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L. MathekaTOKYO 2020: High-flying KDF man Sawe "kicks off" Kenya's medal chase
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Reading Time: 3min | Thu. 29.07.21. | 17:32
Javier Sotomayor of Cuba is the current men's record holder with a jump of 2.45 m set in 1993, the longest-standing record in the history of the men's high jump.
Almost ten days into the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Kenyans are braced for a proper 'start' of the games on Friday morning with the advent of track and field schedule from where victories, smiles and medals are expected.
'Starting' Kenya's chase for medals is Mathew Sawe, a two-time African High Jump champion, in the wee hours of Friday (3:15 AM) when he steps out in group A of the qualifying heat against some of the best jumpers.
Sawe is the first Kenyan to qualify for the Olympics in the High Jump and as such, odds are greatly stacked against him. Accustomed to upsetting odds though, the strong-willed high jumper is psyched for another feat in his, thus far, less fancied career.
🎽|Sawe will be making his debut at the Olympics stage as, despite having qualified for the 2016 Rio Games, his Olympics dream did not materialise then#Tokyo2020 #MathewSawe
— Mozzart Sport Kenya (@MozzartSportKe) July 1, 2021
https://t.co/e07QRbbzI8
Sawe was among 15 high jumpers who qualified for the Olympics through the World Rankings position after standing 24th in the world by end of the entry period.
The event will feature 32 athletes, with 16 having gone through after attaining the Tokyo standard of 2.33m. Sawe's Personal Best is 2.30. He has, however, managed a season-best of 2.25 and has his work cut out if he is to make it to the final.
Even as I cheer for entire #TeamKenya, I am personally rooting for Faith Kipyegon to defend her 1500m gold 🏅.
— Warothe Kiru (@warothe) July 23, 2021
Also, fingers crossed for Faith Ogallo in Taekwondo, boxer Christine Ongare and Mathew Sawe in High jump to have a good #Tokyo2020 outing.
Sawe is making his debut at the Games after he was dropped from the Olympic team to Rio in 2016, just a month after he had won his first African title.
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) athlete is in the same group as Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim who heads to the competition as one of the favourites.
Barshim earned his second Olympic silver medal in 2016 behind Canada’s Derek Drouin but went on to win gold at the 2017 and 2019 world championships. However, the Olympic postponement has seen new stars soar to the top of the world list, including Russia’s Ilya Ivanyuk (2.37 SB) who is in the same group A, Belarus’s Maksim Nedasekau (2.37 SB) and the U.S.'s JuVaughn Harrison (2.36 SB).
Name: Mathew Kiplangat Sawe
— Xtian Solo (@solution_X_) July 16, 2021
Age: 33
Discipline: High Jump
Highlights
National record holder- 2.30 m
2012 African Championships- Bronze
2016 African Championships- Gold
2018 African Championships- Gold
2019 African Games- Silver
#TeamKenyaOlympics pic.twitter.com/I9c9vKgLoL
Barshim didn’t go higher than 2.27m before clearing 2.37m for gold at the 2019 world championships so he’ll have to pull off a similar feat to make the podium and hold off the younger stars.
Qualifying performance for the final is set at 2.30 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q).
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