9 August 2008
editorial
Nairobi — The Beijing Olympic Games were officially declared open by Chinese President Hu Jintao after a spectacular opening ceremony at the new national stadium dubbed "the bird's nest."
It was gratifying to see the Kenyan team marching past in solidarity with the rest of the world and, as always, dressed in their splendid attire, they did not disappoint.
Kenya has had a great history at the Olympics since first taking part in the Summer Games in 1968. Over the years, Kenya has produced some great athletes, most who have attained the status of legends.
Kenyan athletes have provided memorable moments as in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City when Kipchoge Keino won gold in the 1,500m and silver in the 5,000m.
Our Olympic legends include Naftali Temu, Ben Jipcho, John Ngugi and Paul Ereng. We owe these athletes a lot for their contribution to this country's sports history.
They put the country first, proudly conquered all and basked in the glory long before professionalism entered the Olympic movement.
Their efforts were not based on reward; rather they sought name recognition and the pride of representing their country in international meets.
It is this spirit that needs to be embraced by our athletes in Beijing.
Even though their welfare has greatly improved since the International Olympic Committee allowed professionalism into the Olympic Games, money should not be the be-all and end-all of participation.
Wearing the country's colours and winning medals should be incentive enough.
Even though the bulk of our Olympic medals comes from track events, we still harbour hope that participants in other disciplines like taekwondo, swimming and boxing will bring back gold for the country.
We have done it before. In the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988, Robert Wangila won Kenya's and Africa's first gold medal in boxing. A repeat is long overdue; our current boxers in Beijing have what it takes to repeat Wangila's feat.
The National Olympic Committee has done a sterling job in raising funds for the team's preparation and participation in the games. For once, not a single deserving case was left behind.
Every sportsman or woman who qualified got his or her chance to train and travel to Beijing, and all allowances were paid on time.
The last batch of athletes will leave for the games on Monday after several weeks of training at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
There have been reports of disquiet in the camp as some of the athletes and officials are yet to receive their tickets, and all the top NOCK officials are in Beijing.
This is the time for unity of purpose, togetherness and patriotism. Grumbling over mundane things like air tickets and accommodation should have no purpose in this day and age.
After all, the NOCK knows the exact number of athletes and team officials it was meant to provide for in Beijing, which means their air tickets and rooms should be ready for them by now.
All we can do is to hope that our team puts on as great a performance as we think they are capable of. The government has done well in raising athletes' incentives and in ensuring that their allowances are paid on time.
There is more that the government could have done, but it seems reluctant or unable to do so.
Pending issues in the Ministry of Sports, like the long overdue Sports Policy, should have been dealt with by now.
It is a pity that there have been four ministers since the issue was first raised but there has not been a single move to introduce the policy into Parliament.
Sports ministers from Najib Balala, Ochillo Ayacko, Maina Kamanda to Hellen Sambili, have talked about the Sports Policy without quite getting round to turning it into reality.
It is the policy that will guide the country on identifying and nurturing talent to ensure that our world-beating fame is maintained as well as taking care of those of us who simply want to engage in sports for recreation and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
We expect much from our team in Beijing, but we must do much more to ensure that we produce greater athletes in future.
Our prospects in the games look good. Bring on the medals!
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