Paris 2024 serves up a week of mouthwatering athletics entertainment
Beatrice Chebet of Kenya celebrates with her national flag after winning gold in the Women's 5000m Final - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France on August 05, 2024.
What you need to know:
- As Team Kenya, we have shown we are up for the fight. A few heartbreaks notwithstanding, we are on course to match our performance at the last edition in Tokyo — or even better.
- Of course, every aftermath of an international competition requires soul-searching to identify areas of improvement— and ours will be no different. But for now, let’s enjoy the action in Paris.
Looking at the past week at the Paris Olympics, it is easy to see why athletics is always the most anticipated discipline in the calendar of events.
Fans have been treated to sumptuous delicacies of athletics entertainment on the track and field as the crème-de-la-crème of the sport fight for medals.
With the added incentive of Sh6.5 million prize money for gold medal winners, the stakes have risen a notch higher as no one wants to be labelled an also-ran. That the gap between the heavyweights and small wigs of athletics is reducing by the day is not in doubt.
We have seen the likes of Saint Lucia making a huge splash in the ocean that is athletics – courtesy of Julien Alfred, who upstaged an elite field to win the women’s 100m.
On Sunday night, we were treated to one of the most competitive races in the men’s 100m in Olympic history. It was a race that left millions around the world on the edge of their seats as the track judges spent a considerable amount of time deciding the winner between United States’ Noah Lyles and Jamaican Kishane Thompson.
Our son, Ferdinand Omanyala may not have been part of the cast in this thriller, but the fact that he has come this far is credit enough to him.
Come Monday night we were in for another exhilarating moment as Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon clinched gold and silver respectively in the women’s 5,000m. The last time a Kenyan excelled in this race was in 2016 courtesy of Vivian Cheruiyot. Chebet’s win on Monday was eight years in the making for which it was worth the wait.
It would have been a sour end to a beautiful story had not Team Kenya officials at the Stade de France reacted immediately to appeal Kipyegon’s disqualification on grounds of her tussle with Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay during the race.
Regardless, give it up to Faith to always come back harder as we saw on Tuesday morning when she secured qualification to the women’s 1,500m semi-finals.
As the athletics action reaches a crescendo, expect the fight for medals to become more intense.
As Team Kenya, we have shown we are up for the fight. A few heartbreaks notwithstanding, we are on course to match our performance at the last edition in Tokyo — or even better.
Of course, every aftermath of an international competition requires soul-searching to identify areas of improvement— and ours will be no different. But for now, let’s enjoy the action in Paris.
