Tergat in line for top AK job
Paul Tergat, a former World marathon record holder and Olympic 10,000m silver medallist, and former sports commissioner, Professor Mike Boit, have been proposed to lead the interim committee. FILE PHOTO |
What you need to know:
- Paul Tergat, a former World marathon record holder and Olympic 10,000m silver medallist, and former sports commissioner, Professor Mike Boit, have been proposed to lead the interim committee.
- During the 2014 Sportsman of the year Soya Awards Gala on January 16, Wario hit out at AK for poor leadership, especially on doping issues.
- Wario blamed AK for doing nothing to stop doping among Kenyan athletes, with the latest case of top marathoner Rita Jeptoo, who has since been slapped with a two-year ban for testing positive for EPO.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario will soon dissolve Athletics Kenya (AK), Daily Nation Sport has learnt.
A source at the ministry said on Tuesday that Wario will soon put in place “an interim committee comprising former athletes and professionals” to run athletics “until a proper AK constitution is put in place that will pave way for fresh elections”.
Paul Tergat, a former World marathon record holder and Olympic 10,000m silver medallist, and former sports commissioner, Professor Mike Boit, have been proposed to lead the interim committee.
Other proposed members of the committee are former Boston marathon champion Moses Tanui, former world marathon champion Douglas Wakiihuri, former world 800m champion Billy Konchellah and former world 5000m champion Benjamin Limo. Former world marathon record holders Catherine Ndereba and Tegla Loroupe have also been proposed. The committee will be supported by professionals from the ministry.
The government wants to deal with a new team in preparations for the 2017 World Youth Championships in Nairobi. Wario’s meeting with athletes on Monday was a culmination of other meetings he has held with stakeholders after 14 out of 16 AK regional chairmen called for changes. Wario has met the chairmen as well as officials of the Professional Athletics’ Association of Kenya (PAAK), who are also rooting for change at the AK leadership.
During the 2014 Sportsman of the year Soya Awards Gala on January 16, Wario hit out at AK for poor leadership, especially on doping issues.
BANNED FOR TWO YEARS
Wario blamed AK for doing nothing to stop doping among Kenyan athletes, with the latest case of top marathoner Rita Jeptoo, who has since been slapped with a two-year ban for testing positive for EPO.
“Kenya has never been short of talent but we have been very short of managers and those are the people who are letting down the youth. Some people think the federation belongs to them; the federations belongs to the people, so if you have served 20 or 30 years it’s time to go,” said Wario at the time, promising to act.
On Monday, Tanui and PAAK president Wilson Kipsang presented a list of grievances that they say AK executive had failed to address over the years. They are doping, withheld allowances and prize money from championships, kitting, alleged abuse of AK constitution and wrangles between AK and its affiliates.
