Omanyala sets new target for Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala has set a new target for the forthcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The African 100m record holder said he is targeting gold at the Paris Olympic Games as he heads into the season with great motivation.
The Paris 2024 Olympics are scheduled for July 26 to August 11 and it is expected to host 10,500 athletes.
The world number nine said this during the launch of an Athletics Centre of Excellence at St. Joseph’s Boys national school on Monday.
The sprinter also added that his next target was to run a time of 9.66 seconds but was quick to add that he will have to work hard to attain that threshold.
“I am going to the Olympic season with great motivation. If you see me win that gold, be happy because it’s coming home. My next aim is to run 9.66 then after that 9.55,” he said.
Omanyala also said he would be opening a sprints school to help train young upcoming athletes so they may be able to grace the international stage.
“We are starting a school for sprints next year and I am pleased to announce that St. Joseph's will be the first benefactor of this program as we aim to help the youth horn their talents in athletics,” he noted.
The sprinter also urged young upcoming athletes to be careful of the managers they sign for, as there have been several cases of managers mistreating athletes and leading them to poverty.
“There are those fine lines in a contract you must go through. Most athletes have suffered this fate so you have to be keen. Those little details are very important,” he said.
Omanyala came into the limelight in 2015 when he won 100m in a time of 10.37 secs during the national Olympics trials but failed to attain the qualifying standard, which was 10.16 secs at the time.
He would later on go to win the national title in 2019 and later on in March 30 2021, he set a national record of 10.01 seconds in the 100m after winning a meeting at Yabatech Sport Complex in Lagos, Nigeria.
In 2022, he won his first international championships, with victories in the 100m at the Commonwealth Games, and African Athletics Championships.
Omanyala is the African record holder and the ninth-fastest man of all time in the event after clocking a time of 9.77 seconds on September 18, 2021 in Nairobi. He is also the first Kenyan to reach the semi-finals of the 100m at the Olympics stage.
The sprinter took part at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August finishing seventh in the final in a time of 10.07 seconds.
Omanyala further urged young athletes to be careful of the doctors, who they put their trust in as he has unknowingly been a victim of a doping.
Following his doping offence in 2017, Omanyala received a 14-month suspension.
He had tested positive for the prohibited substance betamethasone, after undergoing treatment for his back injury which he incurred during training.
Athletics Kenya (AK) Trans Nzoia county official, Evans Rono urged the youth to take up athletics as it was a highly lucrative career.
“Athletics is highly paying. Omanyala runs for just nine seconds and walks away with millions. I want to challenge you to embrace athletics because it is a high paying sport."
posted Tuesday October 17th
by Teddy Mulei