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A warm reception for wife, husband
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 08 July 2007 00:33
With the glittering gold and silver medals dangling from their necks, Maranga and Nyariki proudly walked hand in hand as they disembarked from the Kenya Airways plane to the thunderous cheers of hundreds of fans, family members and officials who thronged the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to welcome back part of Kenya's Commonwealth Games team from Malaysia.
The 1,500m gold for Maranga and Nyariki's silver in the 5,000m could not have come at a better time when their romance is blossoming, and the future seems to be all roses for the two athletes.
"I thank my husband for helping me so much to win a gold medal," said the 22- year-old Maranga, who started representing Kenya at the 1992 world junior athletics championships in Seoul, South Korea, where she won a silver in the 1,500m.
Why did she decide to get married to a fellow athlete? She struggles to hold back laughter. "I chose to be his wife because we're in the same sport, it makes life easier..he's like my coach because we train together everyday."
Nyariki was more forthright: "I loved Maranga even before she started doing well in athletics . . . it's not that I got married to her because she was doing
well. I think it was God's plan to unite us. It's not also because we're both Kisii's. We view ourselves as Kenyans. We're staying together and finished all the marriage formalities."
Nyariki placed second in the 5,000m race won by compatriot Daniel Komen while Maranga's win was a double achievement. She broke the 20-year-old Games record as well as becoming the second Kenyan woman to win a Commonwealth Games medal after Japan-based Esther Wanjiru won the first one in the 10,000m.
Maranga, a silver medallist at the World Cup athletics meeting in South Africa, timed 4 minutes,05.27 seconds.
"I also thank my friend Naomi Mugo. She set the pace for me," said Maranga, the last born in a family of four.
Naomi, placed fourth, was not bitter for failing to win a medal.
"We had to do that because we knew the European athletes had a strong finishing kick. In fact I didn't even realise when the Zimbabwean athlete (Julia Sakara) overtook me because our aim was to get the gold and burn out the English athlete (Kelly Holmes).
"On the night before the race, we slept early with Maranga. We were in the same room. We planned that for any of us to win a gold medal we must set a fast pace. I'm happy our plan worked."
Meanwhile, Francis K. Paul, the Games management committee executive officer feels a lot of money was wasted by having some sportsmen and women in the team whose chances of winning medals were negligible.
"In future," said Paul, "we should just be represented by competitors thoroughly exposed before a major event instead of exposing them during the actual event. We spent so much money for nothing. I suggest the ministry should spend more money to expose our sportsmen so that by the time we select the team, we know who are the medal prospects."
Sports Commissioner James Tirop was not happy with the invasion of his "house" in his absence.
Tirop arrived from Malaysia to be told that his office has been moved from Nyayo National Stadium to the Moi International Sports Centre (MISC) in Kasarani. This is as a result of the ongoing administrative changes in the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Heritage, Culture and Social Services.
Assistant minister for Culture Mwarere wa Mwachai, who arrived with the team, said apart from Kenyans being overawed by the world class sporting venues, they were also beaten because they lacked international exposure.
