A hopeless nation, too many uncertainties and lack of confidence in our athletes is what has been the story of the day but when Emmanuel Korir crossed the finish line to win the men’s 800m final, the nation burst into joy and celebrations.
Korir, whose specialty lies in the 400m, stormed past Australian Peter Bol with 350 meters to stay clear from the rest of the park and claim gold, the fourth straight at the Olympics.
Korir, who is being coached by former Olympic gold medalist Paul Ereng, saw the vacuum and filled it, a chance to be the King in the two-lap race and he did it in style.
“Actually i knew everyone was tough and my focus was to sprint in the last 150 meters but Bol(Peter) tried to control the race,”
“I actually took advantage of the situation at the last 100 meters and it worked. I was alone while crossing the line, I never knew Ferguson(Rotich) was behind me,” he said after the race.
Korir’s determination and hunger for success reminded the nation of what happened in Seoul, Korea 33 years ago when little known Paul Ereng won gold for Kenya in the distance.
At the trials, Ereng finished third behind Nixon Kiprotich and Juma Ndiwa and there was news that he was to be dropped for Robert Kibet who had finished fourth.
In Seoul, Ereng did the unexpected, claiming gold and now he has passed the knowledge to the Texas-based Korir.
The advantage of a strong kick, perhaps due to his speciality in the shorter distance, the 400m, made it possible for him to get the desired pace for the race.
Like any other athlete, Korir admitted that there was pressure to perform and getting gold under such circumstances was not easy at all.
“I am urging Kenyans to be very careful sometimes. Criticizing athletes who work hard is not cool,” he quipped.
His compatriot, Julius Yego who failed to make it past the preliminary stages in the men’s javelin says the criticism laid on Team Kenya is welcome but Kenyans must understand that this is a competition and there has to be a winner.
“When we do well, they criticize us, when we do badly, they bash us. They have to understand that this is a competition, you can see even the champions of 2019 and last year were beaten in this competition so we need to accept and that’s the spirit of sports, you win today, you lose tomorrow,” he said.
“I am happy people are criticizing and that shows that it is an open competition, you can as well compete for yourself and see how it goes.”
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