Kenyans have turned to social media to praise 100m runner Ferdinand Omanyala after he failed to advance to the final of the race.
Omanyala’s dream to make history as the first ever Kenyan to reach the Olympics 100m final ended on Sunday, August 4 after finishing distant eighth.
He arrived in Paris as the second fastest man in the world this year, clocking 10.08 seconds to finish second last.
Kenyans on social media encouraged Omanyala and urged him not to give up.
“You are phenomenal Ferdinand Omanyala. And you have done proud. You are an inspiration and will do better next time,” Mashirima Kapombe said.
“Ferdinand Omanyala is still the fastest man in Africa’s Olympic medal is still cooking. Give the lad some grace qualifying for the Olympics is no mean feat,” Branice Munyasa shared.
“Maybe fatigue kicked in, but our boy Omanyala will bounce back stronger.” Teddi Zaq said.
“Namjue Omanyala angekua anapewa enough incentive that race would have been his/ours. I’m sure he will bag some gold shortly.” Ian Owiro shared.
In the final, US sprint star Noah Lyles won the Olympic 100m title by five-thousandths of a second from Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson in a dramatic photo finish.
Lyles overhauled his rivals in the second half of the race to triumph by the finest of margins in a personal best of 9.79 seconds.
Omanyala recently revealed that Kenyans never took him seriously when he started sprinting.
The country in athletics has enjoyed more success in middle and long-distance racing.
When Omanayala and Mark Otieno qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 minds started to change.
Sadly for Otieno, he was disqualified for two years for using a banned substance.
Omanyala a former rugby player became a Kenyan sprint star after his eye-catching performances.
