I am coming to terms with my sporting disappointments of last year.
Boy, were they not a handful. I emotionally invested in 19-year-old Emmanuel Wanyonyi winning the 2023 World Athletics Championship men’s 800m title.
What a story that would have been. But bad tactics handed the gold to 1.93m tall Canadian Marco Arop as the fast rising Trans Nzoia-born Kenyan settled for silver. If any consolation, he did beat the North American several days later.
I admire dynasties, sporting ones. They evoke feelings of power, dominance, control. I am among the legions of fans who have long appreciated Eliud Kipchoge’s near total dominance of marathon running. He has been the true G.O.A.T over the distance for almost a decade until a few months ago.
That is why it felt bitter-sweet for me when this hugely talented usurper, Kelvin Kiptum -- you cannot help but admire him, broke Kipchoge's dynastic hold on the record with that stupendous time of 2:00:35 on October 8 in Chicago.
Everyone who follows this column knows my first love is rugby. I will not say I was inconsolable, but it was hard accepting the fact that for the first time in 23 rollercoaster years at the highest level Kenya Shujaa would not be playing in the elite World Rugby Sevens Series. They got relegated after failing to make the top 12 teams last season that are featuring in an abbreviated league this season,
But, I must confess at the risk of getting chided by fellow Kenyans, I felt more pain when New Zealand lost 12-11 to South Africa in the final of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in Paris. The disappointment was exacerbated by the fact that there were, to my surprise, so many Kenyan Springbok fans who were all over social media after their lucky victory like pesky, noisy Manchester United and Arsenal football fans.
Better, I look forward to this year’s prospects.
Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala has made Kenyans very proud with his trailblazing play in track and field sprints. He became the first Kenyan to race in the Diamond League 100m and also the first Kenyan to appear in the 100m final of the World Athletics Championship, in Budapest.
I will not get greedy and say I want him to medal at this year’s Olympic Games men’s 100m. He, however, could write history by becoming the very first Kenyan to appear in the final of Olympics’ blue riband race.
Still on the Olympics, Alexandra Ndolo, a World Championships silver medallist and reigning African champion, will fight for Kenya at the Paris Olympic Games. The accomplished fencer, who represented Germany for many years, could be considered a possible medal prospect. Imagine, Kenya has won Olympic medals in only two disciplines – athletics and boxing. You follow my train of thought? And I don’t care that she has publicly stated she is Kenyan, German and Polish. Another new medal will be welcome, thank you.
After missing out on the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers due to an international ban, Kenya’s Harambee Stars return to the fray for the 2025 qualifiers. My expectations are simple: Kenya must qualify for the finals of this 24-team continental showpiece, or we finally, forever banish the notion that we are a formidable football playing nation.
I expect no less from new-look Kenya Shujaa as they begin their quest to return to the World Rugby Sevens Series with the first of three HSBC Sevens Challenger tournaments next weekend in Dubai. The top four teams from 12 participating will then play in a final relegation/promotion tournament in Madrid. Come on Shujaa!
Beyond Kenyan athletes, I cannot wait to see how the most promising new basketball talent in the world, Frenchman Victory Wambenyama, will perform in his debut season in the NBA. The 7-foot-4, 18-year-old, touted as a generational talent, has already exhibited his prodigious skillset as a rookie with San Antonio Spurs thus far in the season.
He is the youngest player in NBA history to notch 30 points, six rebounds, six assists, and seven blocks in a single game. Already! The other NBA great, at the other side of his career, LeBrone James, called Wambenyama an “alien”. I say the Frenchman is a "freak of nature" and destined to become NBA’s greatest player.
Finally, I look forward to seeing Sports CS Ababu Namwamba seriously working on leaving a rich legacy in sport.
Remember he was the Sports CS when the 2013 Sports Act was created. How befitting it would be for the Masters of Laws degree-holding American University Washington College of Law-trained Ababu to entrench good governance in our sports by ensuring all federations conform to the Sports Act and meet the highest levels of management.
The accomplished lawyer could start with the uninspiring Football Kenya Federation that has over the last two decades been an apt example of how not to manage a national sports body.
Fixing Kenya's perpetually troubled football management will immortalize the name of the seemingly hard working CS in Kenya’s sports industry. God speed mheshimiwa.
