run from the end of this mobth up to 9th September in Zurich Switzerland. 8 of these meets will take place before the re-scheduled 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan, while the remaining 6 will take place in the months of August and September. This calendar was releaased with teh proviso that it could be altered depending on the global health situation.
According to the official website, there are 24 athletic dicsiplines in this season’s Diamond League grand prix. Each of these disciplines will be staged 6 times across the 14 Diamond league events, before a finals where the top eight points getters (100m, 100m hurdles, 110m hurdles, 800m, most technical events) and the top 12 points getters, (1500m, long distance, high jump and pole vault) of these disciplines will contest the title of ‘Diamond League Champion. These champions will receive 50,000 USD prize money, a Diamond league trophy, and conditional wild card entries to the World Athletics Championships
According to reports in the Standard Newspaper,Kenya’s Hellen Obiri and 5000m women’s world record holder Letesembet Gidey, will be among the headliners at the 28th May meet in Doha. They will square off in the women’s 3000 metres
After several months of Covid-19 enforced hiatus, live sports returned to Kenya, through the Kip Keino Classic at Nyayo National Stadium at the weekend
The event, which saw wins for Kenyan elite runners such as Ferguson Rotich (800m) and Hellen Obiri (5000m), was part of the IAAF’s inaugural continental Championships. This is a series of one-day events meant to showcase the top talents in athletes around the globe. Elite Kenyan runners involved included Timothy Cheruiyot (winner of his 1500m event) Hyvin Kiyeng, and Eunice Sum among others.
Whereas Kenyan runners protected their long-held dominance of middle and long distances, British sprinter Kristal Awuar won the women’s 200m as part of a significant international contingent participating in the event.
Aired by NTV, and featuring high profile corporate partners such as Safaricom, the event marks an important landmark in the process of establishing a new normal for sports in Kenya, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the globe.
The event itself had initially been scheduled for May but was postponed by Government restrictions, as a result of Covid-19 reaching Kenya in March of this year. That it appears to have gone without any major reported incidences is a boon, not just for Athletics Kenya, but sports in Kenya as a whole.
With the Harambee Stars, set to host two international fixtures in the coming International football window, The KPL eager to get on with its season, and Athletics Kenya Still aspiring to host the World U20 Athletics Championships, this is in an important first step to establishing a new normal Sports in Kenya.
The full results, as reported by Standard
Over the course of the current series of posts, I will be looking at the situation of various Kenyan Sports, as the nation attempts to move forward in the wake of the global covid-19 pandemic. I have looked at the situations in football, cricket and rugby, and in this post will look at Athletics (track and field).
With the long history of medals at Olympics, Athletics Championships, and Commonwealth games, track and field is the sport which Kenya is most widely associated with. Indeed long distance running is something that most of the world almost takes for granted that Kenya will thrive.
The Big picture
Whereas no major sporting event have been able to resume since the arrival of Covid-19 in Kenya, and recently the chair of Kenya’s parliamentary committee for sports decried lack of preparation to resume sporting activities locally, track and field activities appear to be much closer to resumption than some other sports. Indeed it is only recently that a group of Kenyan Athletes received clearance to participate in the revived and revised Diamond League circuit. Yet one thing continues to loom over the sport from before the Covid-19 pandemic. And this is doping. Recent changes to the rules mean that Kenya has been put in a place of extra scrutiny by the Athletics Integrity Unit and the World Anti-Doping Authority. This will put an additional demand of the test capabilities of the Anti-Doping Authority of Kenya has, when competition does finally resume in full.
The Domestic situation
The Covid-19 restrictions have already claimed many casualties on the local track events calendar. For Instance, the World Under 20 Athletics Championships, which were originally scheduled for July this year, will now take place from 17th-22nd August 2021. This is a week after the conclusion of the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics. Nonetheless, all is not lost with positive indications that the inaugural World Intercontinental Tour Nairobi leg might still go ahead in Mid September this year.
However, even with the positive vides coming from the government, at the time of writing of this post, there were no official track or road race events listed on the Athletics Kenya official website, and to be honest, a visit to my local athletics stadium (in Nyahururu) did track meet there any time soon (See picture below). 
International track and field
The first batch of Kenyan athletes allowed to participate in international competition will be in action tonight in the Wanda Diamond League even in Monaco. This event will be the first of four competitive Diamond league events that have been confirmed by the IAAF. A fifth is still awaiting final venue confirmation (at the time of the writing of this post), while there are also a number of exhibition
Despite the withdrawal of Conselsus Kipruto (due to Covid-19), and Kenya’s exclusion from a list of nationals allowed to travel to Europe, Kenya has been able to send a strong contingent. Among those who are expected at the starting gun tonight are Ferguson Rotich, Beatrice Chepkoech, Winnie Chebet (all 800m), Timothy Cheruiyot (1500m) and Leonard Kipkemoi, Bett (3000m steeplechease).
On a broader scale, the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, by a year could represent a significant setback for older athletes, who were looking for one last hurrah at the Olympics, or an blessing for those who were not in the best of form this year.
Off the track
As alluded to earlier in the post, there is still the looming elephant in the room of doping haunting Track and Field in Kenya.
The Athletics integrity Unit listed Kenya in the category of nations that should receive the highest level of scrutiny, as far as testing for performance enhancing drug abuse is concerned. Most recently, the high profile suspension of World class middle distance runner Elijah Manangoi, for whereabouts violations, and several othere for using banned substances casts a negative light on the efficacy of the anti-doping campaign meant to help restore Kenya’s reputation in global track and field events.
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