If Nyayo National Stadium was a continental courtroom, history would say Kenya’s athletes prosecuted their case well, gave a good account of their country, and victory went where it belongs.

Ecstasy would be an understatement, euphoric maybe, but electrifying it was. The jolt of victory and aftershock, as they shook the field, was felt in all corners of the nation. Not one, not two…but ten times did the overflowing stadium stop to honour the blare of Kenya’s national anthem, for that is the number of the gold in the bag.

They shocked and awed the world, on television and before thousands of Kenyans, watched with the palpitation of the heart as the national flag fluttered gracefully in the cool Nairobi breeze.

If it were freezing cold in Nairobi, the cheer in the stadium warmed the spirit and often times, as the opponent closed in on our gallant sons and daughters, for every Kenyan worth the name, it was as if a fire had been lit under their collar.

They pulled off a surprise, but powerful, surge from the pit of the stomach, and the bowel of the heart, as every tendon stretched…and ten times it ended in tears of joy at the Finish Line, where, wrapped in the national flag, the symbol of unity and nationhood, the athletes and the nation radiated a rare spirit of oneness and togetherness.

It would take years before it is forgotten, and even if it does, one story will stand the test of time — it was at their own home that the athletes proved to world the messengers of African pride are also heroes and heroines among their kin.

Could it have been a different story if it was Tokyo, Beijing, Munich, Seoul, Athens or anywhere in the world; they did what they know best.

CAROL MUTHONDU