Only the disciplined will survive: Ouma on congested Athletics calendar

Athletes across the globe have had a a year to forget with their livelihood affected by cancellation and postponement of sporting activities due to Covid-19. 

However, the postponement of the global events scheduled for 2020 due to the pandemic has resulted to a 'crowded' calender now that international competitions are slowly making a return. 

In Athletics particularly, tha postponed Tokyo Olympics beginning on Friday, 23 July pave pave way for World Athletics Championship slated for 2022, having been pushed forward from this year. The 2023 World Athletics event remains as scheduled while a year later, athletes will be back on the Olympic stage for Paris 2024. 

In between are World Indoor Games, World Cross Country Diamond League, continental and national championships that athletes have to look forward to as well. 

Coach Bernard Ouma, currently in Tokyo with the Kenyan sprints team says it will take meticulous planning and setting ones priorities right to navigate the calender and survive while still achieving one's dreams. 

“I know the greedy ones will fall along the way, but those having short and long term goals will carry the day. It is about planning and this now requires a system in every set up. This it a profession and one is running a company, a brand. Definitely there are priorities of which events to go for. If you have been to the world championship several times you may choose to try something else. Some of them are going to drop some races which are perceived according to them to be not very important and go for the world championships, Olympics, world cross, such kind of challenges," offered the Rongai Athletics Club (RAC) proprietor. 

“It is about the balancing act and the athlete that you are. Remember we missed a whole season which went away wasted, so it is good we are going to recover that," he continued. 

While he is in Tokyo as the sprinter coach, Kenyans are keen to see how his athlete at RAC, Timothy Cheruiyot will perform at the Summer Games being a late inclusion to Team Kenya's 1500m men's squad that also has Charles Simwoto and Abel Kipsang.  

Cheruiyot, came off a fourth-place finish at the national trials to post impressive results in subsequent Diamond League races, setting the fastest times in the Stockholm and Monaco meetings. He was includes in the team in place of teenager Kamar Etyang who finished second at the trials but had not complied with Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) doping measures requiring three out-of-competition tests in the last 10 months. 

"Diamond league is a different stage all together. Championship races are quiet demanding because you have to go through the heats semis and final, people run conservative," offers Ouma. 

Cheruiyot is not the only athlete who has been on the Diamond League train as part of preparations for the Summer Games. Others are faced with similar predicaments, having impressed or faltered on either the Diamond League or the World Athletics Continental tours. 

"I know majority of our athletes are hungry to run and are having a lot of energy. This, however, is one championship laden with a lot of uncertainty. Again in terms of performance as well, we don’t know very much. We will see on the day when the heats start and then the semis, that’s when you can churn out the favourites and you can give predictions as to who is destined to win what kind of medal. So far every individual is for himself save for the few analysis and assessments we have seen in recent races," said Ouma. 

The tactician is happy with Team Kenya's preparations saying the teamwork from the coaches, led by head coach Julius Kirwa, the physios, nutritionists, psychologists and sports scientists has helped come up with a programme that has guided the team in training for a healthy squad that has suffered minimal injuries.