Let’s reclaim lost glory in athletics

For 18 years, Kenya has not won gold medal in men’s 10,000m at the IAAF World Athletics Championships – Charles Kamathi last won it in Edmonton, Canada in 2001. The late Naftali Temu stands out as the only Kenyan to have won gold at the Olympic Games in 1968 in Mexico City.

Almost a similar script reads through in 5,000m, where Benjamin Limo was the last Kenyan to win gold at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland in 2005. There has been a steady decline in performance in the two races over the years, even as neighbours Ethiopia and Britain’s Mo Farah run the show.