The year 2022 has been christened the post Covid-19 season, which came with mixed fortunes for Kenya’s sportsmen and women.
The historic performance by Kenya’s junior tennis sensation Anjela Okutoyi, who partnered with Marie Nijkamp from the Netherlands to win the Wimbledon Open Doubles Junior Championships, the country’s first-ever grand slam win, was one of the major highlights of the season.
Africa 100-metre record holder Ferdinand Omanyala’s historic win of the Commonwealth and Africa 100-metre titles and Eliud Kipchoge’s world marathon record breaking feat with a new time of two hours, one minute and nine seconds were quite phenomenal.
Kenya won 21 medals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham — six gold, five silver, 10 bronze and one bronze.
The country posted its worst-ever performance at the World Athletics Championships in 17 years when its athletes collected two gold medals, five silver and three bronze in Oregon, United States.
The national women’s volleyball team continued its poor show at the World Championships, finishing 19th out of 24 teams.
The Kenya Open Golf Championship that was held for the second time as a European Tour event once again proved elusive for the locals, with none making the cut.
The World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally held in Naivasha once again proved a major success.
But if this year was tough, then the 2024 year will be tougher considering that some disciplines will be starting their 2024 Paris Olympic qualification.
African Games due for August in Ghana will be the first qualifier for events like boxing, while volleyball has Africa and inter-continental qualifiers next year.
As we wish our sportsmen and women a happy festive season, we urge them to celebrate in moderation.
