By Mutwiri Mutuota
One of the biggest successes in Kenyan athletics this year was the emergence of female runners from the shadows of their male counterparts at the quadrennial Olympics Games.
Jebet |
Ndereba |
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Tecla Chemabwai (400m), Lydia Stephens-Oketch (100m and 200m) and Elizabeth Chesire (800m) were the first Kenyan female athletes to compete at the Olympics in Mexico 1968.
It was not until the Atlanta 1996 Games when Konga won the first medal (5,000m silver, 15:03.49). Incidentally, that is where the women’s 5,000m race made its Olympic debut.
Four years later in Sidney, Chepchumba won marathon bronze (2:24.45) and in Athens 2004 Ndereba (2:26.32) and Ochichi (14:48.19) won silver in marathon and 5,000m.
That record paled significantly from their male counterparts who established Kenya as the most decorated African country in Olympics history having won 46 medals (16 gold, 17 silver and 13 bronze) before the China Games.
But at the 29th Olympics, our female runners finally engaged the afterburners and returned two gold and three silver medals.
Delivered
Jelimo |
Ndereba, the inspiration to a generation of female athletes, opened the account with her second silver in marathon (2:27.06). Eunice Jepkorir (9:07.41, 3,000m steeplechase) and Janeth Jepkosgei (1:56.07) also won the second medals.
"We are witnessing the age of focused female runners. Most are now educated, aware of how to set winning goals and then embark on achieving them," veteran coach, Boniface Tiren says.
The tactician has honed prodigious talent for two decades and handled three national teams to the World Junior Championships, a stage where female runners have excelled only to fail the grade at the senior level.
"In the past, many young talented girls who shone as juniors ended up dropping out of school to pursue professional athletics. Lack of proper education saw managers take advantage of them and enter them in too many races. This burned them out before they matured."
Tiren added that some of their senior male colleagues and other wayward men compounded the problem by engaging them in early pregnancies, marriages and antisocial behaviour such as alcoholism.
"Now things are changing. Young female athletes are questioning their managers’ decisions to enter them in many races, know measures to prevent pregnancies and are resisting early marriages."
Viola Kibiwott, 23, a 1,500m runner who bowed out of the heats in Beijing added: "I used to race only during school holidays but in not more than three events. I am not planning to get married yet as until my career takes shape," the 2002 World Junior gold medallist said.
She added: "I also want to sturdy business so that I can manage my earnings properly when I retire from the track."
The Sing’ore Girls High School student represents an emerging generation of goal-driven Kenyan female athletes.
Kibiwott’s former schoolmates, Nancy Jebet Lagat (1,500m), Jepkosgei, Sylvia Kibet (5,000m) and Vivian Cheruiyot (5,000m) have also made their impact.
Specialised
"More than ever before, female athletes are being taken seriously by coaches and officials. They have more access to specialised training and medical advice," Tiren, who was part of the team that coached Kenya to third place at May’s World Junior in Bydgoszcz, Poland, observes.
The athletics team to Beijing had 21 female runners, where 18 set to compete and another three reserves. However, 400m prospect, Elizabeth Muthuka, failed to travel after failing two drug tests.
Signs of an upturn in fortunes were evident at last year’s World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Jepkosgei (800m gold), Ndereba (marathon gold), Cheruiyot (5,000m silver), Priscah Jepleting (5,000m bronze) and Jepkorir (3,000m steeplechase bronze) stepped on the podium. Only Ndereba (marathon silver) and Jeruto Jeptum (3,000m steeplechase bronze) managed a top three finish.
