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The Day and Night of Kenyan Sports

by natscott on | 2023-07-25 10:51:52 Last Updated by natscott on2024-05-18 13:01:58

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At a mention of Kenya's sports, a fanatic's inclination would be pardoned for riveting on athletics. Indeed, over the years, Kenya has been a global athletics phenomenon. Her athletes have almost always, risen to the occasion and won gold in high-stakes global competitions. Save for the cruel adversary from her Ethiopian counterparts, Kenyan runners have set and broken world records as if for the fun of it. It might be fair to say, Kenyan runners, especially long distance runners, are a reference point for ambitious athletes world over. Names such as Kipchoge Keino, Catherine Ndereba, Eliud Kipchoge to name but three, are not just Kenya's household names, but a world phenomenon. If fact, more recently, the Athletics world has been treat to a out of this world performance of the little known Faith Kipyegon, who broke three world records in just under 3 months. Least you forget, Kenya is now boasting, for the first time ever, a 100 meters Africa male champion. From this day henceforth, history will have Ferdinand Omanyala in special books for winning both the African 100m championship, and the Diamond League 100 meters in Monaco France, in the same year.

Recently, Kenya has looked to rare her head in other disciplines too; and emphatically so. The historical legendary 2016 HSBC Rugby Sevens win in Singapore is just but proof that Kenya has a unique, raw sports potential, waiting to be tapped. Especially considering that the final game was against Fiji, which is arguably the world’s best and ruthless in men’s rugby. Before the world exploits of Kenya's Rugby sevens, I bet, not a handful of Kenyans knew of such legendary Rugby players like; Collins Injera, Humphrey Kayange. Andrew Amonde, Willy Ambaka to name but a handful.  

With such an emphatic sporting presence in the global scene, You would be excused for imagining Kenya to be a country with very strong sports structures in different disciplines. In truth, that's quite the opposite. whereas the two; Athletics and Rugby glitters, other sports are almost on there death bed. The source of the stain threatening to decolorize this reputation and success, is that with the rise of the popular sports culture in Kenyan, a disgusting wave of challenges have posed a threat to a sector that has the potential of not just gleaming, but inject an impetus in to the economy of the country. The rise in popularity is rightfully amazing and highly welcomed. The unanswered question is, with this rise, are we adjusting? Or is the population enlarging while the inputs remain 'as they were'? 

Even as we all become aware of such realities, we must be cognizant that change is imminent. Sooner or later, someone, somehow, must wake up and initiate a change. Kenya's sporting challenges are not unique to Kenya. Experience from other well developed sporting nations can point Kenya in the right direction. For instance, such issues like;

• Packaging of sports as a tool for peace
• Mitigating the over-reliance on donor inputs
• Lack of result-generating regulations in the sports industry
  
• Unstable inter-organizational collaborations
• Lack of talent search and grassroot development
• Fewer sports activities at the elite level
  
• Feuds among federations and charity organizations 

when carefully dealt with and ironed out, could be a great start for a wholistic approach to building a meaningful and profitable sports enterprise in Kenya.