Five Kenyan Athletes Among Denied National Switch

Five Kenyan athletes are among 11 denied transfer of their allegiance to Turkey, World Athletics has confirmed.

The five include long distance runner Brigid Kosgei won Silver medal in Marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Kosgei won the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathons, the 2019 and 2020 London Marathons and the 2021 and 2026 Tokyo Marathons in a storied career.

She was the marathon world record holder for women running in a mixed-sex race, with a time of 2:14:04 achieved on 13 October 2019 at the Chicago Marathon.

The other Kenyan athletes include Ronald Kwemoi, Brian Kibor, and Catherine Relin Amanang’ole.

In its decisions, the panel considered that approval of these applications would impinge upon and compromise the imperatives underlying the World Athletics eligibility rules and transfer of allegiance regulations.

The panel found that the applications formed part of a coordinated recruitment strategy led by the Turkey government acting through a wholly‑owned and financed government club, to attract overseas athletes through lucrative contracts, with the aim of facilitating transfers of allegiance and enabling those athletes to represent Turkey at future international competitions, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell, Jaydon Hibbert, Wayne Pinnock, and Olympic champion Rojé Stona have also been denied the switch of allegiance to Turkey.

Nigeria’s Favour Ofili and Russia’s Sophia Yakushina are also among those affected.

The Nationality Review Panel is responsible for determining applications relating to athlete eligibility and transfers of allegiance, in accordance with these regulations.

The statement from World Athletics adds: “Given the common features across the applications, the panel assessed them together and determined that such an approach is inconsistent with the core principles of the regulations.”

“These principles are designed to safeguard the credibility of international competition, encourage Member Federations to invest in the development of domestic talent and maintain confidence among athletes that national teams are not primarily assembled through external recruitment.

“As a result of the decisions, the athletes are not eligible to represent Türkiye in national representative competitions or other relevant international events.”