‘Kenya istahili heshima’, the third line of the last stanza of the national anthem, is what most of us feel when the 1963 composition blasts in celebrations of our athletes who bring glory to the country.
But more than just bringing glory, they are a unifying factor in a country that needs that as we head to a general election.
The meteoric rise of sprints sensation Ferdinand Omanyala, from an athletics outcast to the federation’s and, by extension, the country’s poster boy, has had the above effects and more.
In the last one year, the African record holder has moved from being left to fight the battle of being included in the Tokyo Olympics team on his own. Athletics Kenya (AK) had made a hard stance that no drug cheats would be included in the national team, to having the entire country sing his praises.
His 2017 doping cloud, where he served 14 months, still hung on his head. Nonetheless, he kept a clear mind that he would be at the Olympics against all odds, chasing qualifying in numerous races across the continent.
As fate would have it, he achieved the feat alongside the then national record holder Mark Otieno at Kasarani during AK trials, barely three days before the qualification period closed.
The federation, and the government that had strongly backed the move to exclude athletes who had served doping bans, were left with no option but to retract.
After all, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) does not bar those who have served their ban from representing their respective countries. The agency has, however, given nations the leeway to introduce their own laws on the same. In the case of Kenya, the exclusion was a pronouncement yet to be made law.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Omanyala became the first Kenyan to compete in the 100m semi-finals at the Games. Although he crashed out with a third-place finish in his heat, he left Japan head held high, lowering his personal best (PB) and the national record to 10.00. He had equaled his national record of 10.02 in the heats.
With his newfound status, the University of Nairobi scholar embarked on yet another mission of joining the sub-10 seconds club as the season came to a close, with Kenya hosting the final leg of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, the Kip-Keino Classic, on September 18.
“I promised a show, and I delivered,” Ferdinand Omanyala.
Kenyans were in for yet another Omanyala-show as he lined up against a stellar field that had multiple Olympic and World champion Justin Gatlin among others.
In front of a fully-packed Kasarani Stadium, Omanyala ran what remains as his PB to date, a swift 9.77 that saw him crash Akani Simbine’s African record of 9.84 and become the eighth fastest man in history at the time.
American sprinter Trayvon Bromell won the race in 9.76 to move sixth on the all-time list, beating the homeboy and the star of the moment by a hundredth of a second.
As the 2022 season started with AK’s weekend meets, the organizers soon found out just how much Omanyala’s journey had impacted the sport. Sprints were no longer a formality at the meets as the number of participants increased ten-fold in what has since been christened ‘Omanyala-mania.’
The meets moved from barely making it to five heats in both 100m and 200m to having close to 20 heats in either distance. The federation was also forced to shift from holding one-day meets to trying to fit the massive numbers into a two-day competition.
Omanyala was obviously the star attraction in the meets he attended, but his season proper opened during the Kip Keino Classic, which served as the opener to the Continental Tour meets in 2022.
He faced yet another hurdle as he was set to go up against the Olympic champion Marcel Jacobs and silver medalist Fred Kerley.
The father of one overcame a false start scare to clock a world-leading 9.85 seconds, beating Kerley, who finished second with 9.92 seconds. If it was ever in doubt that the Kenyan would be a favorite for a podium place at the World Championships in Oregon, his performance in Nairobi cemented that despite coming three months early.
“I promised a show, and I delivered. We are just beginning the season, and we have around three months before the World Championships. This was part of the preparations. It will not be hard to stay in shape for three months.
I am happy for the world-leading time, and I keep working on lowering the time ahead of the trip to Oregon. In the races I have had this season, I have clocked ten seconds, then moved down to 9.9 seconds, and now 9.8 seconds. I am working to dip under my PB now, which is possible,” said the charismatic sprinter who never said “no” to an interview or a selfie moment with a fan after the Kip-Keino Classic victory in front of a packed Kasarani Stadium.
“Every challenge you face today makes you stronger tomorrow. The challenge of life is intended to make you better, not bitter. Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems. No matter how much falls on us, we keep moving,” Omanyala wrote on his social media.
Making the podium in Eugene would have been a historic first for an African runner. Omanyala, who has become the toast of Kenya and the continent, would have joined Namibian Frankie Fredericks in the list of African sprinters that have conquered the world.
The Namibian twice won Olympic silver in the 100m in the 1990s but has one gold and three silvers in the World Championships, albeit over 200m.
Before heading to Oregon, Omanyala dominated the track in Mauritius during the African Championships, beating nemesis Simbine for the African title in a photo finish, a feat that only served to motivate the Kenya Police athlete to aim higher. He also guided the 4x100m team to a rare gold at the continental event.
Visa hitches, however, played against Omanyala’s plans to fight for a medal for the first time of asking during the World Championships. The sprinter got his visa barely 24 hours before his race, arriving three hours to the men’s 100m start.
Jetlagged but mentally prepared for the task ahead, he clocked a modest 10.10 seconds to place third in his heat and bag an automatic slot to the semis. His brave journey, however, ended with a fifth-place in the semis, clocking 10.14 seconds.
The visa fiasco left a bitter taste in the mouths of Kenyans as the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) moved in to investigate claims that ‘joyriders’ might have cost Kenyan athletes places on earlier flights to Eugene, Oregon.
Not one to be dampened by challenges, Omanyala, who would later defend the ministry of sports that had come under fire for his woes, saying they were not at fault, had an inspiring message for his followers.
“Every challenge you face today makes you stronger tomorrow. The challenge of life is intended to make you better, not bitter. Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work through difficult problems. No matter how much falls on us, we keep moving,” Omanyala wrote on his social media.
With little time between the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Omanyala left Oregon for England pumped up to make amends, and he delivered spectacularly.
Lining up against his strongest challenger, Simbine, in the final of his first Commonwealth Games, a friendly fist bump told a story of two fierce competitors who have grown to respect each other on and off the track, and no love was lost as the Kenyan bagged his first title at the ‘Club Games.’
Omanyala clocked 10.02 in a dominant performance to dethrone Simbine and hand Kenya its first gold medal at the Birmingham Games. He also delivered Kenya’s first gold in the distance since Mombasa-based Seraphino Antao’s heroics 60 years ago.
Antao was the first and only Kenyan to win the 100-meter sprint at the Club Games in 1962, when the distance was 100 yards (approximately 91.44m).
Happy to be a trailblazer, Omanyala maintains that he has broken the barrier, and more sprinters will be born out of his achievements so far and what the future has in store.
“This is my legacy. I want to inspire as many people as possible. My achievements will have a lot of impact now that I have two championship gold medals and an Africa record,” Omanyala said after his victory.
As Omanyala continues to inspire the country and generation to come, the question remains as to why the elite division of athletics, The Wanda Diamond League, continues to snub the sprinter.
As he prepares for a busy 2023/24 season with the World Championships and the Paris Olympics, we can only wish that he keeps bringing glory and unity to Kenya and more join his bandwagon of sprinting to medals.