Opinion: As we toss to another London triumph, reflect on our failings

For the third year running, Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge won the male category of the London Marathon, beating off stiff competition from our traditional challengers Ethiopia and Briton Mo Farah who was expected to do better but finished third after the going got tough.

Vivian Cheruiyot upset compatriot Mary Keitany, last year’s winner, in 2 hours 18 minutes and 30 seconds, but failed to break the standing record of 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds set by UK’s Paula Radcliffe in 2003. Brigid Kosgei made it a one-two win for the Kenyan team.

We celebrate all of them. Kenyan athletes and sportsmen, arguably our best ambassadors, continue to give their best for country. Yet sometimes their best is sullied by lack of support from government. Lack of training kits and timely payment of allowances sticks out like a sore thumb and demotivates them. Many have gone out to compete without their kits or meals like happened during the 2016 Rio Olympics.

After his appointment as Sports Cabinet Secretary, Rashid Mohamed gave an undertaking to elevate sports. Besides that, by and large, it remains business as usual in the sports fraternity.

For example, Kenya’s representatives in the Confederation Cup, Gor Mahia are set to play USM Algier of Algeria on May 16 yet our stadiums are in such bad state it is worrying. As usual, there was a stand-off about air tickets and allowances before their last match in South Africa, which they won resoundingly.

Months after Kenya was denied the chance to host the African Nations Championships and the opportunity given to Morocco, there has been no notable improvement of our stadia. We hear more about the back and forth between the government and contractors doing the upgrade of the stadiums.

Surely, the government is not helpless. It has the instruments and the power to fix what is ailing our sports. While we refuse to invest in our athletes, other countries are going out of their way to do the same.

Actually, the trend now is that countries that didn’t field athletes in track events before are doing so and are no longer interested in buying off talent as happened before. And so Kenya’s dominance in the long distance races has been threatened by Uganda and Senegal is warming up on the side.