By Omulo Okoth

What makes our athletes shy away from the Press? Is it because they don’t know their subject well enough to discuss with their interlocutors? No.

Is it because they are a hostile people who wouldn’t welcome strangers in their world? No.

Are they arrogant people? Certainly no. Indeed, there are pretty good Press-friendly athletes in out lot who are at home in pre and post-race conferences. Many of them are, however, mature athletes who are more exposed and have dealt with the media on many occasions.

Reports from Berlin where the 12th World Championships were held last month said some of our athletes declined interviews with reporters. They could not even talk to our own reporters who were in the German city to file reports on the performance of our runners.

Now, that is not good news to our readers. I was particularly keen to read what might have befallen my own hero Brimin Kipruto, a likeable young man whose steady progress I have had the privilege of watching since bursting on the national and international scene as a student in 2004 when he took Olympic silver medal in Athens Olympics.

Kipruto later won world title in Osaka and Olympics gold in Beijing last year, to follow on the steps of Reuben Kosgei as the only Kenyan to hold both titles simultaneously. He was a favourite for the gold in Berlin, but something went terribly wrong for him in the final and he finished seventh.

Our able hand in Berlin, senior writer Mutwiri Mutuota reported that Kipruto declined to be interviewed even by Kenyan Media corps.

Pamela Jelimo and Asbel Kipruto, who both travelled to Berlin as favourites but saw their dreams for world titles go up in smoke, also declined interviews.

Again, I am fairly familiar with Jelimo, the Golden Girl from Koyo who swept 800m race like a whirlwind last year, and could not understand why she declined interviews.

Is this a generational problem? Compared to their more senior cousins, one finds a certain negative attitude getting ingrained among current runners.

Unknown to them, this development is sadly affecting their estimation in the eyes of the corporate world such that a company would be reluctant to hire their services to promote their products.

Yet as athletes, traversing the world winning medals, they are standing on gold mine. Their legs can earn them huge appearance and prize money, but their image can bring them even more fortune than their legs.

Their minders bear the brunt of blame for this sad state of affairs. A few years ago, I tried to interview a young female athlete who had won a national title and I was as shocked as I was embarrassed by the reaction of her male coach.

He whisked the innocent girl away and mentioned something in a local dialect that, if my lip reading wasn’t far from accurate, would go something like: "What is that ***** asking you. You dare not talk to him again."

The best sport for which we are known the world over is athletics. It thus makes sad reading that our athletes still view the Press as something to be avoided. This makes them look bad in the court of public relations.

Coaches, managers, team and federation officials must espouse the global trend and train our athletes on Press matters. They must be trained to appreciate that speaking to the Press adds value to their career rather than seeing it as some object of ridicule, or an institution to think of only when things are good.

Cognisant of the humble backgrounds of majority of our athletes, I appeal to their endorsement partners and managers to take it upon themselves to facilitate education on this important aspect of our athletes.

—The writer (iomulo@standardmedia.co.ke) is The Standard Sports Editor