
Olympics organization under fire for not including African athletes in their post game highlights
- Published By Jedida Barasa For The Statesman Digital
- 1 year ago
The Olympics organisation is catching heat on X for failing to include Kenyan - and by extension, African - athletes in their post-games highlights.
The video wrap-up, which the Olympics' team shared on their social media accounts shows a hodgepodge of participants drawn from all around the world - but doesn't, at any one point, include a Kenyan athlete, some of whom broke records and pulled off sterling performances.
Some of the faces shown beaming, jumping, sprinting, gliding, swimming and celebrating include those of athletes from countries such as the US, Japan, China, Britain, Jamaica, Australia and France.
None of the faces in the giddy compilation features any of the world-famous Kenyan athletes such as Faith Kipyegon, Beatrice Chebet or even marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge.
Surprisingly, the video also doesn't include Botswana's Letsile Tebogo whose historic gold medal brought the tiny Southern African country to a celebratory standstill.
Kenyans, keen to see how their heroes would be treated by the Olympics' media, quickly called out the organisation for their unfair - and unwarranted - exclusionism.
"Emmanuel Wanyonyi - Youngest winner of 800 metres in Olympics history. Faith Kipyegon - First woman ever to win 3 Olympic golds in a single track category. Beatrice Chebet? Letsile Tebogo? And many others from Africa didn't deserve a slot in the highlights?" X user Zollz asked.
"Honestly the erasure of Africa - and especially Kenya - is simply disgusting. 5 rings but zero sense. A whole Olympic official account...after phenomenal performances. Distasteful at the very least. You should be ashamed of yourselves!" someone else wrote.
On his part, Kambo Kambo said, "Faith Kipyegon of Kenya broke an Olympic Record in the 1500m. Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia broke an Olympic Record in Marathon...Still, nowhere to be seen. SHAME on you Racists!"
As the bile poured in, other Kenyans realized that the Olympics X handle was filtering comments by hiding the most negative ones.
"They're now hiding replies," someone said while sharing a screenshot of evidently hidden replies. "You cannot fox your way of this this disaster, Olympics. You better pull down this whole charade!"
Another Kenyan simply noted: "Celebrating excellence means honoring all champions. Ignoring African athletes who’ve earned gold sends a clear message: Our victories don’t count. It’s 2024—time for real inclusion, not selective recognition. Sports is for All. Do better, @Olympics."
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