By Tony Kipkorir
Kenyan men are slowly losing their status as a world athletics powerhouse based on recent developments on the track.
The recent 2024 Paris Olympic Games showed exactly why the country’s athletics future is at stake.
Many stakeholders are asking themselves rhetorical questions without finding the right answers at the moment
Why are our men suddenly becoming slower than their Western counterparts? Is technology to be blamed?
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These are just a number of questions that continue to dominate various sports pages on social media platforms like Facebook.
Statistics rarely lie, and according to recent data, Kenya’s athletic dominance in the men’s category has continued to decline in recent years.
Gone are the days when the likes of Wilfred Bungei, Asbel Kiprop, Ezekiel Kemboi, and David Rudisha used to leave opponents in their wake and secure titles for the nation in international events.
Today, Kenyans mostly get the opportunity to listen to the national anthem at such events mostly because of female runners.
Kenyan athletes Cybrian Kotut and Benson Kipruto
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For instance, in the summer games, Emmanuel Wanyonyi was the only Kenyan man who won a Gold medal while the likes of Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet won a collective three Gold medals for country.
Meanwhile, the dramatic decline in performance for Kenyan male athletes on the track is also evident in terms of world records.
A few years ago, Kenyan men set several track and field world records but the number is diminishing at an alarming rate.
At the moment, the number stands at two with Rudisha and Noah Ngeny being the only runners who hold world records.
Rudisha set the 800m world record of 1:40.91 during the London 2012 Olympic Games while Ngeny’s 1000m mark was set on September 5, 1999.
However, even these two world records are in danger of being broken by foreign speedsters in the near future.
Two days ago, Canada’s sensation Marco Arop missed the 1000m world record of 2:11.96 by a whisker.
He ran a brilliant race to stop the clock at 2:13.13 in the 2024 Boris Hanžeković Memorial meet that was staged in Zagreb, Croatia.
The athlete, who was born in Sudan, is also expected to attack Rudisha’s world record in future races.]
Wanyonyi of course also poses a serious threat to inherit Rudisha’s record.
ALSO READ: SportPesa launch revolutionary Tujiamini Initiative to nurture talent
Tujiamini is an initiative that seeks to provide a platform, including up to 30M shillings in funding, for individual, team sports and various talent, in a year-long campaign that will go around the country in a move aimed at evoking the sense of pride in Kenya’s sports and talent ecosystem.
Applicants are urged to submit their applications through www.tujiamini.co.ke