Stephen Kiprotich’s latest victory may have, yet again, given Ugandans reason to celebrate a monumental achievement, but it should also get leaders thinking about how to institutionalise sports rather than depend on lone ranger efforts that come few and far in between.

The 24-year-old prison warder claimed the marathon gold at the just ended World Athletics Championships at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. It had been eight years of waiting for Uganda since Dorcus Inzikuru, to everyone’s surprise, won the inaugural women’s 3,000m steeplechase.

Interestingly, the triumph of the Arua Gazelle (Inzikuru’s moniker coined from her birthplace and leaping prowess) came eight years after yet another surprise performance from David Kamoga in the 400m at the Athens Championships in 1997. He nearly upstaged legendary American sprinter Michael Johnson failing by a mere 0.25 of a second.

Kamoga’s silver was Uganda’s first medal at the three-decades-old athletics event that is seen as equal to the soccer World Cup, which the Cranes, the country’s national football team, has never qualified for.

Last year, when Kiprotich broke away from his spirited Kenyan opposition en route to winning the marathon at the London Olympics, Uganda had spent 16 years without picking up any medal of any colour after Kamoga won bronze at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Before that, Ugandans had waited 24 years since the late John Akii Bua won the country’s first ever medal at the Olympics, when he took the 400m hurdles gold in Munich in 1972.

Yet, the ties that bind all of these great athletes to the man of the hour aren’t simply that they have paved the way for Kiprotich. For Kamoga and Inzikuru in particular (and one could add nearly all other athletes in their generation), the arduous journeys to the pinnacle of their disciplines have been journeys of self-discovery, as Mark Ssali, a leading sports analyst recently observed.

Consider, for instance, that Kamoga fancied himself a footballer before trying sprinting; Inzikuru was a long distance runner (which she has reverted to) before giving the steeplechase a shot; and Kiprotich was into cross-country running before turning to the marathon; or even Ronald Musagala, Uganda’s representative in Moscow in the 800m race, who recently ditched long distances for the shorter distances.

Self drive

All of them made these switches largely on their own with the only help coming from a coach, a close friend or next of kin who believed in them. This wouldn’t be the case were athletics better organised and sufficiently funded as countries that extract endless mileage from their ever conquering athletes have demonstrates. Ironically, Uganda has done this before. Akii Bua had at his disposal everything he needed to enable him break the dominance of the Americans and rewrite the 400m hurdles order.

Ssali, a former topflight footballer and basketball player said of Kiprotich: “A lot of people are throwing money at him, which he has never asked for. He has, instead, asked for proper training facilities, which remain a pipedream.”

In 2010, the government promised to build a high altitude training centre in Sebei region, where Kiprotich comes from. It was aimed at honouring Moses Kipsiro, another self-discovered athlete, who bagged two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in India. Uganda’s athletic darling for a time, Kipsiro suffered injury and withdrew from competition in Moscow.

The centre was still on paper when the Olympics came around. Upon his return from London, Kiprotich berated the government’s disinterest in sports and sports people. He reiterated the need for modern training facilities and President Yoweri Museveni promised the centre would be completed within a year.

But alas, the double champion and his colleagues found themselves with no choice but to train in Kenya again, because construction of the centre had stalled.

The Ministry of Education and Sports had not allocated all the money required to complete it in record time. It is no surprise then that upon his return from Moscow, Kiprotich sounded a tad more bitter than a year ago when he was pleading for the same.

Empty promises?

“Let the honourable minister tell us where the construction of the site has reached instead of giving us promises all the time. I prefer action and that is why I didn’t promise much when we were leaving and I have been telling my colleagues that action speaks louder than words,” Kiprotich said at a state luncheon Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi held in his honour on behalf of President Museveni.

In reply, Mbabazi said: “I want to assure Kiprotich that the money for the high altitude training centre is in the budget, so this is not a promise or a pledge, it is at the level of action.”

The Centre could as well be fast tracked now because, according to Ssali, Kiprotich is going to be listened to more than before.

“He has an opportunity that other athletes have not had to press the issue but it is really up to the Uganda Amateur Athletics Federation to follow up on the pledges and promises made,” said Ssali.

Currently, the federation doesn’t have a ready plan to leverage Kiprotich’s success. As such, companies and other entities with products or messages to push are likely to utilise him faster than the Federation can. But Namayo Mawere, the Federation’s spokesperson, challenges them to see beyond Kiprotich.

“We have enormous talent. There are many areas that have the same environment as Kapchorwa [Kiprotich’s home] but we can’t get to them, let alone nurture the talent there because we are financially incapacitated,” Mawere said.

The Federation has a five-year development plan that includes scouting and nurturing talent. Ideally, they need at least Ush1 billion ($388,000) every year. Last year, though, they budgeted for Ush600 million ($233,000) because, according to Mawere, “We don’t want to cut our coat according to a cloth we don’t have.”

Under-funded

The under-funding the Federation has to deal with is a consequence of under-funding of sports in general. Last year, all sports were allocated Ush7 billion ($2,710,029) out of the Ush1.8 trillion ($695 million) that went to the Ministry of Education and Sports — a marriage Mr Ssali argues should end for the sake of both sectors.

“Whatever the initial thought process behind the decision, and however well-intentioned the implementers were, it is now crystal clear that marrying the Ministry of Sports with that of Education is not going to work,” noted Mr Ssali. “Education is way too important to be lumped together with anything else, and yet in its own right sports is too big a docket not to be given the attention it deserves.”

Charles Bakabulindi, the Minister of State for Education and Sports, says he supports the divorce entirely but he knows all too well that like all marriages, it won’t be an easy one to end.

“It is a decision for the president to make but in countries where sports are an independent ministry, support to the development of different disciplines is much better. Here, if there are issues of salary for instance, the bigger side is catered to first,” Bakabulindi told The EastAfrican.

For now, sports will have to make do with the money it gets and hope its shining stars like Kiprotich attract some more either from the government or private sources. For the Olympic gold, the father of three earned a total of over Ush500 million ($200,000) from donations. For the Championships gold, he got Ush290 million ($112,273).

Mawere is optimistic athletics is looking at a glowing future on the back of Kiprotich’s accomplishments.

“Appeal for athletics has improved. If you have noticed, every company now wants to organise a road race. It is a whole new craze,” he added.