By OMULO OKOTH
Ezekiel Kipkemoi Yano may be staring at a premature end of an eventful athletics career.
Without getting into the merits or demerits of the assault case the double world champion and former Olympics gold medallist is facing in an Eldoret court, he has himself to blame for all this unnecessary trouble he finds himself in.
For, athletes selected for the London Olympic Games were supposed to be in camp at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. If, as I gather, they might have been permitted to sort out domestic issues for afew days, this is not a license for an athlete going for the world’s most prestigious sporting competition to engage in activities that the 30-year-old Yano found himself in earlier in the week.
Many athletes did not attend the send-off dinners hosted by Proctor & Gamble and Safaricom on Tuesday and Wednesday. They even gave the State House flag handing over ceremony by the Head of State a wide berth.
Yano’s unfortunate incident in Eldoret, in which a 26-year-old restauranter has accused him of assault, is as scandalous as it is demoralising to him and the team.
Playing truant has been second nature of latter-day athletes, some who collude with team officials to and partying when they should be in camp. Others are just arrogant celebrity-drunk individuals, who break camp rules with impunity and still expect society to massage their ego because of who they are.
Yano might only have been unfortunate to be caught in what is otherwise the ‘norm’ in Kenyan sports camping rules.
But can’t our athletes learn from past mistakes that cost others like Samuel Wanjiru their lives and many their careers?
Do these athletes forget the past as fast as they can run?
If an Olympic athlete can break simple camp rules, what example are they to aspiring sportsmen and women? Olympics Games come after four years.
