However, similar to the way South Korean automakers creeped up on their Japanese competitors and mugged them of some of the latter's global auto market, we didn't see it coming when Kenyan athletes, celebrated abroad but dissed at home, couldn't resist the financial allure of the Middle East and changed their citizenship (salaam, Saeef Saeed Shaheen of Qatar, for example, formerly Stephen Cherono); not to mention the Ethiopians and the Moroccans.
That's why it was exhilarating for Kenya to watch Joyce Njuguna win a bronze in the power lifting discipline, and Julius Yego, aka the YouTube Man, win a gold in javelin throwing in the just-concluded 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow. These wins should incite the government and corporations into financially supporting other disciplines in similar competitions and the contestants to practise diligently now that they have witnessed that success is achievable. Swimming and cycling are promising disciplines that could do with an overdose of support, exposure and patience.
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| Mwa, YouTube. Julius Yego won Kenya's first-ever gold medal
in javelin at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Pic courtesy of:
http://www.athleticsweekly.com/featured/julius-yego-defies-injury-win-historic-javelin-gold-glasgow-8717/
If
for no other reason other than increasing Kenya's chances of winning
more medals in future international games away from the middle and
log-distance races, a diversified Kenyan sporting brand will spare
Kenyans the usual reply they get when they travel abroad: "Oh, so,
you're from Kenya. So, you can run..."
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