Cape Argus

Uproar in Kenya over neglect of Olympic athletes

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NAIROBI: Kenya’s worldbeati­ng athletes may have won Africa’s biggest Rio Olympic medal haul, but in Nairobi it was not all song and dance when they jetted back this week.

They flew into swirling controvers­y about how they were mishandled, neglected and stolen from, before and during the Olympics.

The National Assembly went into an emergency sitting to discuss the matter and President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered an investigat­ion. Concerned media houses demanded the resignatio­n of the Cabinet Secretary for Sports Hassan Wario.

On arrival, many athletes and coaches skipped the official reception and slipped out of Jomo Kenyatta Internatio­nal Airport to join their families. These included Olympic champions David Rudisha (800m), Vivian Cheruiyot (5 000m) and Conseslus Kipruto (3 000m steeplecha­se) and Olympic silver medallists Paul Tanui (10 000m) and Julius Yego ( javelin)

The expected parade for triumphant returning athletes accompanie­d by a presidenti­al handshake did not take place.

Some athletes, among them new Olympic marathon champion Jemimah Sumgong, had to make do with a crowd of fans and relatives who waited for them at the airport when they returned.

Kenyatta sent a congratula­tory note to the Kenyan team terming the medal haul a of six golds, six silvers and a bronze medal a “remarkable feat”.

“Our team has delivered the finest Olympic performanc­e by Kenya in history,” said Kenyatta.

But that was not all he had to say. Kenyatta insisted on a thorough investigat­ion to expose the “institutio­nal, policy and administra­tive failures” that have resulted in some Kenyan athletes changing their nationalit­ies.

Kenyan athletics was shaken to the core after Ruth Jebet, who was born and raised in the country, won gold in the women’s 3000 metres steeplecha­se in Rio while representi­ng her adopted country, Bahrain.

Kenyatta spoke about the troubles the Kenyan athletes and their coaches had in Rio and hinted he will make major changes in the management of sports.

The call for a probe comes against a backdrop of reports some of the people in the Kenyan delegation to Rio were joyriders who ought not to have been in Brazil in the first place.

The debacle saw javelin medallist Yego cause a ruckus at the airport after the National Olympic Committee failed to book his flight.

There were also reports the kit for athletes was stolen by some of the officials and sold on the black market. Wario blamed the failures on “a cartel” within the country’s Olympics committee. – ANA

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