SportsKenya: Nancy Lagat proves she's no fluke on the World Athletics stage

Saturday 21 August 2010

Nancy Lagat proves she's no fluke on the World Athletics stage

(Images courtesy of www.diamondleague.com & Gladys Chai)

August 2008 Beijing : Kenya is quickly trying to prove that the Games are not a flop after waiting till the last few days to get a respectable medal haul. It being a Saturday, Kenyans were waiting for their captain to lead from the front - this was none other that Wilfred Bung'ei who needed to break his duck in the 800m by winning the gold that had eluded him for so long. To win he did win, but on that same day, Kenyans were treated to a double gold when an uncelebrated and usually quiet lady by the name Nancy Lagat beating a strong Ukrainian team which had looked favoured to win the race. She was only the second woman to win a gold medal in the Olympics for Kenya after Pamela Jelimo had blazed the field to claim Kenya's first Olympic gold in the women's 800m.
{that same season Pamela Jelimo won the Golden League jackpot becoming the first and only Kenyan athlete to do so - it has since been replaced by the Diamond League}

Fast forward to August 2010: With the new-look Diamond League - which features 14 events in athletics (including both track and field events, across the breadth of Europe, a race from China as well as Doha in the Middle East and also for the first time an American GP event; among the favourites to win the jackpot is yes Nancy Lagat. She won 8 out of the 14 races and was thus among the athletes honoured with the first Diamond League Ambassador status.

What's more she made time to compete in the African Athletics Championships and won her speciality with ease. Much gratitude for her consistence on the field this season and also for returning Kenyan's own in the Grand Prix athletics series after Pamela Jelimo exploits ( where is this lady, one-season wonder or...? ). What next the Commonwealth Games?
I'm sure this might earn her a photo-op with the Kenyan Head of State, like Pamela in 2008 ( but thankfully any suitors will be sad to learn she is married to a fellow athlete , serves in the Kenya Army and thus she keeps all the loot....)

ALSO in:
Paul Kipsiele of the 3000m steeplechase also shared the podium as a Diamond League Ambassador even after being beaten by Ezekiel Kemboi in this Kenyan speciality. Congratulations in order too.

2 comments:

Jackpot Citys said...: Really nice review! Unboxing is the best part of getting something! thanks for a nice post.; 23 August 2010 at 14:19
SportsKenya said...: Appreciated Jackpot Citys! Keep checking out our blog for more insights on sports from here and all around!; 30 August 2010 at 10:35

Profile of a Kenyan Sports Personality

This is a look at a Kenyan personality who may have influenced and continues to affect sports in Kenya and inspires all and sundry in sports. It is our hope that you shall reflect on this, take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices and efforts these heroes made. We do take a bow and wave our hats as we cheer true Kenyan patriots in sport!

This one takes a different twist. Having seen individuals grace this column, we have sought to recognize a team of individuals who did some exemplary work and set what has been an unbeatable national and indeed continental effort.

Kenya has never been a major power in shorter races 400m downwards. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this was a different script especially with the more exciting relay races. It is in 1968 when Kenya’s dominance came into play and with it a retinue of athletes who would become legends of their era.

The 4x400m races are usually the climax in the athletics calendar of events and in Mexico ’68, Kenya’s team including Charles Asati, Naftali Bon, Munyoro Nyamau and Daniel Rudisha ( the latter being the father to David Rudisha - current World and African champion in 800m) had other ideas coming 2^nd to USA.

In 1972, the 4 x 400m team was tweaked a bit and the final race was run by Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko and Julius Sang blazing the track to come up with the only other Gold medal from the Munich Games. But for this unprecedented move and none that has been done before by any other African nation, we salute our compatriots making them the Kenyan sprint legends!

Know your Sport

Swimming

Recently at some social setting we were engaged in a club quiz and one of the questions was about swimming. This sought to know which stroke was not among the competitive ones till 1956. One of our team-mates (we were 6 said that it was back-stroke while I argued it was butterfly, and the majority thought the former ….guess we should have stuck with my answer though!)

All the same, this sport has become one of the most competitive sports in any major sporting extravaganza in the form of the All-Africa Games, Commonwealth or indeed the Olympic Games. Kenya has lately featured in this very involving and energy-sapping sport. Thanks to the exploits of the Dunford brothers who have shone the spotlight on the country away from traditional sports in athletics, football, boxing and rugby. But what do you understand from the sport? Here’s a brief of it from different sources;

According to Wikipedia, swimming is based on the human act of swimming, that is, locomotion in water by self propulsion, with the goal of completing a given distance in the shortest amount of time. Swimming is distinguished from other aquatic sports (such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo) that involve swimming but the goal is neither speed nor endurance.

Competitive swimming consists of four strokes: butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle (or front crawl), and backstroke. When all four strokes are done during a race, it is called medley swimming (otherwise known as the individual medley, or I.M.). It is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA).

The goal of competitive swimming is usually to have the fastest time to complete a given distance. Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century. Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 13 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50 meter pool (long course).

There are 36 officially recognized individual swimming events – 18 male events and 18 female events; however the International Olympic Committee only recognizes 34 of them – 17 male and 17 female. Most swimming sport events are held in special competition swimming pools, which are either long course pools such as those used in the Olympic Games (50 m) or short course pools such as those used in the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) (25 yards or 25 m). Competition pools have starting blocks from which the competitor can dive in, and possibly also touch-sensitive pads to electronically record the swimming time of each competitor.

In most competitions, the competitors are required to wear swimwear/swimsuits to adequately cover their bodies for the dip. However some suits have created controversies which have seen FINA coming up with standards to adhere to ensure competitors do not have undue advantage over each other.

The sport can also be pursued for personal fitness and is considered by fitness enthusiasts as one of the few that does an all-round job body of keeping the body in shape. It also requires healthy diets and rehydration (yes even if your body’s dipped in water)! Famous names in the sport include Mark Spitz – 7-gold medals winner 1972 Olympics and Michael Phelps – 8 gold medals - Beijing 2008.
For more info, check www.fina.org

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Saturday 21 August 2010

Nancy Lagat proves she's no fluke on the World Athletics stage

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