NAIROBI, March 15 — Kenya is attempting to qualify a men’s 4x400m relay team for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. This is part of an initiative dubbed the Sprinters Program, which was rolled out by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) in Nairobi on Thursday. Consequently, the country’s Olympic body has taken over the management of the entire relay team that is preparing for the Paris Olympics, including the men’s 4x400m, women’s 4x400m, and 4x400m mixed relay. Wanjiru Karani, Team Kenya CEO to Paris 2024, said the program is an effort aimed at establishing the East African nation as a force in sprints. “We are fully committed to ensuring the team’s qualification and an ultimate podium finish in Paris,” she told journalists. Selected athletes, including Commonwealth Games and African men’s 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala, have commenced training in Nairobi under seasoned sprint coach Stephen Mwaniki. “We are enlisting sponsors to bolster this program. As a former athlete, I understand its significance.
So, I implore you: stay focused,” said Paul Tergat, a two-time Olympic silver medalist and NOCK chief. The selected team is scheduled to run at the ASA Grand Prix Continental Tour Challenge in Johannesburg, South Africa later this month, hoping to reach the qualifying standards for Paris 2024. Thereafter, the Kenyan team will travel to the French city of Miramas, which will be their official pre-Olympics training base. The team will then proceed to the Penn Relays in the United States before wrapping up their preparations for the Olympics at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas on May 4 and 5. Kenya claimed the men’s 4x400m relay silver medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games before winning the gold at the following event in Munich in 1972.
Xinhua proud partner of the African Youth Newspaper
