Aid athletes with better facilities

Today, Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo will be pushing for more medals in the 5,000m athletics finals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan.

The largely self-made duo has already bagged silver and bronze from these games – thanks to their efforts in the 10,000m run last Friday.

And their success was compounded with the 3,000m steeplechase gold win by Peruth Chemutai on Wednesday to make her the first female Olympic medalist from Uganda.

However, in the aftermath of her success, social media was awash with images of her training by the roadside using an improvised hurdle made out of wood to polish her incredible jumping technique prior to the Games.

The images did not only leave a sour taste but also reignited the debate of how the lukewarm climax to preparations ahead of their trip to Tokyo had cost Cheptegei and Kiplimo gold last week.

The duo did not have access to a tartan track as the only one available in the country is stationed at Mandela National Stadium – Namboole, which is now serving as a Covid-19 treatment centre.

For the same reason, Chemutai and her male namesake Albert, who attempted the men’s steeplechase without as much success last week, did not have access to the water jumps stationed in Namboole.

Furthermore, Kathleen Noble’s inspirational story as Uganda’s first rower at the Games came with the sad undertones of how boats donated by the world rowing governing body to help the Pearl of Africa change its fortunes in what should be a niche sport – given our access to water bodies – have been locked up for more than 10 months at a customs bond as local rowers hunt for tax waivers.  

While at it, we seem not to learn that we will never make the cut in swimming – despite an assurance that we will keep sending swimmers to the Olympics through universality slots – if we never build a national aquatic centre to dedicate the young athletes to more focused training.

Meanwhile, the athletes, who have upset odds but can do even better as a collective, might not have needed to worry about Namboole had the government kept true to their promise, made when Stephen Kiprotich won gold at the London 2012 Olympics, to build the High Altitude Centre in Teryet, Kapchorwa. Nine years later, the facility is still not ready for use.  If the government continues construction at the same pace, we could be in for the same lukewarm preparations ahead of Paris 2024 Olympic Games, not to mention the Commonwealth Games due June 2022.

We should aid athletes’ preparation as much as we love celebrating their success.

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