Paris Olympics 2024: World champion Moraa promises to stretch her ambitions in France

Mary Moraa celebrates winning the 800m race during the Kip Keino Classic Continental Tour Nairobi 2023 meet at Kasarani Stadium on May 13, 2023. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

World champion Mary Moraa has promised her fans a new epic dance at the Paris Olympics that begins on July 26.

She is out to spice up the new dance style with a grand podium finish which is her target in the women’s 800m.

"The dance is on the way, you will see it, just pray for me to reach my intended destination," said the African 400m champion.

"Please pray for me, I really need this medal (Olympic gold) in my cabinet and I'm promising the fans a better version of me in Paris, I'll give my best, we will do wonders there," she added.

Mary Moraa of Kenya 800m team to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games is worked on by physiotherapist John Mayaka at Nyayo National Stadium on July 11, 2024. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

After reaching semifinals in her Olympics debut in Tokyo, Japan in 2021, Moraa said her aim to to bring home the women's 800m gold medal.

The Commonwealth Games champion was flanked in the early morning training session at Nyayo Stadium by Africa silver medallist Lilian Odira and African Games bronze winner Vivian Chebet. The three athletes say their common goal is to bring glory back home.

"None of us has ever made it to the final at the Olympics, so we are all targeting the podium and what we have done so far should take us there," Moraa told Standard Sports.

"After my 'flop' in Tokyo, I have been preparing for this Olympics (Paris) for the last three years. Every race I have run, I have competed with the Olympics in mind," she said.

The 2022 Diamond League winner feels her body is now in great shape to conquer the France showdown after her elaborate training sessions that have left her body as fit as a fiddle.

"Should we reach the podium, we will start to hunt for the medals from there. Right now, the plan is for all of us to make it to the final, then we will sit down and do our plot for the medals," Moraa said.

Mary Moraa (R) of Kenya's 800m team to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games during training session at Nyayo National Stadium on July 11, 2024. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Moraa is happy that the women's 800m category is attracting fresh talents locally like Odira, who won the national trials last month and Moraa’s cousin Sarah, who triumphed at the recently held Africa championship in Douala, Cameroon. The duo is already causing ripples within the athletics fraternity.

"For a long time, it’s my name that has always been synonymous with local races, but now I'm happy to hear the likes of Odira being hailed by announcers in local meets. It shows the sport is growing and attracting better talents every day," Moraa said.

Just like the way she was mentored ahead of Tokyo Olympics by former world champion Eunice Sum and Emily Cherotich, Moraa has opted to guide both Odira and Chebet who will be making their Olympics debut in Paris.

"We are all sisters, so we have to encourage, support, inspire and motivate each other. We need love to conquer Paris," she said.

Moraa feels the absence of Olympics women’s 800m defending champion Athing Mu of USA in Paris will give Kenya a slight edge in the race, but at the same time, she is quite disappointed that the thrill for the showpiece will not reach its apex.

"Mu's presence was going to spice up the race. It was going to toughen the contest; it was going to make all contestants be alert. But all is not lost for her as we can still meet in other platforms like the Diamond League in the course of the year," Moraa said.

Despite the absence of Mu, Moraa says the Kenyan squad is not downgrading anybody in the category.