The year Kenya lost Olympic title in steeplechase

With a few days remaining before 2021 folds, the year will be remembered as the year Kenya lost the men steeplechase title for the first time in the last nine Olympic Games as Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali won the title at the 2020 games in Tokyo, Japan.

Kenya had won every steeplechase title since the 1984 Games, but heading into Tokyo without either a reigning World champion or Olympic champion, it was always going to be a tall order to ensure the medal remains home.

Were it not for the two Olympic Games that Kenya boycotted in 1976 and 1980, the winning run would have stretched all the way back to 1968.

Besides the steeplechase heartache, Kenya finished as the top ranked African nation in athletics with four gold medals, four silver and two bronze.

It was a fitting climax as Marathon World record holder Eliud Kipchoge successfully defended his Olympic title to become the third athlete to achieve that feat.

Surpass Rio Games

Kenya went to the Tokyo Games hoping to surpass Rio Games performance where the country managed to get six gold medals, six silver and one bronze, marking the most wins for an African team at the 2016 Games as well as the best Olympic performance in Kenya’s history.

In Rio Kenya came in 15th globally in medals, and second only to the United States in track and field medals. 

In Tokyo however, In the overall medal count, Kenya was ranked 19th in the world , the best performing African nation.

Faith Kipyegon (1,500m) and Kipchoge are the two Kenyan athletes to have successfully defended their titles from five years ago.

Emmanuel Korir (800m) and Peres Jepchirchir (marathon) new the debutants at the Games who won gold.

Korir taking over the mantle from world record holder David Rudisha who had won the titles consecutively in London and Rio, his win also signified Kenya’s dominance in the two lap race over the the last four editions.

Two-time world 5,000m champion retained her silver from five years ago in the women’s 5,000m with Ferguson Rotich (800m), Brigid Kosgei (marathon) and Timothy Cheruiyot, men’s 1,500m the other silver medalist for Kenya at the Games.

The two bronze medalist came in the men’s and women’s steeplechase, as claimed by Benjamin Kigen and Hyvin Kyeng respectively.

The men’s steeplechase, a race the country surrendered gold for the first time since 1968 in Mexico City and women’s 5,000m which Vivian Cheruiyot had won in Rio are the two medals Kenya failed to defend.

Cheruiyot, who has since graduated to road racing was not part of the Games so was Conseslus Kipruto, Steeplechase winner from Rio who failed to qualify for Tokyo.

In the field event, Rio Olympics silver medalist in Javelin Julius Yego failed to reach the finals after unconvincing throws in the preliminaries.

Great appreciation to youngster Nicholas Kimeli who finished fourth in the men’s 5,000m final arguably giving the the performance of the Games on the track without a medal.

Kenya’s only gold medal in the men’s 5,000m may have been won by John Ngugi in in Seoul in 1988.

The sight of Kimeli’s last ditch surge but missing a medal by the slightest of margins will give most Kenyans hope in subsequent editions.

With postmortem of the Games yet to come, Tokyo is not the worst Olympics games for Team Kenya nor will it go down as the best.

Comparatively, Tokyo will rank fourth overall after Rio, Brazil 2016, Beijing, China 2008 and Seoul, South Korea in 1988.