Sport in Kenya
Modern ethnicities Diaspora Performing arts Government agencies Television Radio Newspapers Sport is an important element of Kenyan culture.
[3] Professional teams in form of clubs were organised by colonial British settlers and Asian contractors as early as 1922, before the establishment of formal schools.
Sports played in Kenya today include athletics (track & field and other running events), cricket, field hockey, motor sports, Association football, rugby union, volleyball, basketball, swimming and diving, team handball, netball, rounders, baseball, shooting, softball, bicycling, martial arts (boxing, Shotokan karate, Goju Ryu karate, Shorin Ryu karate, kickboxing, judo, Mantis kenPo and taekwondo), Lawn Tennis, Table Tennis, Squash, Badminton, Golf, Canoeing, Chess, Goal Ball, Horse Riding/Equestrianism, Polo, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Archery, Roller Sports, Ice Hockey and Mountain Sports – Kenya.
Kenya has regularly produced Olympic and Commonwealth Games champions in various distance events, especially in 800 m, 1,500 m, 3,000 m steeplechase, 5,000 m, 10,000 m and the marathons.
Kenyan athletes (particularly Kalenjin) continue to dominate the world of distance running, although competition from Morocco and Ethiopia has reduced this supremacy.
The question of why Kenyans are so dominant in distance running has given rise to various explanations involving topography, or bone structure, or diet.
New athletes gained attention, such as Pamela Jelimo, the women's 800m gold medalist who went ahead to win the Golden League jackpot, and Samuel Wanjiru who won the men's marathon.
[11][12] Kenyan runners have dominated the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in the past quarter century, maintaining with Ethiopia a stranglehold on the event; from 1986 to 2011, the last year the race was held annually, the Kenyan men's team won 24 world championships, including 18 in a row until Ethiopia won in 2004–05.
Five times – in 1991 (Belgium), 1993 (Spain), 1995 (United Kingdom), 1996 (South Africa) and 2010 (Poland) – Kenya had the champions in the men's and women's senior and junior races.
They have also been among the most consistent winners in the World Marathon Majors: Boston, New York, London, Berlin, Chicago and Tokyo.
The notable winners: Hussein's win in the New York City Marathon in the fall of 1987 was the first by a runner of African descent in the event.
Three years later, Douglas Wakiihuri won the race that begins in Staten Island and goes through Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, ending in Manhattan's Central Park.
Kenyan men have won the past three Berlin Marathon races (as of 2012) and 12 overall, including seven victories in a row from 1999 to 2005.
[13] The Kenyan Ministry of Sports has tried to stop the defections, but they have continued anyway, with Bernard Lagat the latest, choosing to represent the United States.
Kombii Betty Nanjalah one of the founders of Mathere Youth Sports Association (MYSA) – Kenya, First trip to Norway in 1991, with a group of 16 players who were from the streets of Nairobi.
The country has traditionally been home to several successful players of the US-based NCAA, which is widely considered the world's strongest basketball league for College and University students.
Notable players there include Joel Awich (Cal Poly), Tylor Ongwae (LA-Monroe) and Tom Wamukota (Wichita State).
Kenya's national team had its best years between the mid-80s and the mid-90s when it qualified for the African Basketball Championship several times and even reached the Final Four in 1993 when Nairobi hosted the event.
Prominent Kenyan-born legend drivers at the WRC series: Joginder Singh (1973–1980), Shekhar Mehta (1973–1987), Patrick Njiru (1983–1998), and Ian Duncan (1983–1999).
Other significant rally drivers in Kenya today: Carl Tundo, Azar Anwar, Lee Rose, Jas Mangat, and Ben Muchemi.
Some of the KNRC two-wheel drivers: James Kirimi, Patrick Kibara, Joe Muchiri, Adnan Suhail, and Niaz Bashir.
Some of elite Kenya Motocross riders include Shivam Vinayak, Charles Mugo, Cruze Muigai, Anthony Nielsen, Mohammed Anwar, and Tutu Maina.
In October 14–16, 2011, Kenya hosted the FIM Africa Cross Country Bike and Quad Team Championships in the scenic Soysambu Conservancy in Nakuru.
Enduro championships also attract the four-wheeler quad bikes also known as All Terrain Vehicles (ATV) with elite riders such as the defending champion Shazar Anwar, Murage Waigwa, Abid Ganatra, and Gurraj Singh.
Enduro also welcomes Buggy Racing attracting some experienced rallying drivers such as Ian Duncan and Samir Khan.
Rally drivers such as the legend Ben Muchemi and his compatriots Stella Macharia and Onkar Rai often participate in Autocross challenge.
[4] It is a combined sport-related individual and team challenges including distance running, High Ropes Course, Mountain Climbing and Abseiling, all done in the Jungle.
Wairunge won a silver medal as a Bantamweight in the 1972 Summer Olympics at Munich, Germany[27] as an amateur, before embarking on a professional career that saw him almost crown himself a world champion, losing twice, for the WBC's world Super-Bantamweight title to Rigoberto Riasco and, later on, for the same organization's Bantamweight one, to Carlos Zarate.
The Kenyan-born cyclist Chris Froome emerged in the early 2010s as one of the top road racing cyclists in the world, breaking through with runner-up finishes at the 2011 Vuelta a Espana and 2012 Tour de France before winning a bronze medal in the time trial at the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 Tour de France, becoming the first African-born rider to win the race.
[34][35][36][37] René van Velhuijzen promotes a 1000 km Safari Oriented bicycle tour, thus drawing mountain bikers to Kenya for a life enriching experience.
