Claims have always emerged that athletes don't like representing Kenya at the World Championships but Barnaba Korir has come to their rescue.
Athletics Kenya Youth Development chairman Barnaba Korir has refuted claims that most athletes shun away from representing the country in the marathon in global events like the World Championships.
Many athletics enthusiasts had the idea that the World Marathon Majors pay a lot of money as compared to the other global events and that’s why athletes opt to compete in the events other than representing the country.
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However, Korir explained that athletes have their own calendars and sometimes they cannot forego the other events since they have already signed contracts.
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“I don’t want to believe that our athletes have been avoiding the World Championships because they also have other programs.
They prepare for these programs for a long time so that when we talk about the majors, they have already signed the contracts of obligations with the companies that they are running for.
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We are prudent enough to let them compete in the races of their choice so that we let the young ones also have an opportunity to represent the country,” he said on Citizen TV.
He added that ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris, France next year, they have already had conversations with potential athletes including defending champions Peres Jepchirchir and Eliud Kipchoge.
“When it comes to the Olympics, we have already had discussions with top athletes like Kipchoge, Kelvin, Peres, and the others and they have already shown interest that they want to compete,” Korir said.