Athletes listen to their bodies and eat when their bodies require food. They live and train on near Stone Age (paleolithic) diets
A research conducted by Kenyatta University lecturer Vincent Onyiera has found the reason for Kenyan athletes’ dominance in the world boils down to a number of factors.
In the research 404 athletes were pooled from retired, active (national and international) and junior runners, ranging from the 800m to the marathon.
There were 87 Kenyan controls, obtained information on place of birth, language and distance and method of travel to school.
The controls were used to represent the general Kenyan population who were not training for any competitive event.
The athletes were classified into one of two groups according to athletic success - international athletes, who had represented Kenya at international events such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, All-African Games or in international marathon events and national athletes, who were active in national competitions in Kenya but without any major international distinctions.
International athletes comprised many of the most successful Kenyan runners of all time, including many world and Olympic champions, as well as athletes who have represented Kenya in other major international events and marathon races.
Onyiera’s team toured athletics-rich regions of the country including Kapsabet, Iten, Kaptagat, Nandi Hills, University of Eldoret, Ngong, Nairobi, Nyahururu, Machakos and Kisii.
Onyiera noted the diet, environment, habitual lifestyles, genes and social-cultural beliefs.
“One thing we realised, at first, was that Kenya runners ‘listen’ to their bodies, thus eat when their body requires food,” said Onyiera.
“They live and train on paleolithic diet with a bias on vegetables, white meat, milk carbohydrates, legumes, cereals and minimal red meat.”
He observed that the runners follow the right guidelines on nutrition without necessarily engaging a nutritionist.
“They are ‘natural human beings’, shunning genetically modified foods and embracing the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines, though unknowingly,” said Onyiera.
The research also found that the environment in which the athletes trained was key to their success.
“Environment is a very important component in sports science,” said Onyiera who is a registrar of research, innovation and outreach at KU.
“Kenyan runners live and train in high altitude. Training in such areas increases the number and size of red blood cells, enhancing the utilisation of oxygen in a more efficient manner.”
Essentially, he observed, Kenyan runners have a very efficient running economy resulting from sound training programmes, diet, favourable environmental conditions, culture of running (to school and back) and the tradition of running excellence.
Onyiera said despite not having exhausted the genetics side of the findings, he observed they play a role in the success of the runners.
“Genes have a role but we can say that, for Kenyans, it is a case of opportunity meeting preparedness. They train hard, eat well, lead a healthy lifestyle, the environment is good,” he observed.
In addition, he added that the research, subject of his
Doctor of Philosophy degree in Sports Science (The Nature and Nurture of Kenyan runners), found the Kenyan runners, confident due to their success over time, have psychological strength heading into competitions and usually intimidate their rivals even before a race starts.
“This usually makes them win the race even before it starts,” he said.
The research also confirmed most national and international athletes came from the old Rift Valley Province (controls 20 percent, national athletes 65 percent , international athletes 81 percent), belonged to the Kalenjin ethnic group (controls eight percent, national athletes 49 percent, international athletes 76 percent) and Nandi sub-tribe (controls five percent, national athletes 25 percent, international athletes 44 percent), and spoke languages of Nilotic origin (controls 21 percent, national athletes 60 percent, international athletes 79 percent).
A higher proportion of all athletes ran to school each day (controls 22 percent, national athletes 73 percent, international athletes 81 percent) and covered greater distances.
The research also identified variation in motivation for running over time.
“Pioneer athletes were taking part in sports with the sole purpose of representing the country. This, however, changed in the 1980s where athletes went for glory. Today, athletes are in sports for the money since sports has become a multi-billion industry,” said Onyiera.
In addition, the research also identified major challenges, which if solved, Kenyan runners would be even greater .
“We are yet to see the best of Kenyan runners,” said Onyiera. “Those who run are always doing it without proper programmes. There are so many Kenyans who can run (competitively) but they don’t even know about it. Leave alone in the Rift Valley.”
He said Kenya doesn’t have proper talent identification and development programmes.
“But I am happy the government has given cabinet secretaries the mandate to develop sports. The ministry of sports, culture and the arts needs to come out and implement talent identification and development programmes not only in athletics but all the sports,” said Onyiera.
“This
has to be structured, from primary school all the way to the national level. We need a different way of doing things and developing habits. We behave the way we do as resultant of what we did when we were young.”
Onyiera could not understand why the country could not do well in sprints in recent events despite succeeding in some of the short distances as they could back in the years.
“We have the ability and the talent but no structures.”
In addition, Western lifestyles are turning to be another challenge to not only athletics but sports in general within the country and even the world over.
“Western lifestyles have now been ‘devolved to the counties’” he observed.
“Devolution is good since it has brought development to the counties but the challenge is people don’t want to walk anymore.”
“People, including children, are being driven to and from school, they have become sedentary with no physical activity, thus becoming overweight and obese. And yet we expect this to be the pool where we are going to get our future runners/sportsmen.”
In addition, Onyiera said, Western foods’- fast foods have flooded eating places and they have become the better option.
He couldn’t as well overlook the doping challenge, observing that sensitisation and awareness should be paramount in tackling the menace.
Onyiera said the focus should not only be on athletes/sportsmen but teachers, coaches, parents, administrators and all other categories of sports stakeholders.
“We must ensure that all the people in sports understand that doping does not necessarily mean the use of banned substance but all the various aspects of anti-doping violations.” he said.