BOXING AND SWIMMING OLYMPICS SCHEDULE (IN KENYAN TIME)

In the midst of our long tiresome days, a sports fan or just an eager patriot may find it grueling to look up the Olympic 2012 schedule and then translate the time to local time. But because your home of No. one sports viewership in Nairobi cares about you, Blanco’s Sports Grill has done the honor of writing an elaborate program of all the competitions that Kenya will participate in.

SWIMMING (MEN)

The participants will be the two Danford brothers;

• Jason Dunford (100m freestyle & butterfly)
• David Dunford (50 m freestyle)

It will be held at the London Aquatics Center in the heart of London.

THE SCHEDULE:

	Pre- heats (12 noon)	Semi- Finals(9:30 pm)	Finals(9:30 pm)
50 Metres	Thursday 2nd August	Thursday 2nd August	Friday 3rd August
100m Freestyle	Tuesday 31st July	Tuesday 31st July	Wednesday 1st August
100m Butterfly	Thursday 2nd August	Thursday 2nd August	Friday 3rd August

BOXING

The Participants in this Category include:

• Benson Gicharu- Men’s Flyweight (52 kgs)
• Elizabeth Andiego – Women’s Middleweight (75 kg)

KEY;

• P- Preliminary
• R -Round of 16
• 1/4 – Quater Finals
• 1/2 -Semi finals
• F -Finals

MEN’S FLYWEIGHT (52 kg)

	A (3:30 PM)	E (11:30 PM)
P	Monday 30th	Monday 30th
R	Wednesday 1st  August	Wednesday 1st August
¼		Tuesday 7th August
½		Friday 10th August
F	Sunday 12th August	Sunday 12th August

WOMEN’S MIDDLEWEIGHT (75 kg)

	A (3:30 PM)	E (11:30 PM)
P
R	Sunday 5th August
¼	Monday 6th August
½	Wednesday 8th August
F	Thursday 9th August

Meet team Kenya at 2012 London Summer Olympics

Led by captain David Rudisha, the Kenyan team looks like it will bring Kenyans good tidings and some gold medals in this years’ summer Olympics at London. So it with great pleasure that I bring you the list of the team Kenya that will be flying our flag high at the London Olympics.

This year, Kenya will participate in four sport categories:-

• athletics
• boxing
• swimming
• weightlifting

The last time Kenya participated in the weightlifting category was in 1996, so we are proud that this year we have a female representative by the name Mercy Obiro. We do wish her the best in the competition.
Below is a comprehensive list of the rest of the Olympic representatives:

2012 London Olympics Team Kenya Athletics Participants

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Athletics	800 M	FEMALE	Pamela Jelimo
Athletics	800 M	FEMALE	Winnie Chebet
Athletics	800 M	FEMALE	Janeth Jepkosgei
Athletics	1500 M	FEMALE	Hellen Obiri
Athletics	1500 M	FEMALE	Eunice Sum
Athletics	1500 M	FEMALE	Faith Chepngetich
Athletics	3000 M Steeplechase	FEMALE	Milcah Chemos
Athletics	3000 M Steeplechase	FEMALE	Mercy Njoroge
Athletics	3000 M Steeplechase	FEMALE	Lydia Rotich
Athletics	5000 M	FEMALE	Vivian Cheruiyot
Athletics	5000 M	FEMALE	Sally Kipyego
Athletics	5000 M	FEMALE	Viola Kibiwot
Athletics	800 M	MALE	David Rudisha
Athletics	800 M	MALE	Job Kinyor
Athletics	800 M	MALE	Timothy Kitum
Athletics	1500 M	MALE	Silas Kiplagat
Athletics	1500 M	MALE	Nixon Chepseba
Athletics	1500 M	MALE	Asbel Kiprop
Athletics	3000 M Steeplechase	MALE	Brimin Kipruto
Athletics	3000 M Steeplechase	MALE	Ezekiel Kemboi
Athletics	3000 M Steeplechase	MALE	Abel Mutai
Athletics	5000 M	MALE	Isaiah Kiplangat
Athletics	5000 M	MALE	Edwin Soi
Athletics	5000 M	MALE	Thomas Longosiwa

