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Barely 24hours before the start of the 100m heat race, Ferdinand Omanyala was still not in the United States Of America (USA), Oregon to be precise.
WHY WAS THE RACE SO IMPORTANT TO HIM?
This was the race of his life, because
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Omanyala won and set the African men’s 100 metres record after clocking a time of 9.77 seconds at the Kip Keino Classic meeting in Nairobi in September 2021.
The 26-year-old Ferdinand Omanyala won the African 100m title last month and was the first Kenyan to qualify for the Olympic 100m semi-finals in Tokyo last year.
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WHY WAS OMANYALA VISA DELAYED?
The spokesperson of Omanyala said to the media that the delay in getting the visa was likely due to the significant backlog of cases resulting from closures due to COVID-19.
A flight from Kenya to Oregon is 18 plus hours, he had 3 hours after landing to clear customs and then got to the arena; received his accreditation, warmed up, then compete with the others who were well-rested athletic in the heat and qualified to the semis with a time of 10.10
This is very inspirational,
“Tell them that we are not absent. We are just late, but we will surely get there !!!”
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