LONDON SUMMER OLYMPICS
Kenya’s hope of winning an Olympic medal in swimming and hearing their anthem sang in the sport got smashed last night when Jason Dunford failed to qualify for the 100m Butterfly finals after finishing 8th in the semi finals,clocking 52.16s.
The most successful swimmer in the Kenyan history with 21 medals led through the first 50m in lane but failed in the final metres.
He had earlier in the day finished fourth in this heat to qualify for the semi-finals but finished in last place at the semifinals.
Swimming among the best swimmers in the world, like Michael Phelps, Jason, 25, got a consolation of being ranked 12th out of the 16 semi finalists in the competition.
After holding the Kenyan flag aloft during the opening ceremony last week, he had vowed to bag a medal for the country.
Phelps, who had just won a gold medal in the previous 200M medley, finished first in 50.86s in Heat 1. He is now the best swimmer in the game’s history, with a personal tally of 20 Olympic medals.
Jason won Kenya’s first gold medal in swimming at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and became the first Kenyan swimmer to participate in an Olympics final during the Summer Olympics held in Beijing in 2008.
He held an Olympic record for 7 minutes during the games before it was broken by American swimmer Michael Phelps.
Today, Kenya’s attention shifts to track events, with Vivian Cheruiyot expected to fly the Kenyan flag in women’s 10,000m finals tonight.
The writer is a Communication and Journalism student at Moi University.
Leave a comment