Kenya has been having a tough break at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with a couple of losses at various games, leaving athletes and fans hoping for a turnaround in the remaining events.
Known for being a hotbed for athletic talent, the country is looking to change its fate in the upcoming competitions as more track races and marathon approach.
One of the challenges facing the country is the representation of other nations by Kenyan-born athletes, particularly when they win medals for their adopted countries.
Some of the athietes who have opted to switch nationalities and competing in the Paris Olympics included:
Winfred Yavi (Bahrain)
Kenyan-born Winfred Yavi who completed for Bahrain lit up the Olympics women’s 3000m steeplechase, emerging first and setting a new Olympic record of 8:52.76. She won the gold medal for her adoptive country, asserting dominance over her East African rivals in a brutal fashion.
asserting her dominance over her East African rivals in brutal fashion.
The 24-year-old was born in Makueni county but switched allegiance to the oil-rich Middle East country when she was 16, citing stiff competition by Kenyan athletes to compete at the high level races. In Bahrain, she was given first priority in trials and hence became eligible to represent her adopted nation in August 2016.
“The reason why I didn’t get the chance to represent my country is that I used to go for the Kenyan team trials, and I didn’t qualify, so I just got this like the first priority. Getting Bahrain was my first priority, but I was ready to represent my country,” she said in an interview after her race.
This was her second Olympics Games after her debut in Tokyo 2020 that ended with a 10th-place finish in the 3,000m steeplechase.
Leonard Korir (USA)
Kenyan-born marathoner Leonard Korir secured a late Olympic qualification for Team USA after World Athletics implemented a rule change.
Last month, World Athletics expanded the Olympic marathon field by adding one universality place and four ranking places. The four ranking spots were awarded to athletes from Chile, Australia, South Africa, and the United States, giving Korir, who finished third in the USA trials, a lifeline.
It is a major boost for Korir, who missed out on representing his country in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Born in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County, the 37-year-old Leonard Korir attended Tambach Teachers’ Training College. His talent for athletics was discovered at age 20, leading him to meet veteran coach Brother Colm O’Connell.
O’Connell suggested that Korir pursue an athletics scholarship at an American university, prompting him to study political science at Iona College.
Korir competed in several events during his university years and turned professional in 2012. He joined the US Army in 2015 and, the following year, became eligible to represent the United States. He will be facing the Kenyan team, which includes Eliud Kipchoge, Benson Kipruto, and Alexander Munyao.
Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (Israel)
Born in Kapkanyar, West Pokot County, Israeli-based Lonah Chemtai Salpeter already has a winning streak representing her country, clinching a prestigious bronze medal in marathon at the 2022 World Championships and finishing fourth in the same competition at the 2023 World Championships, just 21 seconds behind third place.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Salpeter showed her skill as she was in the leading quartet right up to the end but collapsed due to the city’s intense heat.
Since the 2023 World Championships, she took a break from long-distance races, but is set to return to the Paris Olympics marathon and win a medal for her country.
It will be the second Olympic Games for the 35-year-old, who aims to improve upon her 66th-place finish in the marathon at Tokyo 2020, a race won by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
Chemtai left Kenya for Israel in December 2008 at only 20 years to work as a live-in nanny for the three children of Kenya’s Ambassador to Israel.
She would then meet Israeli running coach Dan Salpeter in 2011 and the pair got hitched in 2014, and two years later, she gained Israeli citizenship.
