‘They Travelled by Bus for 10 Hours’ - Uganda Athletics Boss Blasts Torturous Journey After Woeful Commonwealth Show

While Ugandans are demanding answers after the country’s poor performance at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, Uganda Athletics Federation boss Dominic Otuchet has an answer.

Uganda won just three medals, two silver and a bronze to finish 27th at the 2026 edition, which was poor compared to 2022, when they won five medals, three of them gold for a 16th place finish.

Para-swimmer Husnah Kukundakwe won silver, same as the women’s 3×3 basketball team, before former Olympics champion Peruth Chemutai claimed bronze in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase.

By contrast in 2022, Jacob Kiplimo won two gold medals in the men’s 5,000m and 10,000m while Victor Kiplangat also struck gold in the men’s marathon. Chemutai also claimed bronze four years ago in steeplechase while Teddy Nakimuli managed a similar medal in boxing.

However, this year, athletics, which contributes the bulk of the country’s medals, was nowhere to be seen but Otuchet claims this is because of the poor travel arrangement that saw the team taken through a 10-hour flight to London before travelling by road for another 10 hours to Glasgow, Scotland for the Games.

“The travel given to the team exhausted the team. They went by air up to Heathrow and from Heathrow, the team had to travel by road…by bus and they took more than 10 hours from London to Glasgow,” Otuchet told the media on Tuesday.

“It was a torturous journey for the team. As president, I learnt of that arrangement when the team was already in the buses and it was disturbing.

“We have people who are responsible for this. To cause a team who are expected to win medals to get exhausted on the way travelling. I don’t even think the Minister was aware.”

Otuchet firmly believes that the outcome of Team Uganda, especially in athletics, would have been very different had the athletes not been exhausted on their way to Glasgow.

“In Uganda Athletics, we have excelled because we value our athletes. When you value somebody and something, you take good care of them. My athletes were not taken good care of,” he fumed.

“They arrived at their hotel at night on Saturday and had only Sunday. On Monday, they were competing. Those girls who competed in the 10,000m on Monday were good enough for two medals but they were curtailed because of the nature of the travel.”

“I only want to pray that such arrangements of travel of the team do not continue in Uganda. It is true young people are energetic but you know when you take a flight up to Heathrow, you have taken 10 hours then you start a road journey, it is not fair,” he further stated.