After faithfully serving his two-year doping ban, sprinter Mark Otieno is back on the tracks and ready to rumble as he sets eyes on next year’s Paris Olympics.
As he makes his comeback, he is looking forward to once again train with other athletes. He especially singled out Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala, saying he is more than an athlete to him. He recalled how they shared a room during the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics and he enjoyed Omanyala’s company.
“If I chuck out the athlete aspect of him, he is still human. That’s one thing that we built when we were in Tokyo because he was my roommate and we really had so much fun. I realised that he is more than an athlete,” he told Citizen Sport.
Speaking about the changes that have happened over the two years, Otieno attested that he has seen many upcoming sprinters who are running faster times but he will try and catch up.
“Guys are running really fast times out there…coming back I just want to take a day at a time. I want to enjoy the process…start where I left off and see where this will take us,” he said.
Otieno tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid methasterone and was suspended just moments before stepping on the track for the 100m heats at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It was really shocking because I was really looking forward to competing at the Olympics stage. It was quite difficult because I felt like it was a chance that had been snatched,” he said.
