Three years ago at the Olympics held at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Japanese capital, Uganda returned with a medal haul of four which included 5,000m and 3,000m steeple-chase gold for Joshua Cheptegei and Peruth Chemutai respectively.
Both runners claimed medals in Paris but it was only Cheptegei who raced to gold with victory in the 10,000m while Chemutai managed silver.
“If you look at the general picture of how the games transpired, then you have to say that we did well as a country,” Rukare told The Observer on Monday.
Of the 206 countries that made their way to Paris, only 84 got medals. And Rukare cited the example of Nigeria as evidence of why Uganda must be pleased with how the games went.
“These are the world’s biggest games and if you consider that countries like Nigeria travelled to Paris with 88 athletes and won nothing, then that should give anyone perspective and context.
“We had a host of athletes and swimmers who registered sea- son’s bests, personal bests or set national records, and these details must be captured and appreciated.”
Rukare added that a number of athletes reached semi-finals and finals, which was invaluable experience that will be important come the next Olympics to be staged in Los Angeles in 2028. For winning 10,000m gold, Cheptegei won himself $50,000 from World Athletics and Shs 100m from the Ugandan government.
Rukare appreciated the support that came from government, while noting that preparations for LA 2028 must start now for Uganda to stand a chance of emulating the medal haul of Tokyo 2020. The Paris Games were the final Olympics for Cheptegei on the track, but for Jacob Kiplimo, who was a medal prospect, they were a disappointment.
Both Cheptegei and Kiplimo failed to recover in time to compete in the 5,000m heats but the latter is viewed as the heir apparent having won his fair share of major long-distance golds in the world cross country and the track.
A visibly disappointed Chemutai, who came within a whisker of a successful defence of her crown before being upstaged by Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi in the final ten meters, intends to use that memory of Paris to motivate her ahead of the next Games.
Boxing, once Uganda’s golden Olympic sport, has fallen by the wayside in the last couple of Olympics editions. There is sufficient time over the next four years for the Ugandan game to clean its act. In fairness, boxing’s problems are not only domestic but also international where the IOC and IBA have been feuding for years.
Cheptegei in Paris reinstated himself as Uganda’s greatest sportsman of all time while Chemutai is the only female to have won medals for Uganda at the world’s biggest games.
In winning the 10,000m gold, Cheptegei ensured that he has won everything there is to win and can head to road-running confident that he ticked every major box on the track. He is still the world record holder of the 5,000m and 10,000m.
inarticle} inarticle}
