Kenya National Paralympics Committee (KNPC) chairman Ronald Milare has pledged to implement the proposals discussed during their postmortem meeting regarding the team’s performance at the Paris Games, which concluded on September 9.
The meeting, held on Sunday in Eldoret, aimed to analyze the results and outline changes needed to achieve better outcomes at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games and other major para sports competitions. Kenya finished 74th in the medal standings, trailing behind eight other African countries, with Algeria leading the continent in 25th place and securing 11 medals—six gold and five bronze.
This year’s Games marked the first time since the 1988 Seoul Games that Kenya did not win a gold medal in the last two editions. The KNPC had set a target of at least four medals but only managed to secure one silver through Samson Ojuka in the men’s long jump T37, while the country had previously won a bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Milare stated, “We have learned our lessons, and we will implement several proposals to ensure that we send a strong team to the next Paralympic Games and increase our medal count. Despite the mixed results in Paris, we had a larger team with more disciplines compared to previous Games.”
He continued, “I would like to say we did well at the Paris Games as five of our athletes achieved their Personal Bests, and we also bagged a silver medal. I want to congratulate the team for their performance. We count our blessings and name them one by one. We have learned a lot from the Games, and we will work on the recommendations because I also know where we may have dropped the ball.”
Milare emphasized, “The journey to Los Angeles starts immediately, and we will ensure that we do things right this time. Sports change and evolve daily, and we must also adapt. We also need to incorporate sports science.”
Some of the recommendations included ensuring participants in selected disciplines take part in international events to accumulate points for Paralympic qualification and the need to recruit younger athletes. Milare noted that having five disciplines at the Games, including taekwondo and cycling, was a significant achievement, and they aim to double their efforts to send over 30 athletes to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, compared to the 14 who competed in Paris.
