SportsKenya: 2012 - Great Sporting Year Ahead

Tuesday 24 January 2012

2012 - Great Sporting Year Ahead

Well the Mayans seemed to have worked their calendar to say that 2012 would be the end of the world. In the entertainment circles there's even a movie titled 2012. Others have said that this is bound to be a ground-shaking, earth-moving and all those big words for the rest of humanity in the world. We at SportsKenya say this is going to be one helluva an year thanks to some big sporting events in addition to the usual sporting events held annually taking place.

Image courtesy of www.psdgraphics.com

#AFCON
First up we have the Africa Cup of Nations which is currently going on in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. The continental challenge may be without the big-wigs ( Kenya too) but there is always bound to be one shining star and new talent shining for Africa's own. Sadly this will be the last time the event is held on an even-year since CAF and FIFA agreed to change this to an even year, starting with 2013 (which originally meant to be hosted by Libya but South Africa seem to have sneaked this one easily).

UEFA European Football Cup
Well this is when the national teams from Europe congregate to crown the best in footballing talent from there. With some of the players nursing injury and with their clubs hoping not to aggravate it further, Europe will hope to see if current holders Spain still have it takes to retain the title. The usual pre-tournament favourites will be named but competitive as it is, suprises NEVER CEASE.
Football lovers across the world will be rubbing their hands with glee for the offering of not one but two contiental tournaments ( of course with the usual Champions League, domestic leagues to name but a few).

Olympics & Paralympics 2012
This is the big one! Coming to you from London, land of the British empire and home to the most pretigious monarchy in our living times. Yes Kenya being a former colony of the British are relishing a chance to show their former masters with matters to be taken on the tracks, pools and fields. The Britons will be hoping to outdo the Chinese is staging one of the best Games in a long time which is a tough call given the current economic crisis still shadowing most of the Europe as well as security risks which have become part and parcel of our every day life in the recent past.
The lucky charm though is the 60th anniversary of their beloved monarch in the name of Queen Elizabeth the 2nd ( who also shares some special heritage with Kenya having ascended into being Queen while on holiday in some nice recluse in the Central part of Kenya).

Well whichever sport it is that you follow, be rest assured we'll try our best to keep you abreast with what will happen, behind-the-scenes issues, facts as they ought to be and enjoying it while at it! Happy 2012!

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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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Tuesday 24 January 2012

2012 - Great Sporting Year Ahead

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