Will the next decade be dominated by Africa? Caution, caution. But the continent seems to be regaining the ambition to host the biggest events on the sporting calendar. At the end of last week, Morocco officially submitted its candidacy file for the Football World Cup in 2026. Tuesday, August 15, Kenya announced through its Minister of Sports that it was ready to apply for the organization of the World Athletics Championships in 2023.
Nothing is done. The road is still long. But Hassan Wario, the Kenyan Minister of Sports, now prefers the future to the conditional. Taking advantage of a ceremony organized in Nairobi in honor of the athletes who won medals at the London 2017 World Championships, he released the news as a scoop was revealed: “We showed that we were capable of hosting smaller events, today Today, it’s time for us to host big competitions.”
In their sights, the Outdoor Athletics World Championships in 2023. The IAAF has not yet officially opened the application process. But Budapest is already announced as the favorite, to succeed Doha 2019 and Eugene 2021. In Africa, it is said that the continent would rather wait until 2025, an edition for which the president of the African Athletics Confederation, Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, sees at least six sizable countries coming forward: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
But Kenya doesn't want to wait. The country hosted the junior (U18) world championships in Nairobi last month. Several major nations had decided to ignore it, justifying their decision by uncertainty over the safety of athletes and delegations. In the end, the competition welcomed representatives from 130 countries. By all accounts, it was a success, thanks in particular to the atmosphere in the stadium.
Above all, Hassan Wario and the Kenyan government hope to ride the wave of the 2017 Worlds in London, where Kenya won 11 medals, including 5 gold, to settle in 2nd place among nations, behind the United States. Analysis of the Minister of Sports: "Kenya became the first African nation to win the world championships in Beijing in 2015 (it topped the medal rankings, with 16 places on the podium, including 7 titles), this is not that confirm that we must be the first country to bring the Worlds to Africa”.
Another announcement, surprising to say the least: a plan to build three large stadiums, planned in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret, plus seven others of a smaller size in the rest of the country. A pharaonic project, and above all very far from the requirements of the World Athletics Championships, where the competitions all take place in one and the same venue.
Realistic, Kenya's candidacy? Maybe. According to Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, Sebastian Coe would be in favor of the idea of a world meeting in Africa. The IAAF president did not give a date, but he would welcome the continent finally taking its place on the map, for the first time since the creation of the event in 1983.
A sign of improvement: long stuck in crisis, the Kenyan Olympic committee should quickly regain credit and stability. The presidential election, scheduled for last May but postponed following a complaint from several national federations, must take place in the coming weeks. Paul Tergat, double Olympic medalist over 10.000 m (Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000), will be the only candidate. He should succeed Kip Keino, the Kenyan middle distance legend. Paul Tergat is a member of the IOC. He is also considered close to Sebastian Coe, a significant asset for a candidacy for the Outdoor Worlds.
