Start early preparations for the Rio Olympics

It is now official. Doping has been made criminal in Kenya after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Anti-doping Bill into law on Friday. There were fears that Kenya would not beat the May 2 deadline imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency to ensure that the country is compliant with doping regulations ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil this August.

That uncertainty had tempered the preparations for the athletes. All that is now behind us now and our focus should be winning medals at the Olympics Games, and coming on top of the world once again like Kenya did at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing.

However, repeating the Beijing feat will be no easy task, hence the call for early preparations. There is no reason now for our athletes not to push themselves to the limit. Every effort must be made to ensure the athletes have everything they need as they prepare.

We have a chance to gauge how well prepared we are in the 42-kilometres race when Eliud Kipchoge and company compete in today’s London Marathon. So as we wish this marathon team success, let’s keep our focus on Rio.