NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 18 – World record holder David Rudisha is confident the Kenyan team has what it takes to defend its overall crown at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships which gun off on Wednesday morning at the Moi Sports Centre Kasarani.
Rudisha who started his own athletics career at the Junior event 15 years ago, winning gold at the 2006 showpiece in Beijing, China, believes that the event will be a springboard to birt future Kenyan stars.
Kenya won the overall crown during the last showpiece in Tampere, Finland in 2018 and with the event coming home, there will be an expectation that the country will once again sit top.
“It is always a challenge to maintain at the top, but we know that the team has been training well and we expect good results from them. I know they are capable of producing medals, having watched them at the trials and we will be here to watch and cheer them,” the 800m king told Capital Sport.
David Rudisha converses with World Athletics boss Seb Coe at teh Kasarani Stadium. PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya
Though he has not had a chance to physically meet them for motivation talks ahead of the Championships, Rudisha says he has been keeping in touch with most of them through social media, just to ensure they are in high spirits.
“Of course it has been difficult to meet up with them as they have been staying in a bubble with the COVID-19 pandemic being a challenge. But we have been keeping in touch through social media just to try talk to them and motivate them to go for history and make themselves a good platform to spring into the future,” said Rudisha.
The two-lap king is one of the ambassadors at the event and he says it is a great honor to take up that role and he hopes his presence at Kasarani will inspire Team Kenya to accumulate medals.
“We know that athletics is one of the biggest sports in this country and being an ambassador of such an event here at home is a great honor for me. I participated in this event in 2006 and I went on to progress and become successful in athletics and it would make me happy to also be here and see others do the same,” stated Rudisha.
David Rudisha during the World Under-20 pre-Championship press conference at the Kasarani Stadium
Meanwhile, he has encouraged the athletes not to be discouraged even if they don’t win medals at the event insisting that the most important thing for them is to earn experience at an international level.
“Competing here is all about learning and getting the experience. Winning is important but even if they do not win, there is a lot to learn. There are many successful athletes who have not even won medals at the Youth and Junior events. This is just about getting things started,” Rudisha advised.
