PHOTO | FRANCK FIFE | AFP Kenya's David Lekuta Rudisha poses next to the record board after winning the men's 800 final during the London 2012 Olympic Games on August 9, 2012 in London. Rudisha clocked a new world record of 1min 40.91sec.
By ELIAS MAKORI eliasmakori@yahoo.com Posted Saturday, August 11 2012 at 23:30
The middle and long distance runners, led by captain Rudisha and his deputy Pamela Jelimo, preferred to train at altitude in Nairobi and Iten and fly to London three or four days ahead of competition, which they are used to during their travels to international races.
After a tug-of-war, it was agreed that athletes from 800 metres down to the sprints travel to Bristol on July 3, along with boxers Elizabeth Andiego and Benson Gicharu, swimmers David and Jason Dunford, and weightlifter Mercy Obiero.
They were to travel with Rudisha, Jelimo, javelin thrower Julius Yego, hurdler Vincent Kiplangat Kosgei, 400m runners Joyce Zakari and Boniface Mucheru, along with 4x400 metres relay team members Vincent Mumo, Alphas Kishoyian, Boniface Mucheru, Mark Mutai and Boniface Mweresa.
But while Rudisha and Jelimo declined, the rest travelled as did former national 400m champion, Anderson Mureta, who, however, had not qualified for the Olympics and was promptly ejected from the Bristol camp.
The advance party of 14 athletes was in Bristol with almost the entire management team of 16 officials with only the athletics team manager, Joseph Kinyua, who is also the Athletics Kenya treasurer.
Kinyua, a director at Kenya Pipeline Company, also departed camp for the company’s retreat in Mombasa, leaving only head coach Julius Kirwa in charge of the 36 athletes.
“The implication was that, in the absence of any management team official, the athletes were left to their own devices and that’s why some flew off to London and Monaco for Diamond League competitions, in the process probably burning themselves out,” a source in camp, who wished not to be identified, said.
Burnout-out has been listed as one of the reasons for Kenya’s poor performances here, with many questioning why defending 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop, for instance, finished last in the final after running a season-leading time of three minutes and 28 seconds at last month’s Monaco Diamond League.
Most of the athletes and officials, many of them working for the Kenya Police and Kenya Defence Forces, were, understandably, not willing to be quoted, but spoke of total disharmony in camp as the principal reason behind Kenya’s debacle, calling for a total change of guard in the Olympic committee.
Kenya’s Olympics head of mission Jonathan Koskei is a deputy commissioner of police, and has largely been anonymous here where individuals who have never been seen inside a Kenyan stadium accredited officially as coaches and physiotherapists much to the chagrin of the athletes.
Giving Keino a bad name
“I have been in the team for a many years but I have never seen anything like this. The officials here have exposed Kipchoge Keino and are giving him a bad name as NOCK chairman,” one official said yesterday. “Kip is a most respected figure globally and it’s sad to see what is happening here tarnishing his name.”
Athletes competing in finals are entitled to stadium tickets for their families but no-one here has received any from NOCK, who flew in their Nairobi secretary and messenger on Olympic tickets, while snubbing Kenya’s Olympics veterans despite the fact that Olympic Games rules provide for at least one ex-Olympian travelling with the team.
“This is so embarrassing that after what we have done for the country, we have been totally ignored,” said 2000 Sydney Olympics 1,500m gold medallist Noah Ngeny.
“Such has been Soi’s arrogance that when asked by Kenyan journalists if there would be a media opportunity at Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s visit to the Kenyan camp, he responded: ‘You will see it on CNN!’ and walked off.”
Kenya’s chaotic campaign here that several global media houses, including the British Broadcasting Corporation, the host broadcasters, have run several shows tearing into the country’s campaign that has been somewhat salvaged by Rudisha’s and Kemboi’s gold medals.
Tear down this team! Kenya cannot move forward in the constitution and backward in athletics!!! Have officials ELECTED by athletes as they know best who has their nterests at heart.Really disheartening!
The katiba of all these federations are the problem. Unless they are changed, stakeholders would never be able to effect changes in the executive committees. This is where all our problems begin.
First things first.Tear down this team of NOCK officials,install an interim one to create and oversee a new katiba...then elect a new team based on that.But first hawa waende!!! Wametuaibisha sana...giving themselves the Nike kits before athletes...shame on them!
Makori you, could not have said it better. Kenyan sports management needs an immediate overhaul. This statement says it all: "There are close to 30 government and sports association officials in London, many of them serial joy riders unable to account for their $300-a-day (Sh25,000-a-day) which translated to Sh1.05m for their minimum 40 days’ stay here". Few of these officials, not only in athletics but football etc have the games and players at heart. Kenya can be a world force to reckon with in sports - but what will these hungry officials that have been in the sports for decades, 'eat'? When shall we get a 'sports savior' in Kenya? A man or woman of integrity, who will take Kenya to the next sports level?
