Immediately after Kenyan trials to pick teams for major events, the most misused phrase has been, ‘we shall spend a good amount of time in order to foster teamwork within the team’.

Those are the words usually tossed around by athletes and officials in equal measure.

A visibly dejected two-time Olympics 5,000m silver medalist Hellen Obiri saying she wouldn’t have minded even a bronze medal in the race, as Kenya failed to defend the gold medal in the race on Monday.

Kenya was represented in the race by Obiri, Lilian Kasait and Agnes Tirop in the and after 12 and half laps of competition, Obiri finished second in 14:38.36, while Tirop was fourth with Kasait a distant 12th.

Not that Tirop, the World  10,000m bronze medalist, or Kasait, the 2018 African Games champion, were weak, they simply did not have any strategy, if ever there was one, they let Obiri do the pacing for nearly the entire race.

In the absence of working together, Kenyans played into the hands of  Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan who comfortably won the 5,000m, the first race in her treble attempt.

Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay took the bronze medal to Addis Ababa in 14:38.87.

Bragging rights

“That was like a Kenyan trial for me. Sorry to say that. There was no teamwork at all, it was like we were fighting for bragging rights at home,” Obiri told People Sport.

The reigning World Cross country winner had made it known to the entire team that she wanted a fast race to burn out Sifan, but the Kenyan camp couldn’t agree on who to sacrifice in a game plan that would have easily helped the world champion to her first Olympic gold.

“The pace of the race was slow and this is what Sifan wanted. I wanted a fast race, but, unfortunately, none of us was prepared to go out first,” said Obiri.

Obiri believes that, had the country deployed teamwork, maybe there  could have been more silverware for team Kenya.

“We are all to blame at the end. Everybody wanted to win, but for me to finish second is something great although the race was a little bit slow and nobody wanted to go in front, and, as you know, Sifan is good in the final 400m. I tried to follow her but there’s nothing I could do. I tried my best,” she added.

With the 10,000m final up on Saturday, Obiri says she has learnt a few lessons as she dreams of winning the only gold medal missing in her cabinet.

“It will be calamitous to do the same thing and expect different results. I will embark on a strategy as an individual, but if you honestly ask me, it will be better if we can work as a team for once,” she concluded.