Paris 2024: Wyclife Kinyamal prays for a good ending in Olympics

When the country’s middle and long distance track team jets out of the country this evening for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Wyclife Kinyamal will be carrying with him gigantic hopes.

High-spirited and confident, the two-time Commonwealth champion will be vying for an Olympic 800m medal.

In an Olympic 800m race that will feature World silver medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Alex Kipngetich and Koitatoi Kidali, Kinyamal will be banking on his solid experience in the distance.

He will be on a mission to complete a wall cabinet bereft of an Olympic medal.

Kinyamal’s campaign for an Olympic medal begins when the men’s 800m heats get underway on August 7.

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Then, his sights will be on the final set for August 10, just hours to the last day of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Ahead of his departure, Kinyamal said he had built his speed during his training in Eldoret.

“I am now well prepared in the aspect of speed and looking forward towards Olympic competitions,” Kinyamal said.

"The training has been good since the national trials in June. We are thankful for the preparations. By the time I competed at the national trials, I had the mileage, but I did not have the speed.”

Kinyamal, who finished eighth at the 2022 Eugene World Championships, said he is looking to win a medal and that the training in Eldoret had adequately prepared him for the tough Olympic contest.

Kinyamal rose to the elite level in the 2017 season with impressive performances on the European track circuit.

Two years ago, he successfully defended his Commonwealth title in the Games staged in Birmingham, further establishing himself as a formidable 800m medal candidate in international championships.

He said the 800m team’s target was to continue with the country’s dominance in the two-lap race.

According to Kinyamal, the men’s 800m squad had mastered the requisite tactical skills to deliver medals at the Paris Olympic Games.

The 27-year-old star said he is in good form and ready for the 2024 Olympic Games.

“My body responded well while in training and what remains is hope for the best in Paris," he said.

“I am going to Paris to show my hard work and I will be contended with any medal."

The 800m race has been Kenya’s staple event at the Olympic Games.

A peek into the statistics reveals that the country’s top guns have displayed stellar shows, and have previously masterminded medal hauls in spectacular fashions.

The late Wilson Kiprugut Chumo opened the 800m medal hunt in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and by the time the show returned to the Japanese city 57 years later (in 2021), Kenya had established a strong dominance in the middle distance race.

Chumo improved from bronze to silver at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. At the 1972 Munich Olympics, Miko Boit brought silver.

During the 1988 and 1992 editions in Seoul and Barcelona, Paul Ereng and Nixon Kiprotich bagged gold and silver respectively.

When the 2008 Beijing Olympics came, Wifred Bungei and Pamela Jelimo clinched the titles in men’s and women’s 800m contests.

And David Rudisha made even more special at the 2012 edition in London, delivering gold and a World Record, which still stands to date.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games staged in 2021 following the Covid-19 pandemic disruptions, Emmanuel Korir brought home the gold medal.