NAIROBI, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's worldwide athletics supremacy is not a subject of debate; it is a foregone conclusion.
No other discipline or even sector has been able to match the unbridled fame that athletics has brought to Kenya.
Ever since the glory heydays of the 1960's up to date, the country's athletes have all too often shattered long-standing world records, particularly in the long distance races.
Their only rivals in this score have been the indefatigable Ethiopians and the unpredictable Moroccans.
Kenya's second podium finish at the 2017 World Athletics Championships after the United States restated and emboldened on everyone's mind that Kenya was not ready to relinquish her dominance of the sport.
But this is just the veneer. A scrape of this coat reveals a sad reality which sends shivers down the spine of all athletics lovers. It all begins with recognition.
"Despite numerous awards, records, fame, honor and glory bestowed on our athletes abroad, the same is appallingly missing back home," former 5,000m world champion, John Ngugi, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
"World beating superstars are shamelessly ignored when they return home with their dazzling stories adorned with trophies and impressive cash awards," the former long distance runner said.
On the very few occasions the athletes have been glorified in the maelstrom of local fame by being offered due recognition, they have been shunted to the back pages as obscure news items in the bulletins, with a front page photo and a usual reference to go back to the pages for the full story.
To make matters worse, the athletes' inspiring stories, full of anecdotes, hope and uplifting nuances are treated with careless abandon as if the local media houses have conspired against home-bred icons whose only 'fault' is worldwide fame courtesy of their legs.
"The bias is further replicated in the public's attitude and it breaks ones heart to reckon that although widely recognized across the major cities of the world, the stars are hardly known locally," retired international athlete who is now a senior official at Athletics Kenya, Barnaba Korir said.
"The public' s attitude towards them can best be described in one word: apathy. Today, there exists no catalogue of our athletes, their achievements and our own kind of "Hall of Fame" is nothing else than a pipe dream," Korir, who is in charge of youth development, noted.
In 2001, in the much respected and authoritative website - "African Almanac" - Kenyan athletes scooped seven spots in the TOP 100 AFRICANS category and shared the same podium with the continent's leading lights.
In this coveted list were Charles Kamathi (10,000m), Catherine Ndereba (marathon). Reuben Kosgei (3,000m steeplechase), Richard Limo (5,000m), Simon Biwott (marathon), David Makori (marathon) and Bernard Lagat (1,500m).
