Support and nurture emerging athletes

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to reward Kenyan athletes who excelled in Tokyo is most laudable. The athletes, once again, put our country on the global map by being at position 19 worldwide and one in Africa.

But while celebrating these winners, there is one man who lost in Tokyo who also needs to be honoured: Ferdinand Omanyala Omurwa.

Barely two weeks after making history by becoming the first Kenyan to qualify for the 100m semi-finals in a time of 10.01 seconds, he went on to lower the time to 9.86 seconds in Austria. He doubtless has a great future. 

Omanyala, just like javelin champion Julius Yego has proven than Kenya has great potential in other sporting fields besides mid and long distance races.

Such emerging athletes deserve our full support. The secret to topping in the Olympics lies in diversifying our sporting menu.