World Indoors: Let’s hope we learnt our lessons well

What you need to know:

  • Kenya won only one medal, a bronze, through Bethwell Birgen in the 3,000 metres.
  • We trailed athletics minnows such as Burundi, Belgium and Estonia, among others.
  • USA topped the medals table with 18 medals — six gold, 10 silver and two bronze — at the four-day championships.

I must admit that finishing 24th out of 150 participating nations at the just concluded IAAF World Indoor Championships wasn’t a good performance by Kenya, a country known for its prowess in athletics.

Kenya won only one medal, a bronze, through Bethwell Birgen in the 3,000 metres as we trailed athletics minnows such as Burundi, Belgium and Estonia, among others. USA topped the medals table with 18 medals — six gold, 10 silver and two bronze — at the four-day championships.

However, I must say Athletics Kenya played their part well by fielding a very strong team and our athletes just happened to have had a bad day in office.

You will agree with me that these things happen, and those who have been athletes like me would attest to that.

We must realize that winning is a mental thing and if you are not in the right frame of mind, then you can as well forget it.

I know a lot of things happened before the team left and this might have affected the general performance.

To start with, two of the athletes were denied visas alongside many other officials. Emmanuel Korir, who was sure bet to win the men’s 800m race, failed to secure a UK visa, which he applied for while in New York.

Besides Korir, we picked formidable and highly ranked athletes including Helen Obiri, Winny Chebet and Beatrice Chepkoech, but I guess things didn’t quite work for them due to one reason or the other.

Obiri, who is also the world 5,000m champion and Olympic silver medallist, placed fourth in the 3,000m as Chebet finished fifth in the women’s 1,500m final.

Compatriot Chepkoech, well known for missing the steeplechase water jump in the 2017 world outdoor championships, came in seventh in the three-and-a-half lap race. Yes, this happens and we do not need to kill ourselves over ‘spilt milk’.

As far as I am concerned, this needs to serve as a lesson going forward.

Of course, we have had good indoor results in the past and with this kind of performance, we need to go back on the drawing board and put things into the right perspective.

We must also appreciate the fact that we have a very busy season with Africa Cross Country Championships, World Half Marathon Championships and Commonwealth Games around the corner, and this has forced us to divide our strong athletes as we hunt for different honours. 

Korir, Athletics Kenya’s Nairobi branch chairman, is also head of Kenya’s team to the 2018 Commonwealth Games: [email protected]