Columnists
Kiprotich’s Olympic loss, a moral lesson to politicians
Stephne Kiprotich’s loss in Brazil
In any competitive sport you either win or lose. It’s not only the win that makes one a hero; sometimes it’s also losing gracefully and accepting that you have lost.
The hopes and expectations of this nation slowly faded away after about 29km. Frankly speaking the hopes of a medal at the Rio Olympics by many Ugandans were dashed after Stephen Kiprotich failed to retain his marathon title.
He finished a distant 14th, Kipchoge. But this is sport. You have got to accept that no one has monopoly over winning.
In politics, however, things are quite different. Politicians don’t lose; they are only cheated. They happen to give meaning to the belief that man is not made for defeat and man can be destroyed but not defeated.
Probably, the difference between sport and politics lies in the fact that both fields have different perceptions on defeat. But sports men have been told that when defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your strategies are not sound, rebuild those strategies, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.
There are certain things we need to know. Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure.
When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do.
More than a million of the most successful men this world has ever known have said that their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.
Muhammad Ali, the legendary international boxer said that he never thought of losing, but when it happened, the only thing was to do it right. That was his obligation to all the people who believed in him.
He requested that people take defeat in life. One thing I like about women is that they are never so strong as after their defeat. If victory has a hundred fathers, defeat is an orphan. The fact is that anyone can deal with victory but only the mighty can bear defeat.
Abraham Lincoln endured a steady stream of failure and defeat before becoming President of the United States. Probably the greatest example of persistence is Abraham Lincoln. If you want to learn about somebody who didn’t quit, look no further. Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown.
He could have quit many times – but he didn’t and because he didn’t quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of America.
Goodluck Jonathan became the first Nigerian leader ever to accept democratic defeat as rival Muhammadu Buhari is voted the African country’s new leader. With his nation braced for potential violence, Goodluck astonished many of his supporters by conceding defeat to his archrival in the closest-fought election in the history of Africa’s biggest and richest country.
In June this year Peru’s closest presidential election in decades came to an end. And the Popular Force candidate Keiko Fujimori, daughter of jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori, conceded defeat to conservative economist and former Wall Street banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
Defeat is for the valiant. Only the valiant will know the honour of losing and the joy of winning. May be I don’t intend to tell you that defeat is part of life because we all know that.
Only the defeated know Love because it is in the realm of love that we fight our first battles – and generally lose. There are people who have never been defeated and those are the ones who never fought. They managed to avoid scars, humiliations, feelings of helplessness, as well as those moments when even warriors doubt the existence of God.
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