Olympic discus champion Roger Stona, marathon runner Brigid Kosgei and sprinter Favor Ofili are among those blocked from representing a new country.
Bringing down the “nation bounce” was one of Seb Coe’s main goals when he became president of World Athletics in 2015. Within two years of taking office, he froze all loyalty transfers, declaring the system “open to abuse” and “no longer fit for purpose”.
He then introduced tougher regulations that included a mandatory three-year waiting period, a full citizenship requirement and a minimum age of 20 for transfer. Coe even went so far as to compare the transfer of junior athletes to “human trafficking”.
Now, following a recent wave of applications to switch to Turkey, mostly from Kenyan and Jamaican athletes, World Athletics has rejected their attempts to switch nationalities.
The athletes who were banned from moving to Turkey include:
Roger Stona (JAM) – 2024 Olympic discus champion.
Brigid Kosgey (KEN) – former marathon world record holder in 2:14:04, 2021 Olympic silver medalist and London, Chicago and Tokyo City Marathon winner.
Wayne Pinnock (JAM) – Olympic silver medalist in long jump.
Jaydon Hibbert (JAM) – Under-20 world triple jump record holder, now 21.
Ronald Kwemoy (KEN) – 2024 Olympic 5000m silver medalist.
Favor Ofili (NGR) – Commonwealth 200m silver medalist and sixth at the Paris Olympics.
Catherine Amanangyole (KEN) – World Half Marathon Bronze Medalist 2023
Rajindra Campbell (JAM) – Olympic bronze medalist in men’s shooting.
Brian Kibor (KEN) – 58:39 Half Marathon Man.
Nelvin (Kan) Jepkemboi (KEN) – 29:45 10 km runner.
Sofia Yakushina (RUSSIA) – 6260 heptathlete.
World Athletics said they “considered that approving these applications would impede and violate the transfer imperatives of the World Athletics Eligibility Rules and Loyalty Regulations.”
The world governing body found that its panel of judges “found that the bids formed part of a coordinated recruitment strategy led by the Turkish government, operating through a wholly owned and funded government club, to attract foreign athletes through lucrative contracts with the aim of facilitating loyalty transfers and enabling those athletes to represent Lo0 Olympics2, including at future Olympic Games. Games”.
Examples of the nation’s flight before Coe’s tenure include Kenyan sprinter Steven Cherono, who moved to Qatar amid rumors of a $1 million signing fee, in addition to $1,000 monthly payments for the rest of his life.
He changed his name to Saif Saeed Shahi and won world titles in 2003 and 2005, breaking the world record in 2004 with a time of 7:53.63.
