Kenya's most successful Olympics, without a doubt, were the Beijing Olympics in 2008. In those games, Kenya left with 14 medals. 6 of them Gold! Prior to those games, our most successful Gold haul was in the Seoul Olympics in 1988. We left those games with 5 gold medals, and an overall total of 9 medals.
London has been a low point. And it's only a low point because we're coming off the Beijing high. In fact, the London Olympics may turn out to be the second most successful Olympics in total medal count. We won't get 5 gold medals, but we may end up with more than 9 medals in total, the most medals we've ever achieved not counting the Beijing Olympics.
And I guess this is why Kenyan's, including the Kenyan media, are being so tough on our athletes. In fact the international media is also critical, referring to Kenyan athletes as "struggling." As I write this, there's one more day of competition left in London. The final event that Kenyans will compete in is the men's marathon. And this race illustrates Kenya's failure to be competitive on the Olympic stage.
Up until Beijing, Kenya had never won a gold in the men's marathon. This despite the fact that Kenyans win most of the world city major marathons. London, Berlin, New York, Boston, Chicago, L.A., Frankfurt, Rotterdam, you name it. Kenyans are there, and they win. The current world record holder in the marathon is a Kenyan, Patrick Makau, and Kenyans have held the world record more than once. It was snatched by Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselasie for a period. The fastest ever marathon run was achieved by a Kenyan, Geoffrey Mutai, when he ran a 2:03:02 in Boston. Boston, unfortunately, isn't a world record course and so even though Geoffrey Mutai's time was faster than Patrick Makau's world record setting time in Berlin, he wasn't granted the world record.
Kenyan's continue to shine in the middle distances too. In Beijing, Kenya received medals in the 800m, 1500m, 5000m and 10000m races. Gold in the 800m and 1500m.
So Beijing stands uniquely as a tremendously successful Olympics for Kenya. And its from that perspective that London is being judged. Because, up until Beijing, Kenya's most successful medal haul has been a total of 9 medals. That's it. And today, the day before the last day of the competition, Kenya stands at 9 medals. We've matched our second highest tally of medals. Should we get a single medal in the men's marathon tomorrow, then London would be the second most successful Olympics, in terms of medal count. Indeed, in terms of gold medals, the London Olympics would count as an average, or normal, gold medal count.
Yet, we all feel that this could have been different. The marathon ladies were supposed to bring in more medals, especially since they won all three medals in the world championships the year before. Priscah Jeptoo managed a silver medal in the women's marathon in London. Also in the 800m, former Olympic gold medallist, Pamela Jelimo was supposed to medal. She came in fourth. On the men's side, things weren't that great either. Kenya was shut out of the 10000m and we managed a bronze medal in the 5000m. We were completely shut out of the 1500m, an event that we've done so well in and in which we hold the Olympic record. We continue to do well in the steeplechase, winning gold and bronze in that event.
So, all in all, we shouldn't be surprised. This is a typical Kenyan Olympic showing and perhaps we should consider Beijing to be a blip, an anomaly, in how we've normally performed at the games.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Friday, August 03, 2012
London 2012 Olympics
The Olympics are here, in London this time. And I've been glued, watching sports that I wouldn't even consider watching as I wait, patiently for track and field. The origins of the Olympics lie in the Athletics. All this other stuff, like Rhythmic Gymastics, where you prance around with a string, or a hoola hoop, weren't there. All those other sports have taken over.
But it's all good. Let them enjoy and win a gazzillion medals, like Michael Phelps. That would be impossible in the sprints. The most medalled sprinter, Carl Lewis was able to amass an amazing 10 Olympic medals in his career. Nine of them gold. Unless the sprints were cut up into different styles, breast-sprint, butter-sprint, and chopped up into different distances, 25m, 50, 75m, 100m... that's just impossible.
But Michael Phelps is a star, in swimming that is.
But the London Olympics, in its first few days was already plagued with scandals. Remember Ye Shiwen, the 16-year old from China who won two gold medals in both the 200m and the 400m individual medleys? Breaking the World Record in the 400m IM, and then the Olympic Record in the 200m IM. Then the speculation started. Mostly from American coaches. Suspicions of wrong doing were expressed loudly. They all but pointed a finger to say, "you're doping!" Especially John Leonard. What an unprofessional way to admin defeat. Just because he was never able to train someone so well, he came out with the only option left. That there was doping.
But I love the Olympics even though the first week has very little interest for me. Don't like rowing, diving, gymnastics, shooting, archery, basketball, I don't know how many canoeing sports and a plethora of other "sports" I think should really be reconsidered for removal. Like beach volleyball. Ow c'mon! Beach volleyball. You can't take that seriously. Don't get me started on beach volleyball.
Swimming I like. There are no judges, though there are some technicalities on how you turn and what you do when you're underwater. But it's a race. First one there and back wins.
Track is definitely my thing. No judges, except the guys making sure you stay on your lane. You can wobble about, run with your hands by your side, or straight in front of you. Nobody cares. It's about the first one to the finish line.
And it started today. And on the first day of track competition, really the first day of real Olympics for me, Kenya got two medals from it's women. Expect more. The depth in running runs deep! Congratulations to
Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego for getting Kenya's first medal, a Silver in the Women's 10000m, and to Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot for the Bronze medal in the same event.
