Sports Excellence and State Mediocrity: A conversation with Mordecai Ogada

While Kenya performed fairly well at the 2024 Paris Olympics, bagging 4 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals, the stellar performance of the individual athletes is surrounded by Kenya's political culture of mediocrity. The athletes surmount huge obstacles to merely represent the country, and the majority of Kenya's talent runs into obstacles of corruption, stagnation and sexual exploitation, all of which are undergirded by a strong culture of state mediocrity and anti-intellectualism.