The picture shown abopve, taken by AP in Santiago, shows Dorcus crossing the finish line. Third place went to Kenya's Sharon Cherop. The lesson learned by the Ugandan Amateur Athletics Foundation was that it needed to look beyond the capital, Kampala, for its ace athletic talent, and emphasize spreading its grassroots development programs to upcountry areas. What a great contrast, because Dorcus comes from such humble roots, yet, on this evening of the award, she was a young woman who had brought honor to her nation and her nation expressed it gratitude and admiration. True, Africa is bound with raw talent but its development, save for Kenya and Ethiopia, is hampered by numerous roadblocks.
Poverty is our main bottleneck.
In stark contrast, the US, where investment in talent is so big, even a mediocre can be transformed into a big star. Coaching is another weakness. While athletes in developed countries have highly qualified tacticians, the opposite is true in Africa. Our athletes are briefly exposed to mainly physical education teachers. Where a coach is available, he is usually misplaced.