What Kenya needs to do aid the growth of sports

Harambee Stars U20 team in action against Ghana in recent Women World Cup [ PHOTO: Jonah Onyango]

From Prefontaine Classic meet in Eugene, USA, to Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, Belgium; names of famous sports icons resonate in the 14-leg IAAF Diamond League meetings.

That’s not all. The same script reads through in some venues of these global one-day competitions.

There is little to celebrate about sports legends in Kenya –save for Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret and Kapsabet as well as Tegla Loroupe Peace run in Kapenguria and Baringo half marathon organized by five-time world cross champion Paul Tergat.

Worth mentioning is Kip Keino Academy of Sport, built in honour of 1968 Olympic 1,500m champion Kipchoge Keino, in Bristol in United Kingdom.

But five of the IAAF Diamond League meetings offer practical lessons on reasons to celebrate sports stars while some are staged at Olympic Stadiums.

Ironically, their performances of these legends are way below accomplishments of some of Kenya’s track stars like Olympic champions Eliud Kipchoge, David Rudisha and Vivian Cheruiyot.

In Rome meet, the Golden Gala Pietromennea, which is always the fourth leg of the IAAF Diamond League meeting, has been dedicated to Italia’s former Olympic and world 200m record holder Pietro Mennea who died in 2013.

The 70,000 capacity Olympic Stadium in Rome hosted the 1960 Olympic Games, 1974 European Championships, inaugural Golden Gala in 1980, 1987 World Athletics Championships and the Fifa World Cup in 1990.

The final leg of the IAAF Diamond league in Brussels –referred to as Memorial Van Damme –has been dedicated to Belgian athlete Ivo Van Damme, who died tragically in 1976.

What with the Prefontaine Classic meet, the IAAF Diamond League meet in Eugene, that draws classy line ups every season at the Hayward Field at University of Oregon.

It was started in 1973 and later became Bowerman Classic to honour long time University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and thus reason for the Bowerman Mile race.

Later on, distance runner and Olympian Steve Prefontaine perished in a road accident in 1978 days before the competition and the race was changed to Prefontaine Classic.

Cut from a different material altogether, New York City’s Icahn Stadium, which hosted the Diamond League meeting until last year it was taken to Rabat, Morocco, was named after American business man Carl Icahn, who donated Sh100m ($10m) for construction of the stadium.

Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, which hosts Britain’s second Diamond League meeting, is the home of Birchfield Harriers that replaced Alexander Sports Ground.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, host for Muller Anniversary Games, in East London and Stockholm Olympic Stadium, venue for DN Galan, stages the Diamond League meetings.

 Others are Saint-Dennis in Paris, Shanghai Stadium and Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar.