no,im not buying it,and theyll never dominate sprints the way they have,middle and long distance running.Kenya has always had great sprinters,and 400 meter runners,but i dont see them becoming the next jamaica,or USA.
29 heats at nationals is good quantity, and if they can keep that quantity up while making sprints a big thing in their school system too over the next coupla years they'll surely sift some quality from it sooner or later. Works for Jamaica. One more thing to remember is that distance running isn't the most popular sport in Kenya - Soccer is, hence young guys/gals trying out sprint can always go back to that with improved speed after trying out the 100 meters for a while.
That's like saying distance running is the most popular sport in the USA and Europe because of the number of hobby joggers.
99% of athletic, healthy, and active Kenyan teens wishing to make money from sport, are going into distance running.
No, because Soccer matches puts bums on seats - paid seats - and hobby joggers doesn't.
On a related cultural importance sidenote: Some regions of Southern Egypt have the high altitudes to rival Kenya and Ethiopia, yet haven't produced a single world class runner anyone of us can name (sprinter or distance). Their national Soccer team on the other hand have made several World Cups, won the African Champs, and a fast striker named Mohamed Salah now in Liverpool is top 10, probably top 3 in the World.
They are something like 17x the size of Jamaica, with a young population, and they are probably every bit as dodgy as Jamaica. Each of Kenya and Nigeria could dwarf Jamaican sprinting accomplishments. And, IMO, it's open season again.
Then again, the United States is a Union, so each and every one of the 50 states should be allowed to send 3 sprinters to the World Champs and the Olympics, just like the 27 states of the European Union have individual sending rights.
That's like saying distance running is the most popular sport in the USA and Europe because of the number of hobby joggers.
99% of athletic, healthy, and active Kenyan teens wishing to make money from sport, are going into distance running.
No, because Soccer matches puts bums on seats - paid seats - and hobby joggers doesn't.
On a related cultural importance sidenote: Some regions of Southern Egypt have the high altitudes to rival Kenya and Ethiopia, yet haven't produced a single world class runner anyone of us can name (sprinter or distance). Their national Soccer team on the other hand have made several World Cups, won the African Champs, and a fast striker named Mohamed Salah now in Liverpool is top 10, probably top 3 in the World.
No, I've had this discussion here before. The leading Kenyan (Nairobi) soccer club atttracts attendances of several thousand at best. That is 6th or 7th division in any big European country. Over 50,000 turned up for the World U18 athletics championships. In any case, it doesn't matter if every kid in Kenya is obsessed with soccer and wants to play for Real Madrid, the only route to a sporting career is distance running. There is only one other country in the world like that - Ethiopia (well, you could probably add the Sudan and Somalia, and Eritrea if that is a real country).
No, I've had this discussion here before. The leading Kenyan (Nairobi) soccer club atttracts attendances of several thousand at best. That is 6th or 7th division in any big European country. Over 50,000 turned up for the World U18 athletics championships. In any case, it doesn't matter if every kid in Kenya is obsessed with soccer and wants to play for Real Madrid, the only route to a sporting career is distance running. There is only one other country in the world like that - Ethiopia (well, you could probably add the Sudan and Somalia, and Eritrea if that is a real country).
Not sure why you’d narrow to distance running. Plenty of successful 400m runners, 400 hurdlers and mid-distance guys. There’re also athletes who play soccer, rugby, cricket and volleyball. Sure, track and field might be the most lucrative and certainly requiring fewer resources than most sport.
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