Why the Covid-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise for Ferdinand Omanyala

Why the Covid-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise for Ferdinand Omanyala

Abigael Wafula 09:45 - 12.05.2024

Africa's fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala has explained why the COVID-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise for him.

Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala has opened up about how the COVID-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise for him as far as his glamorous career was concerned.

Speaking on the Ready Set Go podcast, Omanyala explained that after the Olympic Games were postponed, he had a lot of time to train, something that came in handy during the 2021 season since that’s when he posted his first-ever sub-10 performance.

The Commonwealth Games champion noted that he joined the rugby team to train and would even look for other places to work out despite the closure of the stadiums.

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“Covid was a blessing in disguise because the Olympics were postponed and at the time, I was going through a lot of challenges with the federation…it’s a long story.

“Everything was closed…like everything was shut down and it was a bit difficult for me because I had to get some casual jobs like transporting metals for about six dollars per day.

“However, we were training, all the stadiums were closed but we could get places to train, and the same year, I got a call from the rugby sevens head coach to go and join them in training and what we did there really helped me in 2021,” he said.

The Kenyan added that having to train without the competition pressure also made him have a keen look at areas to improve on and he was just training to get better.

He explained that training for him was therapy at the time and stepping on the training grounds always made him feel better. “I’m kind of a therapist on my own but I do have a therapist,” he added.

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