Celebrate Kipchoge, don't forget others reaching for the stars

In a society awash with news about politicians plotting how to steal from citizens and tenderpreneurs plotting the next deal, any good news filtering is devoured with much glee and celebration.

Most Kenyans still recall the heartbreaking sight of would-be 2016 Rio Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge startled, wondering where to get the Team Kenya's water. Because of disorganisation and blatant mismanagement and theft, the water was not where it ought to have been.

That elicited anger from Kenyans. For starters, a marathon is not your usual sprint after which you cool down with a bottle of water.

A marathon, which stretches to 42.1km, is the king of all sports. It is intended to test the endurance of the human spirit and muscle. Missing your water when you need it can break the strongest of spirits.

First forward to September 2018, Kipchoge’s jaw-dropping time of 2:01.39 that set a new world marathon record in Berlin capped a remarkable quest for excellence by the 33-year-old.

Incredibly, all the pacesetters deployed to help him through the race dropped off by the 25km mark, leaving him to plough through 17km alone. His sprint was, by many standards, remarkable.

“Success does not come to you. You go for it,” wrote America’s educator Marva Collins.

This precisely captured the crowning of world record holder Kipchoge as the IAAF World Male Athlete of the Year in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on Tuesday night.

His feat will no doubt inspire millions of budding athletes not only in Kenya, but across the globe.

Kipchoge had won the London Marathon in April. The Berlin win recorded the biggest improvement in a men’s marathon world record since 1967.

Kipchoge is following in the footsteps of two-time Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha, who was named IAAF World Male Athlete of the Year in 2010.

But many of his fans consider Kipchoge special.

Last month, Kipchoge was named United Nations Person of the Year in Kenya.

What’s more, Kipchoge has been resilient and determined to excel in a generation where doping has sullied the good old sport. He has proved that all is possible even while competing clean.

This year alone, four world-beating Kenyan athletes have failed doping tests.

In a country awash with get-rich-quick schemes; where the end justifies the means, Kipchoge is showing that a singleness of purpose and consistency actually pays off.

Nike and Global Sports Communications Training camp in The Netherlands have organised public forums to market and, more importantly, brand Kipchoge in parts of Europe, America, Japan and China.

This has improved his stakes as the greatest marathoner in the world.

Kipchoge has set the bar high for the upcoming athletes and raised his stakes in terms of race appearance fees, endorsements and bonuses.

By winning the global award, his contract with America’s sportswear apparel, Nike, will definitely be improved. This is a challenge to local corporates to have endorsements with Kenyan athletes.

The Government has not done enough to support athletics. Indeed, there is no doubt that individual sports have been neglected.

While we are reluctant to invest in our athletes, other countries are going out of their way to make them feel important.

Our athletes and sportsmen are our best ambassadors. They give their best for the country.

But, as witnessed in Rio 2016, their best is undermined by lack of support from the Government. A lot of them lack training kits and a support mechanism to deal with success and failure.

All this is risking Kenya’s dominance in the long distance races.

The current trend is that countries that did not field athletes in track events before are doing so and are no longer interested in buying talent as happened before.

South Africa, Uganda and Senegal are warming up on the side. It is a cold reminder that we should not sit on our laurels.

Kipchoge’s performance is a reminder that the end should not always justify the means.

It cements the place of athletics as a cord that binds us, irrespective of the political persuasion, colour, class or creed.

After his appointment, Sports CS Rashid Echesa gave an undertaking to elevate sports. Apart from that promise, by and large, it remains business as usual in the sports fraternity.