It takes more than just breaking into one hell of running and a personal best time to put on the red, black and green Kenyan uniforms at major Championships like the Olympic, the Commonwealth Games or the World Championship.
Earning a place in the Kenyan athletics team is not a mean achievement. But for some reasons, a few ingenious athletes have made full advantage of the constitution, that provides for dual citizenship, to work their ways up these major events, but not under the umbrella of the Kenyan flag.
Joan Chelimo, Stella Ruto and Delvine Meringor are the latest Kenyans to have shifted their allegiance after acquiring the Romanian Citizenship.
The trio will thus represent Romania and not Kenya in this year’s Olympics Games die to kick off on July 24 in Tokyo, Japan.
Chelimo, the 2017 Boston Marathon champion has a personal best time of 65:04 2:20:57 in half and full marathons while Ruto boasts of a 67:45 personal best attained this year. Meringor recently clocked 2:24:32 in Sienna, Italy.
It’s a big setback for Kenya
Chelimo switch of allegiance will be a big setback for Kenya and she might pose a great threat to her home country of birth considering her rise of form of late. In 2018, Chelimo became the ninth woman to ever run a half marathon under 60 minutes, when she finished 4th at Ra’s Al Khaimah Half Marathon with a new personal best of 1:05:37 in a race widely regarded as the greatest women’s half marathon ever held.
The three are not the first Kenyans to have represented other countries at major championships.
In 2016 Rio Olympics, Ruth Jebet denied Kenya an Olympic gold in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase. Jebet is a Kenyan born athletes who completes for Bahrain.
Other Kenyans who have changed citizenship and competed for other nations include Bernard Lagat (USA) Turkey’s Mike Kigen, Eunice Kirwa who won Olympic marathon bronze for Bahrain.
At the last Olympic alone, Kenyan athletes faced 30 former athletes who opted to compete for other nations in Brazil.
The list included John Koech and Nelson Cherutich and Eunice Chumba and Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain), Miriam Jepchirchir (Turkey), Paul Chelimo, Hillary Bor, Leonard Korir and Shadrack Kipchirchir (USA) and Evans Kiplagat who completes for Azerbaijan.