Kenya’s Head coach Julius Kirwa's caution ahead of Beijing tri
Athletics
By
Chris Musumba
| Aug 05, 2015
Kenya’s Head coach Julius Kirwa has told his 47-member team they have no time to lose as they get their training sessions underway, hoping to emerge from Beijing with great reputation and dominance.
Kirwa said there are no special exemptions for any team member to skip training and expects a full house today morning as they begin their rigorous preparations.
“Nobody has called me to ask for special attention or exemptions.
We hope to have a full house and start our preparations together as we focus on individual challenges of every athlete,” said Kirwa.
Two years ago, Kenya team won only 12 medals – five gold, four silver and three bronze – which left many angered especially after local athletes failed to dominate in men’s marathon and steeplechase. The team lacked harmony and teamwork and most of the medals won were as a result of individual effort.
It will be these challenges and encroachment of other nationals in Kenya’s turf that Kirwa and a battery of coaches selected under team leader Joseph Kinyua will be working on.
Also emerging is the threat of doping that has tainted the country’s reputation on the global scene as more evidence and top athletes continue to be nabbed for usage of performance enhancement drugs when in and out of competition tests are randomly done.
“We have to slay this doping dragon and help clear the minds of the athletes from it completely. The athletes need to be psyched up and be allowed to solely focus on training for the world championships. We know our opponents will want to bring disharmony in our team and we must guard against it,” said Kinyua.
“We will support any effort by Athletics Kenya and IAAF to fight doping and we will cooperate with them, but the timing of this issue is suspect and we should not allow our athletes to start doubting their ability of winning clean.”
The Team Leader said the passion expressed by the athletes when they met President Uhuru Kenyatta was evident and it will go a long way in boosting the country’s medal haul in Beijing, where he is certain they will surpass Moscow’s collection of 12 medals.