Tokyo Deaflympics: Why agile Rawino carries Kenya’s hopes in decathlon

Decathlete Dickson Rawino is confident of a strong showing at the Tokyo 2025 Summer Deaflympics thanks to his rigorous training, and promising performance at the previous edition of the Games.

Rawino, 35, will be Kenya’s sole representative in the decathlon at the Games set for November 15 to 26 in Japan.

He will compete in 10 disciplines – men’s 100m, 110m hurdles, 1500m, 400m, pole vault, high jump, long jump, shot put, javelin and discus over two days.

Apart from showing tremendous improvement across all the disciplines, Rawino says his sixth-place finish at the 2022 Deaflympics held in Caxias do Sul in Brazil gives him confidence that he can win a medal in Tokyo.

“I’m feeling good to again represent Kenya in the Deaflympics and my goal is to finish position one, two or three,” said Rawino, who hails from Gem in Siaya County.

“When we went to Brazil (for the 2022 Deaflympics), I was so close to winning a medal. After my return, I decided that I will continue to work hard.

“I have now trained well, rectified the mistakes and I am very confident of making it to the podium,” added the alumnus of Maseno School for the Deaf.

He is currently fine-tuning his form alongside the rest of Team Kenya athletes for the Deaflympics at the residential camp at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani in Nairobi.

He qualified for the Games after finishing first in the national trials which attracted five decathletes.

Rawino says his regular training and competition with the hearing athletes has given him an edge over the rest of the local deaf decathletes.

“Practicing with the hearing group has elevated my performance. I have built the endurance and mental toughness needed for a victory,” the father of two said, adding that his journey to Team Kenya has not been smooth. He faced several challenges including lack of proper training equipment.

“Before it was a big challenge to compete in all the events. For example, you need a proper mattress for the pole vault and hurdles for 110m hurdles.

“Athletics Kenya had all the equipment so I really benefited from training and competing with them. It would have been a big challenge to me if I had not seized the opportunity,” observed the decathlete.

He has followed in the footsteps of his father, Andrew Rawino who was a sprinter but never represented the country.

Team Kenya athletics coach Samuel Kibet admitted that preparing Rawino for the Deaflympics has not been easy because he competes in multi events.

However, Kibet noted that the athlete has improved significantly since the team reported to camp and is a strong medal prospect.

“He is doing very well and everyday he has been improving. We want to believe that by the time we are going to Tokyo, he will be ready to compete with the rest of the athletes from across the globe,” said Kibet.

“We believe he is a man to watch this time. It is not simple (to prepare him for the Games) because of the different events.

“You need to combine the technique of every event to make him a perfect athlete, you need to plan well on which event you will be training on. The ultimate motive is to make him a better person, as the Kenyan team, we are zeroing into medals, we want to see every athlete in the team manages to come back home with something,” he added.