Hey did i read somewhere that all the officials went to London leaving only one official with the whole team in Kenya as the team trained...????????This shows how "Committed" these irrelevant officials are! What exactly did they go to do in the first place???Somebody please enlighten me!He he he ! majabu hayo!
The chicken has come home to roost. The corruption that we as Kenyans try very hard to cover up is finally coming out in the open for the whole world to see. What was Dr. Otuoma doing when all this mess was brewing? He is giving excuses for his failures. I know Kipchoge as a person and he is one of the most respectable Kenyans I know but he needs help from the sports ministry. Why does the Olympic delegation need two organizations plus a ministry to run it? Kipchoge has always produced desirable results and it is about time they straighten that Soi and his gangsters saga. We went through the embarrassment of watching our Kenyans athletes exchanging running gear during the races in the Moi era. Do us a favor of not repeating it. Those secretaries and office messengers should not have a seat, a uniform or a shoe from Nike that was meant for the athletes. As for Soi, he should be at Kamiti as any deserving thief should be. Dr. Otuoma, cut out the excuses and do what the wananchi pay you to do unless you are also on the take.
Otuoma too cannot escape blame. He was there when all this was happening. There is something called crisis management, he could have put some of these people who created the mess on a plane back to Nairobi and take over charge over the team. This could have at least salvaged some medals, you cannot talk of postmotem yet the medals have already gone.
The two principals ruined the party by blurring our focus. The President went to market Kenya for economic purposes while the Prime Minister made it his campaign platform. Our core business was sacrificed in the altar of commerce and politics.
I recall one commentator quiping "There is something wrong with Kenyans. Definitely there is something wrong!". I thought so too now i know why. And please change the ceremonial outfit!!
What a shame; taking IMPUNITY to London! Issuing athletics kits to non-athletes, which is GRABBING, (don't wonder to see their kin 'waking'ara' in Nike), and letting down a whole country's expectations and pride! These guys should be locked up!
NOCK should explain how Soi - whoever the dude is - was given such monumental responsibility and let the entire nation - and Africa at large - down. How was such a mistake made? Where are men like Paul Tergat, Paul Ereng and other legends. Shouldn't they be offered priority in managing athletes? Seriously, where did things star going wrong - I'm sure a litany of excuses will follow
Check the records, Soi has been to every olympic since 1992 if not earlier with the same result. This mess is due to the fact that Omwuombo is no longer with us. That man was a real terror. The news Sec Gen is too soft. These thugs are walking all over him.
isaiah kiplang'at, joseph kinyua and the whole AK crew just comeback and resign at JKIA before proceeding anywhere else. you are shot of ideas. AK needs new & younger blood
NOCK needs to realize four things about the Olympics
(1) There are other sports besides middle and long distance running, (2) Iten in Eldoret is not the only place in
Kenya where good sportsmen and women can be found, (3) Not all sportspeople are "born that way", many great sportspeople are in it out of interest or through
being inspired by others (4) Talent is only half the success story; without a proper
nurturing regime most talent burns out early. NOCK needs better scouting, nurturing,
training and support systems, if we hope to see any improvement in Rio, in four
years time.
300$ a day for 30 "government Officials"(read joyriders)! Do people have shame anymore? These are the same people who shunned Julius Yego! There is so much going on behind the scenes its no wonder even Vivian, whom i expected a lot from, looked like a second rate athlete. If this isn't impunity then can someone please enlighten me....
This is a shame! I hope that the 'anonymous' chie of mission will give a credible report immediately he returns home. In the past, such reports had been delivered even one year after the end of the games. Any corrupt practices by the officials must be dealt with decisively as a lesson to the others. Some of these guys don't deserve to serve. Wow, even NIKE is concerned! I won't be surprised if they terminate the contract. Otuoma, no sugar-coating and stupid talks, you have to act.
This is such a shame. No wonder all the runners seemed off except for Mr. Rudisha and Mr. Kemboi. Mr. Keino needs to be more hands-on. The other officials needs to be fired! Athletes should have the first priority instead of wasteful bureaucrats.
Why should athletes have to beg for training kit when they were making the order for the uniforms whom did they have in mind, government officials and journalists? They are kits for athletes this is the kind of stupidity that can only be expected of 4 year old - you want the whole cake to your self even though it means soiling your clothes.
"But while Rudisha and Jelimo declined, the rest travelled as did former national 400m champion, Anderson Mureta, who, however, had not qualified for the Olympics and was promptly ejected from the Bristol camp." how would this have happened...
