The country has won a total of 103 medals so far at The Games and an overwhelming majority of those medals have come in athletics.
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When one thinks of Kenya at the Olympics, the first thing that comes to mind is the track events. Kenya almost has no equal when it comes to track events and athletics as a whole. It does not matter who stands in front of them, defeating an athlete from Kenya at a track event is an incredibly difficult task. The African nation has participated in every single Olympics since 1956, except for the ones held in 1976 and 1980. The country has won a total of 103 medals so far at The Games. An overwhelming majority of those medals have come in athletics, and the rest in boxing. That is it. The country has only ever won medals in these two categories. In athletics, they have won a whopping 96 medals, including 30 gold medals, 37 silver medals, and 29 bronze medals. The remaining seven medals were won in boxing. It includes one gold medal, one silver medal, and five bronze medals.
The African nation will be sending 85 athletes to the upcoming Games at Tokyo. Out of these 85, 40 will participate in athletics. Most of the ones in athletics will be taking part in track events, and that is not surprising at all given their incredible record in that field. The country will send 24 athletes for Rugby Sevens, and four for boxing. They also have athletes participating in Swimming, Taekwondo, and Volleyball. The African nation might not participate in as many sports as other nations, but they always manage to bring home a few medals, and that’s what makes them fierce competitors in those particular events.
Kenya’s best performance in the Olympics was at Beijing in 2008. The country won 16 medals that year and was ranked 13th. Out of the 16, they won six gold medals, four silver medals, and six bronze medals. Every single one of those 16 medals that year came in track events. That just goes to show how good they are in the sport, which their athletes have perfected over the years. People believe that India’s dominance in Hockey in the 1900s is the stuff of fairy tales. Kenya’s record in track events far exceeds that.
The key to Kenya’s dominance in the sport is consistency. Every year, their athletes will come and they will conquer the track. 2008 was just taking things to the extreme. It is a year that will forever be etched in the nation’s proud sporting history. The country has produced superstar after superstar in that field and continues to do so. What makes it even more impressive is the fact that the country might face a lack of good training facilities compared to other nations.
Of course, there had to be someone who revolutionized track events in Kenya. The person who won the country their first-ever Olympics gold medal. The person might not have a large number of medals, but for a country like Kenya, winning a gold medal is an incredible deal, and back when they had just started competing at The Games, it seemed like an impossible dream. One man made that dream come true, and today, the country has several gold medalists.
That man is Natfali Temu. The athlete passed away in 2003, but the legacy he has left behind will live on forever. He is Kenya’s first-ever gold-medalist. Temu started his career as an athlete after he served in the Kenyan Army. He was part of Kenya’s team for the 1964 Olympics. He could not achieve much that year. Temu came 49th in the 10000m marathon and was not really someone people remembered from that year.
The following edition, however, he made his mark, and let himself be known to the fans of Kenya. It was him and Ethiopian athlete Mamo Wolde at the front of the pack in the 10000m marathon at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Wolde led Temu for most of the race, but with only 50m to go, the Kenyan picked up the pace, went past Wolde, and etched his name into the history books. He became the first athlete from Kenya to ever win an Olympic gold. Since that year, the African nation has won at least one gold medal in every single Olympics they have participated in so far.
As the 2020 Games have begun, Kenya’s main focus will be the track events. Nobody is stronger than the African nation in that event. This year as well, they are the favorites to win the most medals in track events. They have a large number of athletes, both men, and women, in that field, and they are all exceptionally good. While the African nation might not excel in other sports, their campaign will be seen as a success if they bag medals in track events, and that is something the athletes will be confident about.
