New Delhi – On the track and on the road, from the shorter events right through to the longest, Kenyans dominated the running competition at the Commonwealth Games.
Even without some of their top athletes, the women won every distance event at the games in New Delhi and the men won every distance event except the 5,000 and 10,000-metre races.
In four events, two for the men and two for the women, the Kenyans swept the podium at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. And in the only two races they lost, Kenyans finished second and third.
“We planned 1-2-3, but the plan failed,” said Daniel Lemashon Salel, who finished second to Moses Ndiema Kipsiro of Uganda in the men's 10,000.
In the marathon, Kenyans won both gold medals, and added a silver in the women's race and a bronze in the men's race. In both cases, it was an Australian that won the other medal.
“They race together and they have a little chat here and there so unless you can understand what they're saying you aren't really in the picture,” said Lisa Weightman, who earned bronze in the women's race. “So you've just got to read the play.”
Altogether, Kenya won 12 gold medals at the games in New Delhi, and 32 overall. Eleven of those golds and 29 of the total came from running events. The other win came in the swimming pool.
Kenya often excels on the track at major championships, but without Ethiopia at the Commonwealth Games, the only real competition came from a sole Ugandan. And he made it a competition indeed.
“I said to my mind that I could beat them,” Kipsiro said after holding off Salel, Joseph Kiptoo Birech and fourth-place finisher Titus Kipjumba Mbishei in the 10,000m.
In the steeplechase, the classically Kenyan event that has been dominated by the country for decades, both the men and women swept the podium this year. The men also won all three medals in the 800m – even without world-record hold David Rudisha – and the women did the same in the 5,000m when world champion Vivian Cheruiyot finished ahead of teammates Sylvia Kibet and Ines Chenonge.
The only Kenyan to double was Nancy Jebet Langat, who followed up her 1,500m title with the 800m gold. And those happened to be two of the rare races when there was only one Kenyan flag raised at the medal ceremony.
“You win some, you lose some,” men's marathon silver medalist Amos Tirop Matui said Thursday. “It's about who is stronger at the end.” – AP