Brigid Kosgei, four other Kenyan athletes denied Turkey switch

Former women’s marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei is among a horde of top Kenyan athletes who were denied nationality switch to Turkey by World Athletics ahead of Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Other Kenyans include Paris Olympics 5,000m silver medallist Ronald Kwemoi, Catherine Relin Amanang'ole, Brian Kibor, and Nelvin Jepkemboi.

Four top Jamaicans, including 2024 Olympic men's discus gold medallist Roje Stona, Rajindra Campbell, Jaydon Hibbert and Wayne Pinnock, Nigeria's Favour Ofili and Russian Sophia Yakushina were among 11 athletes affected.

Turkey had been offering long-term financial support to recruit foreign track and field stars with the aim of winning a host of gold medals at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The move was prompted by Turkey's dire performance at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, where it failed to win a single gold among its eight medals across all sports.

But World Athletics deemed otherwise, saying that approval of the applications "would impinge upon and compromise the imperatives" underlying eligibility rules and transfer of allegiance regulations.

A World Athletics panel found that the applications "formed part of a coordinated recruitment strategy led by the Turkiye government acting through a wholly‑owned and financed government club".

Their aim, track and field's body said, was "to attract overseas athletes through lucrative contracts, with the aim of facilitating transfers of allegiance and enabling those athletes to represent Turkiye at future international competitions, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games".

"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."

World Athletics concluded: "As a result of the decisions, the athletes are not eligible to represent Turkiye in national representative competitions or other relevant international events."