We owe a lot to our selfless sports stars

Dripping with sweat, hearts throbbing and with strained sinews, our athletes have carried out a public relations coup for Kenya.

With every stomp of the foot, taut muscles on the face threatening to break apart, their determination to win reverberated across the globe.

With six gold, three silver and a bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing already in the bag, there is yet another reason for Kenyans to smile with pride. But as is usual with athletic events - which are basically individualistic in terms of the effort to reach the finish line, or like in the case of Julius Yego, to hurl the spear the furthest - the national euphoria that has enthralled us will soon be drowned by amnesia.

Yes, very soon the heroes and heroines will be left to their own devices as age takes its toll and others come to the starting line. Soon, we shall have forgotten the humble, easy-to-assume and yet little running machine called Hyvin Jepkemoi Kiyeng, who towards the tape in the 3,000m Women’s Steeplechase, summoned all the fire inside her to surge a metre or even less ahead of her more experienced opponents, to bring us the unexpected gold.

Soon, we shall have gone past the exhilarating surge of Nicholas Bett in the 400m Men Hurdles to bring Kenya its first gold in such an event. There is the now all-too-familiar exploit of Mr Yego, the You-Tube warrior who truly, like the rest, deserves that medal many politicians adorn, but whose meaning they don’t know; Moran of the Burning Spear.

Yes, at only 26, Yego became the third man in this world, since the exploits of the sport started being chronicled, to throw the spear past the 92-metre mark. By 30, we pray to God that he would have sharpened his skills and prowess, and will become the first man to go past the 100-metre mark. That may even come as early as in the next Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Then there is the sprinting heroine we have come to call the ‘Pocket Rocket’, Madam Vivian Cheruiyot, who is a study in juggling motherhood and sport, having clinched a gold in the 10,000m, shortly after returning from a break to deliver and nurture baby Allan.

Then there is the ever-reliable Ezekiel Kemboi, of the Emily Chepchumba tune dance, who for the 4th time led the race in the 3000m Men Steeplechase, cementing the global sports dictum that this is a Kenyan race. Behind him were the two Kiprutos, Consales and Brimin, young, great and handsome smiling ‘machines’ if you ask me.

But finally capping the medal scoop is King David Rudisha, who clearly has come out of the difficult times with injuries, literally elbowing and powering his way to the top of the pack in the 800m men race.

As we pay tribute to the Kenyan giants, there are several factors that we need to weigh on these achievements that we take for granted. First, I take a lot of mursik, so much so that if that was the sole reason for their high performance, now that I am older, I would have counted myself long ago among this number.

No, you may also argue it is genes, but what about the rest of their brothers and sisters? The point is that discipline and dedication has brought them this far. It is a life of denial even in seasons of plenty. I know this because on a lunch date with the great sports legend Paul Tergat a few years back in Nairobi, my plate was sagging under the weight of meat and starch, but his only had some greens and sauce!

But because they have won too many times, as a nation we seem to have come to take it to mean it is automatic. That it would happen anyway even without our investment by way of a motivational ‘reward’, an insurance scheme, or any other incentives.

Also, we never ask where yesterday’s heroes and heroines have gone. Some lead a pathetic life after State abandonment. I can tell you a simple case from a write-up I have received from a former colleague that paints the shameful state some of them are in.

As the gold harvest progressed in Beijing, the boxing captain of the 1984 Kenya squad in Los Angeles Olympics, James ‘Demosh’ Omondi, was buried in a forlorn and simple ceremony in Alego. ‘Demosh’ went to his rest forgotten and unknown to many.

Many others wallow in loneliness, remain unrecognised, some lost in the doldrums of financial straits, obesity, age and even drink and drug abuse. Today as we swim in the glory brought to us by the heroes and heroines of sports, we must remember that as a country we are indebted to them; whether they earned medals or not, they gave their best for Kenya and only the best win.

Finally, two cases of suspected doping were reported in the Kenyan team this time. That is one too many for a country that is legendary for clean performance. We must squash the ugly head of this one-eyed monster before it kills our nation’s reputation.This begins with a well-thought-out reward and incentive scheme for sports-people, far beyond the once-a-year-visit to State House after victory abroad.