I dearly hope a decision from the highest office in this country to address the grievances raised by the athletes will be witnessed. Athletics is the only thing that we had been left with to show to the whole world, if this is affected by ne'er-do-wells like Soi then there is nothing left to be proud of as Kenyans!
I feel dreadfully sorry for the athletes ........... how can one perform with all the behind the scenes rubbish that the Officials give out. Kenya get your act together. Corruption is not wanted in the sports arena. The NOCK has let their country down big time ... all for their own personal gain. A sad sad day for Kenyan Sports and athletics. Congrats to those who did manage a medal.
Soi and team should not just be fired, they must also be charged with abuse of office and sabotage. Why do they imagine they are running personal kiosks and expect to get away with it?
''We distributed the kit to Athletics Kenya, journalists, government officials and sponsors.”....I thought the rest should get after the athletes have had sufficient for the job at hand....I love Kenya~!
Nike provided 200 sets of kit. There were only 48 participants. Why couldn't they give these 48 the complete kit and give out the remaining 152 kits? This is too much greed!
Athletes and sportswear firm nike can tell us how many pieces were delivered, athletes, who received who didn't. The Question of distribution to Government officials, Journalists and sponsors should not arise. The kit was for the athletes watu wa kazi. If you are a parent you will understand what I mean. You start feeding the childrens and the rest later.
There's more than meets the eye here. How come Pamela Jelimo, who stayed behind and left for the Olympics at her own choosing still performed badly? Who is she to blame?
I doubt the kit could have made much difference. We all know that the athletes have their own training gear (which some used a few months previously in the Golden league etc).
Athletes should simply be left at the hands of their managers and personal coaches for the Olympics instead of handing them over to a 'Team coach' since for 4 years they all perform to exceptional standards under their own management.
They say it is harder to stay at the top than to win the first time. And so it is for Kenyans - Kenyan get arrogant and assume that we should automatically win and that no other country can beat us. The pattern is there in all the sports (and even with the economy) - in cricket, rugby people just assume we should win given our past glory, which is not even that great. Athletics is different because we have managed to remain at the top for so long - but I doubt that's because of the management, most likely due to the shear hunger to succeed of the athletes themselves. In any case let's not fall asleep and be lazy assuming we will win just because we have been doing it before.
this Soi man and the likes should be sacked immediaely they land into Kenyan soil. they should be made to pay for the poor perfomance of the Team Kenya
I doubt if any action will be taken to sack incompetent officials.
Athletics is part of Kenyan global culture and legacy, and we cannot
allow a few fellas to run it down and shame the whole country. New blood
required in athletics management
“We distributed the kit to Athletics Kenya, journalists, government officials and sponsors.” I don't remember seeing this officials and journalists running for team Kenya. Thieves!!
This is sad. The olympics team should have known better, that we are in a society where good planning, management and preparation is paramount to success. And if you look at it closely, it all points to how much money you spend, and how wisely you spend it for those who do not have the ££/$$ power. I hope this will be rectified in future. Who are these many government officials who attended the olympics? Was their attendance necessary? Were they entitled to kits etc. These are some questions that we should ask ourselves.
Accreditation can take even 8 hours if you turn up when the accreditation centre is full. I don't see this as a problem unless the officials who had the documents for accrediting the participant turned up late. Sad thing is, the officials knew exactly what time the participant would be landing at LHR and when they would be arriving at the accreditation centre.
1. Athletes seemed to run well and lead until the last 200m, they couldn't kick since they seemed exhausted due to the many competitions within the year that burnt them out.
2. Time to update training methods. I saw Britain's Mo Farah training inside an aqua tank which was connected to computers that were giving all sorts of readings. And what about our Kenyans? Running when you have an old tyre roped around the waist in Iten looks outdated.
3. Time to sweep out the old and tired management officials, some who have been there for ages and inject fresh blood that is open minded.
4. More funding should be done by government, charity and well wishers. Why don't we have state of the art facilities in Iten, Kilgoris, etc places that have thousands of raw talent waiting to be exploited?
5. We must not just concentrate on running, what about jumping, ball games, swimming etc?
6. Kenya can and must be great again. But some of these and more changes should be inevitable. It's time for radical surgery...
They were all out to cut us down to size, but we will surely spring back. We are men and women of fortitude and anybody counting us out is doing so at their own peril. We will be back to reclaim our spot in history come the Brazilian Olympics.
“We distributed the kit to Athletics Kenya, journalists, government officials and sponsors.” hahahaha..why dish out to govt officials of all pple? then they must have sold all their share!
I listened to the former olympic star Konchella , Rudisha's Role Model and he said the these team leaders are not helping kenyans as they should and particularily he pointed out that concentrating resources in North rift is their undoing. Sprending the resources accross the country would help come up with to athletees. By the way how was World Champion Makau left out in London olympic
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