SportsKenya: Kenyan Swimmers finish 4th in Africa Swimming Championships

Wednesday, 22 September 2010

Kenyan Swimmers finish 4th in Africa Swimming Championships

Kudos to the Kenyan swimming team for finishing in a commendable 4th position in the continental championships.This will serve as a good morale booster as the team prepares for the Commonwealth Games which start in India in October.

Jason Dunford - courtesy of Stanford University

The good thing is that we have made a good case for hosting the championships coming to Nairobi in 2012. The Dunford brothers have also made ours a great sporting nation by showing that we have added talent not the traditional medal hopefuls.

But the same good fortune almost ends there. While the Dunford brothers have dominated the medals coming home (3 gold & 2 silver while one other swimmer won the only bronze), it is time the Kenya Swimming Federation ensured that their legacy doesn't end there. They need to cultivate a lasting impression not just on future swimming juniors but have this translated to national meets. It is a fact that the sport is not for the faint-hearted both in physical and financial requirements, but very little has been done by the relevant authorities to ensure they invest in the sport locally.

We also remember the tussle that saw one Ajulu Bushnell move base to Britain (how I wish the dual citizenship could be in force to ensure we keep a hold of this future star...). It is sad that Kenyan authorities did not do enough to argue their case and this is not like athletics where we can afford to 'export' our athletes.

Future Kenyan Swimmers

Kenya Swimming Federation needs become proactive in securing not just corporate sponsorships and individual sponsorships for the swimmers (since it is an individual sport anyway...), they need develop swimming academies for youth development and clinics and translate the benefits of the sport to our young populace.

Besides being a healthy lifestyle, we all know the researchers concerns of our younger population becoming obese and taking on life's dangerous cycles in alcohol and other drugs which is slowly cutting off a certain generation - as the 2009 Kenya Census findings indicate.

Let's hope the Dunford brothers shall help and guide Kenyan swimming talent to blossom and better their showings in both continental and international meets. It shall be for the good of the country for us to realise what we have (but let it not be only when it's gone...)

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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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Wednesday, 22 September 2010

Kenyan Swimmers finish 4th in Africa Swimming Championships

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