How Kenya Can Bag More Medals At The 2024 Olympics

It was an excruciatingly longer than usual wait for gold medals at this year's Olympic games. Devastated Kenyans watched in disbelief when we lost in the men's 3,000 meters steeplechase race and failed in our bid to secure nearly all the other track events that were Kenya's to lose as they happened.

The commentators did not spare us either. They reckoned that this was Kenya's weakest team ever, and they had a point at the time. We occupied the half of the medals table that had made it possible for others to neatly grace the top half at our expense, as we found ourselves groping in unfamiliar territory.

But the 4 gold medals, and particularly the two from the marathons, were very uplifting for a country that for once forgot about politics. 19th overall is a respectable position.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that team Kenya's ratio of officials to sportsmen was 1:1. But let's hope this was just an internet rumour. But if true, then those feeding off the country's fat on the joy ride, and their benefactors, have literally eaten away some of our gold medals.

Anything that puts Kenya's reputation on the line at the global or continental stage, must be handled at the highest level for no one ever delegates their own reputation management to lesser forces. The office of the president and specifically, statehouse, Nairobi, must directly take charge of proceedings 6 months to any such event. I have my reasons for this.

Let us go down memory lane. The Rio games for us were scandal-ridden and were followed by a probe and court arraignments for those of our officials found culpable. But even the culprits and, or, victims that ended up in court maintain their innocence and feel that others were let off the hook too quickly.

Around the same time that year, Kenya hosted the Africa Motorcross Championship in Nairobi. The South African team had shipped in their bikes through Mombasa from Durban. Unfortunately, they had to reship them to Durban before the championship commenced because the customs department asked them to pay duty for the imports.

No amount of letters and explanations could help the situation. The riders had to borrow bikes locally from their Kenyan competitors and proceed to take part in a strong-willed show of true sportsmanship. They had the choice of pulling out.

Lets us not blame the customs department for simply doing their job, for anything outside of the set algorithms must be pushed from elsewhere, and most times, from above. And above is unhelpful if unavailable.

We have had numerous slip-ups where sporting activities are involved.

At the 1987 4th All Africa Games, the Nyayo Stadium floodlit football Semifinal match between Kenya and Malawi, was postponed when the visitors were ahead of the Harambee Stars by a goal to nill and were still menacingly pressing harder for more. A power blackout that the grapevine attributed to broken overland cables supposedly trodden over by a passing train, gave the Kenyan team a new lease of life as it went on to win the replayed match, and this time around, in broad daylight.

We may never truly unravel the cause of this blackout that remains a doubtful footnote in the 4th All Africa Games book. The principles of sportsmanship were swept under the carpet.

The same games suffered an embarrassing con job from the American national, Dick Berg, of the unconfirmed and therefore uncorroborated existence of Berg and Associates company. By claiming to have marketed several sporting events in South America, and with the "mzungus-never-tell-a-lie" belief in fashion at the time, Berg got paid kes. 22 million in advance to market the games internationally, with his delivery target pegged at Kes. 224 million—a huge sum at the time. He remitted a paltry 5 million shillings and hurriedly left the country having claimed that his life was in danger. He was never seen or heard from ever again.

Lest we forget that this year's Kenya Open golf event, a key European Tour event, also suffered the fate of no live coverage getting beamed to millions of disappointed viewers around the world, due to filming equipment clearance delays at the port. Politically correct reasons were given but we all felt hurt given that the Covid -19 pandemic cordoned us off walking alongside the players like in prior years.

The common denominator in all these debacles is that they have happened under ministerial supervision that is then further delegated down the chain of command to people in levels that are in no position to connect the dots that form the bigger picture in time for the country to reap big. As the events approach, the assurances that "all is well" are made to the president and his role is further reduced to gracing the camera infested ceremony of handing over of the national flag to the team captain.

Given that when these sportspeople do well, they receive presidential commendations, it is only logical that the highest office in the land takes charge half a year to the event. And this is because both our team and others when we are hosts, encounter challenges that need the president's immediate attention for real obstacles management and morale-boosting calls just as Nelson Mandela did when South Africa hosted the rugby world cup in 1995.

All these may sound pedestrian but we live in a country where most people are on the take at the expense of sports.

Our country's reputation is squarely the president's business and we must support him on this front. He vowed under oath to protect Kenya without fear, favour, affection or ill-will. And further, he vowed to protect the dignity, sovereignty and integrity of the people of Kenya.

Sports is roped into this high calling of office for it affords us real chances of fighting the world's military superpowers, albeit safely on a level playing field with the competition experienced serving as the friendly fire. When he fully applies himself to our sporting endeavours, even the newborns smile upon delivery for the impact is far-reaching, as these future champions stand a real chance of winning.

When sports officials and bureaucrats know that participants have the president's ear, they tread carefully and minimise their involvement to a laser-sharp focus on their specific mandates.

This year's Safari Rally returned a positive report card that won us another five years in hosting rights, largely because good organisers had the president's ear and cheer as we all witnessed on television. He was personally on the ground. There were no 'nyef nyef manenos'.

So, it is high time that an official 'standing sporting events management committee' linked to statehouse, with clear deliverables, is put in place. It must also extend to how we deal with our veteran sportsmen in their retirement.

I once shared a document that I had painstakingly put together. I emailed it to senior sporting officials. Some years down the road, I am yet to see or hear of it. I did it free of charge and this would surely win us more medals if adopted before the next games.

If we are still not interested in it, then I will have no choice but to have our valid sporting prayers, as documented therein, answered in any foreign country that comes forward for it. Many of our policy papers have helped shape the destinies of other countries whilst gathering dust on our shelves, or were they shelf development projects all along? Please let us know.

And while at it, can we amend the stanza in the English version of our national anthem that says: "bless this our land and nation", when sung outside our borders to say: "bless that our land and nation" or "bless our homeland nation". That way, our blessings come home directly. The composers, it seems, never tested it for our away-from-home purposes.