Athletes’ success teaches us a lot

On Saturday, Joshua Cheptegei crossed the finish line to win the Men’s senior race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships with a conqueror’s wide smile. A few metres away was teenage sensation Jacob Kiplimo, taking silver at this year’s competitions in Aarhus, Denmark.
The two medalists were part of the 27-member team that represented Uganda. In junior women’s race, Sarah Chelangat missed on a bronze medal narrowly after being beaten by Tsige Gebresselama, the Ethiopian. Still in senior women’s race, Racheal Chebet and Peruth Chemutai came fourth and fifth respectively in a race won by Hellen Obiri from Kenya. Oscar Chebet had come third in the Men’s junior race.

Once again, our flag was raised high and the national anthem played in recognition of our champion in this racing category for the first time. Until recently, Kenyans, Eritreans and Ethiopians dominated racing competitions.
In addition, Cheptegei is bringing home the main cash prize of $30,000 (Shs110m), Kiplimo $15,000 (about Shs55m) and collectively, the team is Shs330 million richer after wining six medals in one of Uganda’s most successful expeditions.

In some countries like Kenya, sports contributes immensely to their economies and we should be striving to achieve this. When our flag was raised and watched by millions of people across the globe courtesy of Cheptegei’s gold, this was a huge marketing opportunity for the country. Here, the two medalists were doing it for free and, probably reaching more people than paid for ads.
Also, it is great news that Cheptegei and Kiplimo train from home in Sebei. Their heroics show that athletes no longer have to go to Kenya to train. It also serves as an inspiration for young talent who see the athletes go through the drills every morning in the mountainous Sebei.
Ugandan athletes seem to have found the magic wand and we should be proud of this for a number of reasons.

As former South African president Nelson Mandela once remarked that success always seems impossible until it is done, we can build on the excellent performance of our athletes to even achieve more gold medals in future.
Sebei and many other parts of Uganda have plenty of talent in sports which is untapped. All our athletes need are good training facilities and proper welfare. And from the achievements over the past years, we can argue that the country would benefit more by investing in talent.