Is the Kenyan government painfully unaware of emerging talent in non traditional sports or is it simply Structurally incapable of supporting them? Because what is becoming clear with time is that this government selectively invests on whom it deems worthy, choosing to fund only proven sports like athletics and only recently, football.
I have come to the conclusion that we could be ranting in vain, playing the guitar to a goat because clearly the problem could be the structures put in place. Maybe the ministry of sports need a total overhaul in how they identify talent outside mainstream sports. We could sit here and talk about how funding is limited, while the truth is that funding is often poorly allocated. Not to mention the cultural lag of not fully recognizing newer or niche disciplines as worth investing in.
How does a Kenyan child win gold for a country that did not know he was competing?
Recently, a young Kenyan skater, Kelvin Kiarie Ruhiu, stood atop a podium in Benin with a gold medal in hand and the Kenyan national anthem blaring through the speakers. He outperformed competitors from across the continent. For a brief moment, Kenyans across social media celebrated another young star proving that talent in this country knows no bounds.
But we couldn’t help but ask, who even knew he was going? Increasingly, Kenyan excellence is happening in spite of the system, not because of it.
Across disciplines that fall outside the familiar rhythms of athletics and rugby, a pattern is emerging of athletes identifying themselves, training themselves and more often than not, funding themselves. They are boarding planes without the backing of a nation – trips made possible only through family contributions or sometimes community fundraisers.
In a nutshell, Athletes are paying their own way, training without infrastructure and representing the country without institutional backing. But here is the catch; if they win the country claims them, the flag is raised is raised high and the same government officials that turned a blind eye will be at the airport to recieve them, complete with a media team so they can get the perfect picture op.
The state – constrained or otherwise – has largely remained anchored to sports that have historically delivered medals. While it is an understandable instinct to invest where returns are most predictable, it is also a limiting one. Because it assumes that greatness can only emerge from the places we have already chosen to look.
Which bring us back to the question of whether the government is unaware of these emerging talents or is the system too narrow to accommodate them? Has there been an unspoken decision to let individuals bear the cost of ambition unless they first prove themselves on the global stage?
When opportunity is left to self funding it ends up favoring those who can afford to try. It sidelines those whose talent is just as real, but whose circumstances are less forgiving. For every Kelvin who makes it to an international podium, there are countless others who never make it past the starting line not for lack of ability, but for lack of access.
This is the story of a country that often arrives at the finish line long after the race has already been run.
A nation is not only measured by the medals it celebrates, but by the dreams it chooses to fund before the world is watching.
