The Star (Nairobi)

Kenya: Olympic Games Team Report Out

A preliminary report of the Kenya team performance at the London Olympic Games is set to be handed to Sports Minister Paul Otuoma today. The report will aim to detail causes of Kenya's disastrous performance at the games where Kenya bagged only two gold medals and a total of 11 medals, a far cry from the exploits in Beijing where the country bagged 14 medals six of them gold. A final report of the Games is expected before the end of the year.

President Mwai Kibaki called for a full report into Kenya's poor performance and directed the minister to speed up the compilation of the report in order not to have the mistakes made repeated in subsequent championships. Athletics Kenya chairman Isaiah Kiplagat refused to comment on the London debacle until the full Olympics report comes out. "I don't want to comment on the report until I see the final report. That is when I will be in a position to comment and give our input," Kiplagat said.

He observed that the steering committee and the central management committee for the Games will meet and give out a detailed report on what transpired at the Games. "I have seen the preliminary report's comment by Athletics team manager Joseph Kinyua but it must come to the full executive council of Athletics Kenya before it goes to the steering committee from where we will be in position to comment," Kiplagat added.

Kiplagat who served as chef de mission to the Olympic Games in Barcelona noted previous Games reports had never been implemented but added that he was waiting for the outcome of this one. "I dont want to pre-empt anything but in most cases these sports are never implemented but maybe this one may be different," he added.

Kiplagat called on various sports stakeholders in the country to diversify and not just wait on athletes to provide the medals. "We had four disciplines in London, athletics, swimming, weightlifting, and boxing. Only athletics brought the medals. It's time we diversified the search for medals," he observed.

Kiplagat said with the Olympic disciplines increased for the next games in Rio where golf and Sevens rugby are on the cards Kenya should make an effort to win medals in these disciplines. "We have very good golfers and our Sevens rugby team is quite strong so we need to invest in these disciplines to improve our medal chances."

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