But it's all good. Let them enjoy and win a gazzillion medals, like Michael Phelps. That would be impossible in the sprints. The most medalled sprinter, Carl Lewis was able to amass an amazing 10 Olympic medals in his career. Nine of them gold. Unless the sprints were cut up into different styles, breast-sprint, butter-sprint, and chopped up into different distances, 25m, 50, 75m, 100m... that's just impossible.
But Michael Phelps is a star, in swimming that is.
But the London Olympics, in its first few days was already plagued with scandals. Remember Ye Shiwen, the 16-year old from China who won two gold medals in both the 200m and the 400m individual medleys? Breaking the World Record in the 400m IM, and then the Olympic Record in the 200m IM. Then the speculation started. Mostly from American coaches. Suspicions of wrong doing were expressed loudly. They all but pointed a finger to say, "you're doping!" Especially John Leonard. What an unprofessional way to admin defeat. Just because he was never able to train someone so well, he came out with the only option left. That there was doping.
But I love the Olympics even though the first week has very little interest for me. Don't like rowing, diving, gymnastics, shooting, archery, basketball, I don't know how many canoeing sports and a plethora of other "sports" I think should really be reconsidered for removal. Like beach volleyball. Ow c'mon! Beach volleyball. You can't take that seriously. Don't get me started on beach volleyball.
Swimming I like. There are no judges, though there are some technicalities on how you turn and what you do when you're underwater. But it's a race. First one there and back wins.
Track is definitely my thing. No judges, except the guys making sure you stay on your lane. You can wobble about, run with your hands by your side, or straight in front of you. Nobody cares. It's about the first one to the finish line.
And it started today. And on the first day of track competition, really the first day of real Olympics for me, Kenya got two medals from it's women. Expect more. The depth in running runs deep! Congratulations to
Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego for getting Kenya's first medal, a Silver in the Women's 10000m, and to Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot for the Bronze medal in the same event.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Mac OS X and Cats
So we've had a number of versions of Mac OS X, and nobody can remember what their names are. It's cute for Apple to name their operating systems after cats, but that's where it ends. Just cute.
The first version of OS X was named Cheetah, though there was a beta version (according to Wikipedia) named Kodiak (Mac OS X Beta (Kodiak). I think that they should have probably called the first version "Kitty" or "Pussy Cat" and reserved the fastest cat on the planet's name to a later, more stable version.
In any case, the main problem with this numbering system is that nobody remembers what the actual version number of Panther is? Is it 10.2, or 10.3, or 10.4. So sometimes, when you have to upgrade some software, and the instructions tell you that you have to have version 10.4 or greater, what are they talking about? You've been brainwashed to think of Tiger, you can barely remember that the version is 10.4.
And herein lies another of my beefs. What's with the point.X numbering scheme? And I wonder what's going to happen when Apple gets to 10.9? Will they then magically roll over to 11.0? I sincerely hope so.
What were the numbering guys thinking? That they should use the first decimal place just in case they run out of numbers?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you're saying. Of course the 10 is there because of the X. But since the X is there, why bother with the 10? Seems like overkill to me.
Now, Ubuntu does somewhat the same thing. They give alliterative code names to their versions. But, as far as I know, most Ubuntu users are more familiar with the version number (say, 10.4) than the animal (Lucid Lynx). The numbering scheme also makes sense. The first part is the year of the release. In the case of Lucid Lynx (10.4) it was released in 2010. The second number is the month. 4 = April. And because of the six month release cycle, with Ubuntu after 10.4 came 10.10, then 11.4 then 11.10 and so on and so forth.
I'll drop that now...
The first version of OS X was named Cheetah, though there was a beta version (according to Wikipedia) named Kodiak (Mac OS X Beta (Kodiak). I think that they should have probably called the first version "Kitty" or "Pussy Cat" and reserved the fastest cat on the planet's name to a later, more stable version.
In any case, the main problem with this numbering system is that nobody remembers what the actual version number of Panther is? Is it 10.2, or 10.3, or 10.4. So sometimes, when you have to upgrade some software, and the instructions tell you that you have to have version 10.4 or greater, what are they talking about? You've been brainwashed to think of Tiger, you can barely remember that the version is 10.4.
And herein lies another of my beefs. What's with the point.X numbering scheme? And I wonder what's going to happen when Apple gets to 10.9? Will they then magically roll over to 11.0? I sincerely hope so.
What were the numbering guys thinking? That they should use the first decimal place just in case they run out of numbers?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you're saying. Of course the 10 is there because of the X. But since the X is there, why bother with the 10? Seems like overkill to me.
Now, Ubuntu does somewhat the same thing. They give alliterative code names to their versions. But, as far as I know, most Ubuntu users are more familiar with the version number (say, 10.4) than the animal (Lucid Lynx). The numbering scheme also makes sense. The first part is the year of the release. In the case of Lucid Lynx (10.4) it was released in 2010. The second number is the month. 4 = April. And because of the six month release cycle, with Ubuntu after 10.4 came 10.10, then 11.4 then 11.10 and so on and so forth.
I'll drop that now...
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