2012 London Olympics Team Kenya Boxing and Swimming Participants

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Boxing
Boxing	Flyweight	MALE	Benson Gicharu Njangiru
Boxing	Middleweight	FEMALE	Elizabeth Andiego
Swimming
Swimming	50 M Freestyle	MALE	David Dunford
Swimming	100 M Freestyle and Butterfly	MALE	Jason Dunford

Take a break

Its interesting to see how motorists take the trouble to service their cars, check their engines and take a keen interest in the well being of their vehicles and yet forget to tend to their own selves. Or you see people working their pants off just to forget to tend to their own well being. You see in this whirlwind called life, a break is just as good as each minute you spend breaking your back to get ends to meet or to make someone ‘up there’ happy. Life’s metaphor has been reduced to a paper chase, judging from all the songs that have been done about the search for the bottomless pockets. I don’t deny the importance of the race, but i implore you to remember the tranquility of well being and serenity of relaxation.

In my opinion, the perfect metaphor to describe life is a sport. The more you work to sharpen your skill, the better you become. However the difference between peak performance and just meager performance is the act of knowing when to rest and when to push your self. The art of balance. An art that got lost in the competition for paper. An art that is as important as existence itself but becoming as rare as the illusive gold. Maybe that is why we had to have the onset of some simply terrifying stress caused conditions to scare us into taking care of ourselves. People read day in and out but never really seem to take in what is really important. Countless quotes exist but none of then permeates our heavily preoccupied minds.

But nature always has a way of evening things out. If you don’t behave, you get what you bargained for. The laws of nature are probably the simplest but are undoubtedly the most profound. Time is the oldest concept yet seemingly the hardest for mankind to grasp.. The clock continually ticks whether we care to pay attention or not and the sooner you wake up, the better. At the risk of sounding like a philosophy professor, I’ll just wind up and say that if you take care of your body and well being, then it will serve you well and get you where you want to be in life with relative ease plus envy from those who were to blind to notice that all work and no play, makes jack a sickly boy. Live, let live and be free.

HAPPY NELSON MANDELA DAY!

In this very uneventful month of July, we at least have a good enough day to look forward to. Nelson Mandela is iconic by all means and thoughts of him bring a certain warmth and sense of warmth in his tenacity and heroism in his life time struggles and eventual monumental achievements. He is one of the none controversial political figures of all time and its hats off to rare men like him who sell out their own lives and interest for a greater good. The day was created to inspire people to do acts o good and selflessness and help someone in society or make someone smile. It’s a noble day that seeks to bring out the suppressed inner hero.

However, on the note of heroism, there is also a flip side to it. There are the seemingly pointless heroic antics floating around. Case in point is this whole Miguna Miguna saga of his “whistle blowing” book. So as not to seem like I dismiss his book, I question the timing of the book. However I also believe that the book must have a lot of truth in it because so many feathers wouldn’t feel ruffled if he didn’t step on one or a few toes in his book. Plus you have to credit this guy with the gift for sensationalism. I think his would be a bestselling book if Kenyans would not be so into the habit of expecting someone to read the book on their behalf and summarize it for them. Be a hero today and go out to buy the book. Then don’t forget to do a chapter by chapter analysis which you happen to conveniently make available to the general public. You will be dearly remembered in our hearts for hopefully longer than a week. (Lets be real here)

Just in case you feel the spirit of Nelson Mandela day, let me give some suggestions on nice things that you could do today:

• Say thank you to a tout
• Smile at a supermarket attendant
• Give an extra ordinarily generous tip to a waiter
• Buy a friend a random extravagant gift( What else says I’m a hero than digging into your pocket for no apparent reason?)

On that note, have a lovely day and help someone you usually wouldn’t today. P.S: feel free to ignore my last suggestion. Its rather extreme. But you can come to Blanco’s Sports Grill Galleria Mall if you’re around Nairobi area.

Here is a quote to ponder on:

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” ~Nelson Mandela~