Coach Ayiemba has shed light on Kenyan Sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala’s current mental state after placing seventh in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Last month, the well-loved African sprinter lost the 100 m event at the World Athletics Championships. The first place went to USA’s Noah Lyles, who made headlines for his impressive finish of 9.83 seconds in the event. As for the second and third spots, these went to Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo and Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, who both finished the race in 9.88 seconds. As for Omanyala, he clocked 10.07 seconds in the event and ended up in 7th place.
Despite this defeat, many are still proud of Omanyala
His wife, Laventa Amutavi, dedicated a heartwarming post to her husband on Instagram:
“You made history. It’s not the results we wanted, but God came through. We saw a miracle and more to come. Super humbled and proud of you. Champions aren’t born. They are built.”
Media personality Carol Radull also congratulated him on X (formerly Twitter), saying:
“Ferdinand Omanyala finishes 7th, but so. proud of your journey. We live to fight another day.”
But after this, the Kenyan athlete has since gone silent on social media, worrying many sports fans. His coach, Duncan Ayiemba, recently made a statement in an interview regarding the athlete’s current mental state:
“He had high hopes of a medal in Budapest. Every Kenyan had high hopes and supported him. However, everything didn’t go as planned, and that affected his mentality.”
Because athletes are constantly exercising and training for competitions, most people would expect that they are physically and mentally healthy all the time. But, contrary to popular belief, athletes are actually much more vulnerable due to the pressure of competitions. According to a research conducted by the American College of Sports Medicine, 35% of professional athletes suffer from anxiety, depression, burnout, and eating disorders.
On September 7, one Twitter user, Track Spice, also shared this news on X (formerly Twitter) with their followers. The post reads:
“Ferdinand Omanyala has gone mute on his social media platforms after a disappointing World Athletics Championships outing in Budapest, Hungary. His coach Duncan Ayiemba has now claimed that the fastest man in Africa is mentally affected by the Budapest performance.”
Despite the setback, Omanyala hasn’t lost hope completely. He is now looking forward to closing out his season with a bang at this year’s Diamond League Finals. Currently, Omanyala is second in the standings with 28 points, while Fred Kerley is in the lead with 29 points.
With an impressive point total, the Kenyan sprinter is looking forward to bouncing back and bringing glory to his country once again.
The Diamond League finals will be held on September 16-17 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
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