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{
    "id": 581888,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/581888/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 93,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "medals through Abel Kiprop in 1,500m (men), Caleb Mwangangi Indiku, Edwin Soy, Isaiah Koech among others in 5,000m (men) among several others. Because of Kenya’s trailblazing achievements in athletics on the international stage, it is possible to take these staggering achievements for granted. Most of us may remember that since Kenya first participated in the Olympics in 1968, we have to date bagged 25 gold medals, 32 silver medals and 85 bronze medals in the Olympics. It is important to draw a historical perspective to show how our young men and women have been achieving at the international stage. In 1972, a young Ugandan policeman called John Akii-Bua won Uganda’s first gold medal in the 400m hurdles, the same as what my namesake Nicholas Bett has done in Beijing China. John Akii-Bua came from the northern part of Uganda. At that time, Uganda was in the grips of Idi Amin Dada, who hated northern Ugandans. However, much as Amin hated northern Ugandans, Akii-Bua’s achievement was so big that Amin not only declared a national holiday to celebrate his achievement, but also renamed the Lira Stadium as John Akii-Bua Stadium. Because of their tactical nature, the win by the YouTube man, Julius Yego, and my namesake Nichols Bett are particularly unique, noteworthy and trailblazing. Those of us who follow the athletics world will remember that our medal tallies at the Olympic Games and the world championships have tended to be depressed by poor performances in the field of events and sprints. It is my hope that Yego and Bett have now changed all this. We can only hope for a bigger medal tally come next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The biggest honour we can give to these gallant sons and daughters of our country is not only to declare them national heroes, but also to give them generous cash and material rewards. We were with a group of my colleagues yesterday at the lobby when our young lady Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi won the 3,000m steeplechase. What struck me was that as we were watching our own, there was no Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), United Republican Party (URP), The National Alliance (TNA), Jubilee, and Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). We were just one Kenya tribe cheering Kenya."
}