Before Uganda’s contingent to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland flew out, the Sports Minister Peter Ogwang promised the athletes that whoever bagged a gold medal, would receive a government reward of Shs 100 million.
About government’s readiness to reward each individual who returns with a medal. Ogwang added that even those that would win a silver or bronze medal, there would be a cash-out for them of Shs 70 million and 30 million respectively.
Against that background, for each of the 55 athletes that flew to Scotland, they had every reason to be motivated for the games. I am one of those that believe that the Commonwealth Games need to evolve if they are to remain relevant in this day and age.
Without financial investment into the games from all member countries, which would translate into making them lucrative to the athletes that participate in them, they are going to remain unattractive to many. You can imagine how a couple of Uganda’s top athletes that have participated in the Commonwealth Games in the past, ignored them this time.
Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo are some of the names I can mention. With them, Uganda’s medal hopes would have been greater than they are this time. Yet, even their appearance at the games would go a long way in boosting the profile of the games. In addition to Cheptegei and Kiplimo, for instance, an appearance by Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, the 1500 metres and 5000 metres sensation would attract more eye balls, and possibly more advertisement and sponsorship.
Therefore, for our very own Don Rukare, who now heads the Commonwealth Sports, he has his work cut out, to regenerate these games if they are to stand the test of time. We would like our children and grandchildren to find them relevant even after we are gone.
Otherwise, what we are seeing today, where cities are turning down the opportunity of hosting these games, is a pointer to disaster lying ahead. Already, we have seen some major disciplines like hockey, rugby sevens, cricket, and marathon, that were competed in during the past games, dropped this time.
Those are all bad signs. Uganda just missed the chance to defend the marathon gold medal we won through Victor Kiplangat in Birmingham, four years ago. At the same time, it appears like athletes now use the Commonwealth Games, as a mere launchpad for their careers and they never return.
Since Cheptegei and Kiplimo won double gold in the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games respectively, they all appear to have run their races to completion in both the 5000 metres and 10000 metres events.
Instead, their focus now shifted to competing in events where there is cash reward. A case in point, are the listed international marathon events like Chicago, Boston, London or Berlin.
Others like the Diamond League events across the world also attract major competitors the same way the World Athletics Championships and the Olympics do. The key denominator in most of these global events is not just the appeal they have, but also the financial incentive in them.
That is why Ogwang’s pronouncement was timely. It is not reasonable to have athletes exert themselves and represent their countries just to receive a hand clap at the end of it all.
Clearly, those were things for the years gone by, where across the World, athletes ran for pride. Back in 1972, when the late John Akii-Bua won Uganda’s first gold medal at the Munich Olympics, it would probably suffice for him to receive mere applause.
But the Commonwealth Games, where the likes of Godfrey Nyakana and Justin Juuko represented Uganda with great aplomb in 1990, bagging golds, a mere thank you is simply outdated. These athletes (boxers) use their talents to entertain us. But imagine the amount of effort they put in to reach the level, where they conquer the World.
At the end of it all, in this dot-com era, there has got to be reward for their efforts. In fact, that is why the government of Uganda ought to make sure that they do not only fulfill the prize money for whoever bags a medal, but also ensure that the monthly pay of Shs 5m for gold medal winners, Shs 3m for silver medal winners and Shs 1m for bronze medal winners continues to come for the rest of the athlete’s life.
TRAINING FACILITIES
While it was marvelous that government put up a facility like the Teryet National High Altitude Training Centre, I believe more needs to be done there in order for the place to be relevant to us.
Such a facility should be furnished with more professional coaches to handle the athletes. Remember, our athletes are competing with the world’s best. It is not by coincidence that the usual suspects like Australia, Canada, Britain, South Africa are topping the medal bracket in every event like the one in Glasgow.
It was at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand that Uganda put up its best performance. Uganda scooped nine medals. Interestingly, the seven medals came from boxing and the other two were got from athletics.
Before these games, Uganda had a total haul of 58 medals at the Commonwealth Games. Since the 1990 games in Auckland, New Zealand, where Uganda won four medals (two gold and two bronze) Uganda has never won a gold medal in boxing. That is food for thought!